Shop Layout
Many shops built in the 80’s were designed with a good deal of the shop space being dedicated to the body side. Today’s shop should be at least 50/50 paint/body with the majority of the space being dedicated to the paint side. The majority of the “bottlenecks” in a collision repair shop are found at the paint booth. When equipping a shop with pulling equipment in each stall, the body shop side can be downsized to fit the ideal shop ratio for today, leaving more room for the paint side.

Stall Cost Per Hour
With an average of 22 workdays per month and an average of 7.5 hours per workday, there is an average of 165 productive hours per month in a bodyshop. In this exercise, since production is the heart of the business, production must assume the burden of the entire business.

To compute “Stall Cost per Hour”, take the average monthly overhead cost per month divided by the number of work stalls*, then divide that number by 165. The typical shop has a stall cost of $15 per hour.

Every vehicle sitting in a stall not being worked on is costing you approximately $15 per hour, plus loss of gross profit dollars earned if a tech was working on the vehicle instead of having it sit idle.

Many shops assign 2 to 3 stalls per technician. A technician can only work on one vehicle at a time. Is this really efficient stall usage?

*A stall is any place in the shop where a car can be parked. If the body side of the shop has a frame rack and has room for 8 cars that equals 9 stalls. If the paint side has a paint booth and room for 8 cars, that equals 9 stalls.

Ideal Production Shop
• 120 jobs per month
• 5 technicians with 5 working stalls (25ft. x 60ft.) with each stall equipped with drive in door (no aisles), each stall equipped with identical pulling and measuring equipment.
• Paint Shop (4500 sq. ft.) with 2 drive- through paint booths.

Moving Vehicles
Try to formulate repair process so that the vehicle is moved as few times as possible. Ideal scenario is once in and once out.

Try this exercise for a week. Place a sheet of paper on the windshield and instruct employees to place a mark on the paper every time the vehicle is moved. You may be surprised as to how many times a vehicle is moved during the repair process.

High Production Shops (Example Shown Below)
Many production shops share the same characteristics. Listed below are some of these characteristics.
• No driving aisles
• Every stall is equipped with a drive-in door.
• Every stall is equipped with a mid-rise lift and a floor anchoring system.
• No work benches
• All frequently used equipment is on wheels.
• Shop is equipped with overhead reels for air, power, and vacuum system.
• Technicians share measuring systems and pulling towers.
• Once in and once out.

Alternative High Profile Shop Example
• 4,000 square foot shop with one drive in door.
• Operates as metal shop during the day.
• Operates as paint shop at night.
• This shop has been producing over $100,000 per month. That equates to $25 per square foot per month.

During the 80’s $10 per square foot per month was considered an acceptable performance standard. A 5,000 square foot shop could produce $50,000 per month in completed repairs.

We now have shops achieving 2 to 3 times this old standard. Unfortunately many shops are still working under the old standard.

The difference between shop productions using the new standard vs. the old standards is
• Use of Production Space.
• Equipment That Is Used In the Repair Process.
• Owners That Are Not Deterred By Innovation.

Production
About 50% of the jobs today have sales values of less than $1,000.00. Do these jobs have structural damage? Do these jobs require skilled technicians?

Many shops use smaller jobs as a filler to keep a flat rate technician busy when they are delayed on a heavy hit.

What if?
You dedicate your production area to small jobs that can be processed quicker using lower skilled technicians. Would production and profits increase? Think about it!!!

Even though you set up your production area for small jobs, make sure that the equipment you choose will have the capabilities of repairing a full range of repairs for both unibody and full frame vehicles.

Summary
We have many customers who fall into the high production category and we would like to assist you in getting to that level. One call is all it takes.