With four locations throughout Florida’s populous Broward County, A1 Body and Glass is one of the largest independent body shops in the state. Originally known as A1 Body Shop, the company has expanded several times over its 28-year history, growing internally and making two key acquisitions.
Ask Regional Manager Ariel DeArmas the secret to A1’s success and he emphasizes the management team’s ability to periodically rethink and rework the company’s business plan. “What has lead to our success is altering our business to meet customers’ needs and to meet market dynamics,” says DeArmas, who is responsible for revenue growth and gross profit for the company. In recent years, this willingness to regularly re-invent the company has lead it to pursue a variety of initiatives, including truck repair, towing and glass repair. And with careful planning and management, each of these initiatives has paid off.
DeArmas began his career in the collision repair business 17 years ago. The company’s owner Chris Jimenez and his family had started the business in 1978 after migrating from Cuba. Today, Jimenez leaves much of the management responsibility for the body shops in the hands of DeArmas, who has taken on positions of increasing responsibility over the years.
The first time A1 expanded was in 1992, when it outgrew its original location in Deerfield Beach, Fla., and moved to a newly constructed facility, also in Deerfield Beach. “We designed and built a place that continues to drive high efficiency today,” notes DeArmas. “The design enables us to efficiently manage a car through estimating and collision without having to go backwards or duplicate a prior step.”
Five years later, the company opened its second shop, specializing in truck repair, in Pompano, Fla. “We opened the truck business because with the growth of Florida, there were a tremendous amount of trucks that needed repair and we were often asked if we could repair trucks,” notes DeArmas,
The company has opened two more locations since then, both times purchasing existing businesses—in Coral Springs in 2002 and in Margate in 2003. A1 also may expand further. Jimenez anticipates possibly purchasing two additional locations.
One goal has been to develop locations throughout Broward County so that TV and radio advertising money would have maximum impact.
More recent expansions have involved new lines of business. In 2005, the company entered both the towing and glass businesses. The decision to add these services was made to support a broader initiative that the company had undertaken—to reduce cycle time.
DeArmas believed that was the direction the company needed to take after attending a seminar where he learned the results of a J.D. Power survey of 400,000 families that had been involved with collision repair. “Their number one objective in choosing a repair shop was to get in their car quicker,” says DeArmas.
One result of the revelation was the company’s move into glass repair, which has helped A1 reduce cycle times by eliminating the shop’s reliance on others for glass repair. “We saw we were limited in our ability to reduce cycle times and we realized we paid enough out to subcontractors to support an employee and vehicle,” says DeArmas. “With the four stores, we could cover we would gain.” Since a recent hurricane created a greater need for glass repair, A1 also has begun doing such work for other businesses.
Another step aimed at cycle-time reduction was putting “some improvements in place that incorporated a team concept to repairing a vehicle,” he said. Having more than one person working on a vehicle simultaneously has gone a long way toward reducing cycle time. To help ensure that approach would work, DeArmas says, the system is “backed by a compensation plan that focuses on attendance and efficiency.”
A1’s emphasis on training also has helped it in meeting its cycle time goals. “All of our technicians are
I-CAR Gold or above,” says DeArmas. “Knowledge is powerful. It adds efficiency when you don’t have to guess at doing repairs. It has a positive effect on morale and it reduces mistakes.”
The net result of A1’s efforts is that the company now completes most repairs of driveable vehicles with $2,000 worth or less in damages in no more than four days. The company has achieved that goal while also maintaining high quality levels. The company recently recorded a customer satisfaction index with an average of 94.3 for all four locations.
DeArmas believes that kind of performance helps A1 keep insurance companies happy. The company is involved in nine direct repair programs, which account for 90 percent of its business.
