PRODUCTION PLANNING
MIND YOUR BUSINESS SET YOUR SCHEDULING STRAIGHT
By Allison Rogers
W It’s hard for painters to not look at dismantled parts as a carrot from a string. There may be certain colours where it makes sense to jamp and hang your sheet metal before painting—but efficiency increases if your painter only visits those parts once.
What looks to be a $2,000 job on-sight can very realistically double, triple or more when the panels are peeled back, especially in today’s camera and sensor-heavy vehicles.
20 BUYERSGUIDE.COLLISIONREPAIRMAG.COM
hen you put a vehicle into production, are you 100-percent confident it’s ready to be repaired and will glide through your shop with no stoppages? In a time like today, it may be tempting to take in every set of keys tossed your way— but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that’ll land you in a world of trouble. When it comes to repairing scheuling, a 2018 survey conducted by Dave Luehr’s Elite Body Shop Solutions found that, out of 200 people surveyed, 59 percent made their schedules by counting estimated labour hours; 22 percent tied their schedules to the number of vehicles, and ten percent admitted to simply winging it. It’s easy to understand why the ‘grab the keys’ mindset is a default, especially in COVID-19 times. Certain business owners find a sense of comfort in holding a stockpile of work, but the same people will oftentimes revert to complete shutdown in times of stress, saving the problem for another day, when it will swell twice as big.
