Service

Services

Our Services are built on the Fundamental Building Blocks of Lean Material Management for the Auto Body Industry. We provide services for both the Shop and the Jobber. More sample reports, charts and forms can be viewed on our download page.

Auto Body Material Management

You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
Breaking work down into small size groups or procedures makes large tasks easier to manage.
Manage the big things the small things will follow.
Your Priorities become their priorities.
Allow people to be part of the solution … not just a part of the problem.

Shop Involvement (Ownership)

Training (Be Involved)
Lean Inventory (Accountable)
S.O.P. (Standard Operating Procedures)
Measure (Units and Dollars)
Responsibility (Everyone Has a Roll)
Waste is Waste (Zero Waste)

See our Six Steps to a Leaner Greener Shop

There is a fine line between average Paint & Material and Paint Shop Labor profit margins and exceptional profit margins. Step over this line and explore how you can make the profits you deserve on you paint and materials.

You Can't Manage What You Don't Measure!

Why settle for average profit margins when teaming up with a dedicated professional can help you to excel beyond industry averages?
Does your paint shop run a smooth as you would like?
Are you making the profits you deserve on paint and materials?
Are you concerned about government regulations on VOCs, safety training or annual reporting?
Are you concerned about remaining productive with mandated changes in paint and coating?
Are you getting the very best service and support from your current paint supplier?

There is more to paint than just color!

Mixing room management utilizing all the resources of today's computers can make a huge difference in material cost per mix and per RO.

Timely accurate information is the first step. Analyzing and creating action plans is where Lean Material Management Specialists excel.

We bring a wealth of knowledge to support their customers. From methods for achieving the best possible match to utilizing and mixing the appropriate amount of materials, We have the tools, experience and resources to help our customers not only survive but to grow in our challenging market place.

Discover the difference a specialist can make for in you shop. LM2 Services/Products Order Form

Shops are looking for more from the jobber than just a quality paint product. That means in order to be successful, the jobber now must become extremely knowledgeable about collision repair - the repair process itself, insurance company relations, customer satisfaction, quality control.

We Specialize in Turning Data into Information.

Our modern computer systems are great and providing us with mountains of data.

Converting, preparing and arranging that data into Information that can used to make improvements is what we specialize in.

Quick concise feedback is critical for both management and staff to make improvements

Don't get buried in the information overload that some "lean" partners may subject you to.

Products

Our products are our services and our reporting and analysis tools. In the hands of Lean Material Management Consultant, the Team (Shop management and production staff along with local distributor support) directs S.O.P.s and Lean Material Usage in the shop.

One of the Building Blocks of Lean Material Management is our Product Usage Report.
- For Management is a snapshot of KPI's
- For Supervisors it is a breakdown by department of repair process, of material usage.
- For technicians it is a part number specific tool to manage materials.
- Our approach is to manage the big things first this report is prioritized to do just that.
  - Color and Clear being the larges P&M cost categories, are always a top priority.
  - Surface preparation as a category is important twofold:
    - Third largest category for material costs often needs more attention because these products are often used by entry level or personnel with less experience and training than other technicians.
    - Durability and long term appearance of any paint work depend on this foundation step.
Other reports and tools round out our core product offerings:
- Production Survey
- Paint Manufacturer's Mix reports (separate tools from paint manufacturers, ie: PPG)
- Re-Do Tracking Report
- Job Costing Reports
- Order Forms
- Inventory Forms
- S.O.P.s
- Safety Training Materials

There are samples of components of our Product Usage Report below.

LM2 Services/Products Order Form

Production Survey
A base line survey of current procedures, processes and work flow in the shop. This a details survey, including, all aspects of the repair up to delivery. Spray Gun Set-Up, Abrasive Choices, Masking Techniques along with other processes all have an impact on Production, Quality, CSI and Material Usage.

Paint Manufacturers Mix Reports

Liquid Product Usage as mixed on the scale. This valuable tools is only as good as the data entered into it. When management requires all liquid to be mixed on the scale and production staff are consistent in mixing all liquid on the scale (recording usage by RO#) ounce by ounce. This is brings material usage to the forefront of production staff. These systems also record VOC and HAPS for Government Regulatory reporting.

Product Usage Reports

The Foundation of Lean Material Management. What sets our Material reports aside for others is the multiple-layering for use by all levels of personnel. Senior Management can quickly see the over all material picture as it relates to their facilities with comparisons to region standards. Production managers or leaders can work with department and procedure level material utilization. The hands on technicians are provided detailed tools to help manage down to the part# level.

Sample Report: This is the main over view page for our material analysis.

Sample of the main summary and data import sheet. Note the red highlighted numbers showing excess clear activator usage!

Below is a sample from a shop using PPG and 3M branded products. There are two areas of potential material miss use or over use. Can you spot the concerns? Our trained team members can.
Hint: You need to know your part #s to spot the questionable areas.

The chart below shows an annual liquid usage in gallons from six different shops of varying size.
These are all before the implementation of Lean Material Management. (Southern California Low VOC products in this example) One of these shops has acceptable ratios in these three liquid categories, Our team members can spot it can you?

Here is a differently formatted chart for similar per shop data (gallons per category by percentage), this format makes it much easier to see the variation with different shops material usage.

With this view it is much more apparent where the variances are between shops. Color usage at "Fix It Fast" appears to be significantly over the mark compared to the other shops. Likewise the Surf-Prep seems to be very low compared to the other shops in this group.

How does color usage effect Material Gross Profits? Here is a snap shot from six shops charting ounces of color used per RO vs. Material Gross Profit Percentage.

Training
Our Lean Material Management Specialists provide training in many areas of production, safety, color match, material usage and regulatory Compliance.

Tailgate Meeting Topics Available:

Safety Meetings

Jobber / Distributor Services

In order provide body shop customers with the timely information, the jobber needs to have a versatile computer system. While we work with data from multiple systems we have found that the reports and data from ComCept systems are great for using in a distributors value added programs including Lean Material Management.

We also work with data from Perfection, WDSII, Pangaea and other distribution and management systems.

We can help your staff become more comfortable with MS Excel®, so they can create clean usable forms and reports for you and your customers. (Training available)

What ever computer system the jobber uses, data is just data. Data needs to be organized so it can be used as information. Each Jobber should customize the information they provide to their customers, make it unique, organized so it can be utilized to assist their customers. Our Lean Material Management team members can help each jobber create customized reports that help differentiate them in their market place.

With our exclusive territory approach, your will be able to offer our Lean Material Management tools to your customers and know that your competitors won't have the same program. You will have a program not offered by anyone else in your market area.

Lean Material Management includes the Jobber. Keeping authorized inventory lean and trim, easy to read concise reports and forms for the shop and distributor. Labels to keep material organized in the shop. The Lean Material Management process needs to be carried through all processes of material handling including ordering, delivery, stocking, and use.

Our staff can help you get the most out of your computer system. Just as the shop needs to get lean, so does the Jobber. Don't get buried in data over load. Unless reports become actionable information they are just data.