Few of us ever factor in the time lost
when dealing with fasteners and the overall impact it has on repair jobs.
But the truth is that these components have a direct influence on
production efficiency, job quality, cycle time and profitability.Have you ever asked yourself what impact
fasteners have on our overall business, our estimators or our technicians
and, of course, our profitability? What about the impact fasteners can
have on cycle time and customer satisfaction?As my wise old friend Chuck Sulkala, owner
of Acme Body & Paint Co. Inc. in Jamaica Plain, Mass., states, many of
our customers never come back to give us a second chance to correct
fastener-related problems. The customer usually feels that it's trivial
and lives with the inadequate repair, but he or she is reminded of the
work we did every time he or she sees an improperly secured part. Most of
the time, it's because of a reused fastener.In the last 30 years, our industry has
gone through a fastener revolution.Fasteners that used to be supplied with a
part must now be purchased separately-assuming there is a listing for the
needed fastener and that it is readily available from the servicing
dealer.In years past, fasteners could be easily
substituted, repaired and/or reused on vehicles regardless of make or
model without affecting the integrity of the repair. Vehicle assembly used
to only require a few different fastener designs, and many fasteners used
to have more than one application and were almost always made of metal.
Fasteners used on Ford vehicles manufactured in the early '80s were used
on models produced in the late '80s and even into the early '90s. The
fastener inventories that most shops kept were sufficient to cover most of
the fastener needs for these vehicles.Cost
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