A Bodyshop Revolution repair facility, especially a new build, is generally structured around a fixed constraint, and in most cases that is the number of vehicles one spraybooth can achieve. That’s 45 vehicles per week. Depending on the complexity of the repairs you’re expecting to find coming in the door, you’ll need somewhere between 6 and 10 workbays for techs to ensure you have enough resource above and below the constraint to ensure you always have work in the buffer (queue) for paint.
Technician Bays
Each workbay contains everything a technician needs to perform a complete repair. Some workbays will be better equipped than others, containing, for example, any additional tools or equipment the tech in that bay needs to do his specialist roles. An entry level technician straight out of college on the other hand, may have only the basics, but will be located next to an experienced tech who can guide and train them up as they go.
In an ideal world, each workbay would contain the following:
Consumables Cart/Trolley
One of the existing practices that we use in Bodyshop Revolution is Lean Thinking, particularly the 5S principles, and nowhere is this more obvious than in the consumables cart/trolley. This unit can be situated at the point of repair, reducing unnecessary movement around the stall or the workshop, and with everything immediately at hand. Each cart has identical inventory, so every technician knows where every item is kept no matter which bay they are in, and they’re easily restocked each day with a quick visual inspection.
Parts Rack
Parts are removed from the vehicle during repair, and stored on the rack ready to be further disassembled, repaired, or matched up to their replacements before being disposed of. The parts rack is permanently stored at the back of the stall although if an unexpected issue occurs (Murphy) and the vehicle has to be moved out, the rack will move with it, and a new one brought in.
Tool Kit
In full implementation Bodyshop Revolution businesses, such as new builds, all kits are identical, and supplied by the site, not the tech. Tools are marked up with their stall number. This vastly reduces the opportunity for confusion and makes maintaining correct calibration of tools like torque wrenches an absolute breeze.
Storage
Larger tools and equipment are kept tidily inside a large cupboard at the rear of the stall.
Bench
We can supply high end Italian made lifts through our partners FI.TIM. These benches are ideally in-ground but can also be floor mounted, and come supplied with automatic open/close arms and remote control. Available in a huge variety of sizes and lift heights / lift capacities, whichever specification of bench you choose, they are all compatible with a matching range of pulling arms.
Pulling arms are available in 6 or 10 tonne pulling capacity, and can be fitted to any FI.TIM bench. This enables your techs to share the resource, and only use the pulling arms as and when required. In our experience, 80% of pulls on standard insurance repairs can now be done inside the workbay, with only very heavy hit or specialist work moved away to a heavy frame rack / jig.
Paint Department
A Bodyshop Revolution paint department is staffed by one painter per booth and one paint feeder per 1-2 booths. The painter simply applies topcoat all day, focusing solely on making sure the finish is as perfect as it can be, and completing 8 to 10 vehicles in a shift.
The paint feeder has a more arduous role. A trained painter himself, he will be constantly monitoring the paint buffer, bagging the vehicles and doing any final prep that wasn’t done in the workbay. He’s also making sure that the paint and clear is prepared ready for the painter in advance of each vehicle coming through, and checking well upstream to ensure any potential issues with work in repair are averted before the vehicle arrives into paint.
The paint buffer is a critical part of the overall process – we need a physical space to line up at least one vehicle ready for paint, thereby ensuring the constraint is never starved and the business as a whole always produces at the expected level. In most cases we’ll use a car slide system as a buffer, as this has the added benefit of cutting booth cycle time by performing almost the entire paint prep process outside the booth.
Estimating Bays
We need at least one space where an estimator can work on a vehicle, including tearing it down if necessary, and lifting it up off the ground. Generally, that will be up front where the customer can see the work being done, and discuss with the estimator as needed.
4 Wheel Alignment
Whilst many shops subcontract this work, it’s always recommended to be able to do this in-house, it’s a great benefit to estimators, works as an upsell opportunity, and is critical for performing safe repairs.
The little details
Our shops look a little different, we design bright white floors, high level lighting, and integrated services. They’re small details, but details that matter.