Refinish Department Efficiency Woes
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I have recently been moved into the position of managing a recently purchased bodyshop.
One of the things I am struggling with right now is the efficiency in my paint department.
We have 4 guys in that department, 1 full time painter, 1 paint prepper who is just transitioning into a painter role (mainly priming/jambing/fascias right now), 1 full time prepper, and 1 paint prepper/detailer/janitor(not 100% accurate, but not sure how else to describe it)At this point in time, I have been managing the shop for about 4 months. I’ve been tracking hours/efficiency for the last 2.5 months. The first 1.5 were crazy enough trying to resharpen my estimating skills.
I’ve been calculating the times per pay period (2 weeks) so I can go off of their timecards to get their hours worked.
Since November first this is how I’ve calculated their efficiency:
(the hrs not on estimates are time for initial washes, polishing dirt, and final cleanup/vacuum)Hrs Worked……..Hrs on estimates……..Hrs not on estimate……..Efficiency
343.89……………..194.3………………………..22.5……………………………63.04%
319.75……………..173.6………………………..25……………………………..62.11%
327.62……………..156.6………………………..18……………………………..53.29%
386.92……………..150.2………………………..47……………………………..50.97%
435.6………………177.1………………………..47……………………………..51.45%I know what you’re thinking, what the hell is taking these guys so long to do the work. One of the things I am slowly trying to incorporate is changing the “old school” mentality. Our painter has been at it for 30 years, and kind of has the final word on how things are done for right now. They still wetsand everything, from primer to blend panels. At this point we’ve kind of got a dirt problem, that combined with a couple of PITA customers I’m a little gunshy and we are polishing almost everything that comes out of the booth. I also know that my Prepper/Detailer/Janitor is really not pulling his own weight, but he’s taking one for the team doing the stuff that enables my other 2 preppers to keep focused on moving stuff through.
One of the big questions I’d like answered is where should they be? I’ve seen numbers as far as efficiency of the shop overall (rf and body) but I’ve seen no numbers as to where the refinish side should be by themselves. One of my goals before I start making changes is to get a good solid baseline, and a firm understanding of where we are in relation to other shops.
:chair <
I posted this site on your other thread, but here is the link to a good flat rate calculator that kinda makes everything a team effort
http://www.bodyshopsolutions.com/WordPress/?page_id=392
Honestly the paint dept should be able to be 150-200% efficient. Body side should be the same though it’s a little tougher on bigger hits
Ding is absolutely right. For the average tech, those numbers should be straight forward. Some guys can do better, but 150-200% is pretty standard.
One area to make note of, is weather you are getting everything you should on the estimates, that can affect your numbers pretty good…but not likely to the point where your guys are only 60% efficient.
Can you encourage your guys with a bonus or payment system based on productivity (I am assuming switching everyone to flat rate is out of the question?).
Flat rate has been discussed, we’ve looked into the team-pay system with %’s for each person. i’m just not sure with their current performance how to get them to “agree” (read: not leave) when switched over.
I honestly think a big portion of it, is the mindset of our painter. He’s hourly, he’s always been hourly because with the previous owner it’s been a quality oriented business and they made what they made. we still want the quality but efficiency has got to come up.
I’ll check out that link ding, I appreciate it.
Can the shop bring in enough work to support 150%? in an 8hr day
Do the guys have paint work all day or are they standing around waiting?
IMO paying a painter hourly can result in a lack of urgency..Kind of sounds like he might be stretching a (ex.) 4 hr job into 6 to to make a pay check..I agree with Ben, make sure every thing is on the estimate.. tint, cover car, color sand buff…etc unfortunately that wont make up for 22-47 hours..
We have the team pay system in out paint shop.. I would not have liked it when I was painting but it seems to work but there can be some bickering when someone works late or comes in on saturday “your stealing my time”
And IMO the wet sanding everything from primer to blend will really cut into time.. I worked at a shop that required this and I could never get better than 110% most the time below 100..
I always hate to see someone loose their job but you are over staffed in the paint shop. Two guys can get all the work done you need. Make them prime prep mask paint and buff. You can make then a team or put them on their own. I would bet money on it that if you put them on commission they will be productive. I guess if they don’t like it there is always somebody that will. If you really need to you can have two full time painters plus one extra guy to take up the slack.
Our dealership has had a paint team for 15 years now and it works. First off you need to have painters who will work together and not think that one is better than the other.
We have three painters and how we do it is we each will take what ever comes through the paint shop door when we need more work. If it is a large job you could even find all three on that job if we are ready for a new job. One of us might be out in the shop cutting in rails & a support and one of us could be doing a tricoat and one might be doing priming.
At the end of the week the time is added up and split three ways.You said you want around 150-200% ? You will get 200-300% IF you can get your painters to work together.
Painters, not preppers. You need people who can do anything at anytime.If you have a team you will not have to split up the work so everyone ends up with the same hours for the week, no more hearing ” he got a better job tha me!”
We start at 8:00 and some days we have everything done by 2:00, Fridays we are gone at noon, 240 – 300 hours completed for the week.
That may be true and work for you guys but the fact remains one tech is always going to produce more for the techs that can’t.So why should the slow tech make as much as the fast tech???It boils down to being all about the shop making money and a tech getting the shaft.IMO straight time with a bonus system is more beneficial to the techs and makes more sense.
In the collision side teams don’t make sense you have the young guys doing the tear down/assembly and the experienced guys doing the actual work.How are these young guys going to get the experience that they need to do the job??You will end up with journeyman assemblers who can’t do anything and once again the experienced techs taking up the slack for those who can’t.
You’ve got 4 guys producing 150-200 hours per MONTH, is that right?
If so put them all out to pasture and get a new crew. Something is very wrong.
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