About five years ago, the leaders at Pohanka Collision Centers in Virginia and Maryland were tired of having the same problems every day.
Parts would go missing; a tech would start on a car, but couldn’t finish it; and employees were regularly frustrated. Those problems led to poor cycle times and low customer satisfaction.
So they decided to change. The 270-employee, 10-location group of collision centers started blueprinting to create more efficiency. Managers worked to create open and honest communication, and in less than five years, cycle time decreased from 10 days to 8.5 days, and customer satisfaction index (CSI) scores topped 95 percent.
“It’s an absolute commitment,” said Mike Moore, regional manager for the collision centers. “Once you decide you want to run your business differently, [you hold yourself and others accountable].”
Daily Improvement
Chris Pohanka is the owner of Pohanka Collision Centers. Its parent company, Pohanka Automotive Group, runs dealerships that have been in business since 1919.
Pohanka took over the collision center more than 20 years ago, when they had just one shop. Since then, that side of the business has grown to a total of 10 collision center locations. Last year, the business acquired Alexandria, Va.–based Wagonwork Collision Center.
They knew they needed to implement blueprinting, or the development of a complete repair plan, if they wanted to become more efficient and profitable, and to advance their reputation. So they implemented a blueprinting process five years ago, and have since made other key changes, such as hosting daily meetings at which employees discuss what’s keeping them from doing their jobs better.
Moore says the company is successful because in all of its pursuits it constantly strives to improve. “Daily, we work on improving our business,” he says. “And that’s what we develop into all of our people.”
Pohanka says he doesn’t know everything, but he’s got great people he can rely on. “It’s a matter of years and years ago, somebody embedded into my head, utilize your resources. That’s what I’ve done, and that’s what we’ve done,” he says.
Here are several of the ways Pohanka has paved and traveled its road to success:
Team Restructure. Once they began blueprinting, they needed to restructure the shop to operate as a team, which saved time and money. Techs used to work on entire cars. Now employees have task-specific jobs in departments including blueprint and disassembly, parts, body, paint, trim-out and cleanup.
“We have dedicated processes, and our most successful stores follow them to a T.”
—Mike Moore, regional manager, Pohanka Collision Centers
Blueprint Audits. In January 2011, the collision centers began a blueprint auditing process. Each month, blueprinters—employees who disassemble a car and write a repair plan—meet to audit each other’s work. Each shop employs up to three blueprinters.
They look at the written plan for a vehicle, as well as the vehicle itself, checking for accuracy and providing feedback on what their colleague might do differently. Each blueprinter has their work audited at least once in a year’s time. Moore says employees hold each other accountable by providing honest feedback. This drives consistency and better repair accuracy. As a leader, Moore had to facilitate accountability at first by making his own observations. Over time, though, “it’s really taken off,” he says.