Paint Perfection: Steps to quality control

Jan. 1, 2020
Employees who use standardized procedures every day and understand the need for continuous improvement can and will, if given the correct circumstances, discover ways to improve work quality and efficiency.

Paint shops are complex areas, so developing processes and procedures to assure perfection can be quite challenging.

What is perfection in the paint shop? Is it a clean paint job that does not need time-consuming detailing, or is it a perfect color match? Is perfection met when the work goes through on time and without costly re-dos or customer delivery delays? Perhaps you define perfection in the paint shop as getting the work finished using the least amount of materials.

Actually, if refinish quality control required just one dimension, it would be simple to develop a system to guard against whatever might cause the work to be imperfect. However, paint shops, like many other areas of the collision repair industry, are so complex that developing processes and procedures to assure perfection is very challenging.

During the manufacture of a new vehicle, each component's size and quality are carefully standardized, and much thought and development go into establishing procedures to assure that all items meet and maintain that quality standard. In the book "The Toyota Way," Jeffrey K. Liker explains how the automobile manufacturer uses 14 management principles to produce vehicles of varied types in different countries for diverse consumers, at one of the lowest per-unit defect rates in the industry.

Similarly, the collision repair industry faces the challenge of delivering a defect-free refinish job each time, although each collision is different, so each repair is unique. While the goal is the same in every case — to return the vehicle to its pre-accident condition — one process will not always fit every repair.

At first, it may seem that examining principles for quality in vehicle manufacturing in relation to providing a quality collision repair is an apples-to-oranges comparison. Closer study, however, shows that this may not be true. For example, principle six in the "Toyota Way" states: "Standardized tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement and employee empowerment." The collision repair industry is starting to embrace that principle by following standard operating procedures (SOPs).

By following SOPs in the repair process, quality is improved, and technicians can repair vehicles faster, since many of the decisions have been made prior to beginning the actual repair. Because the prescribed process is standardized, the types and amount of material can be kept to a minimum, and be easily ordered and replenished.

Another manufacturing principle that is gaining use in the collision repair industry is "lean production." Though often misunderstood and sometimes poorly implemented, lean production has the potential of significantly improving quality, production and profit in the collision repair industry.

Many times when managers try to implement lean production into a collision repair shop, they believe that if they just produce SOPs and have on-time delivery of supplies, parts and materials — then they have fully adopted the lean production principle. In fact, if the shop's team makes only these superficial changes, the shop will see some improvement in production, profit and quality — but it's actually just the beginning of lean production.

To fully enjoy all the benefits and profit from lean production management, the shop must also undertake other, more difficult changes. These changes are in both the physical details of the refinish process, and in the more difficult area of employees adopting the business culture objective of continuous improvement as the standard in refinish procedures.

Physical process considerations include keeping lead-time to a minimum, and making sure all parts, materials, vehicle flow patterns and personnel are prepared for the repair. When repairing a vehicle, the technician should move to where the vehicle is, instead of having the vehicle placed in the technician's stall.

Technicians should have mobile tool chests that can be conveniently moved to where a vehicle is located, rather than moving the vehicle to where a toolbox is parked. Alternately, technicians could have mobile work carts that they could move to individual jobs. One can't deny the importance of having all the tools needed to do a repair quickly and efficiently, however, the long-established trend of technicians with massive toolboxes that are nearly impossible to move actually reduces productivity. Even when a technician has a large box in the corner and uses a work cart, multiple trips back to the large box are inefficient and not productive.

Even the way a vehicle is parked in the building can influence productivity, quality and profit. If a vehicle is parked with the panel being worked on against the wall (even if the technician's tools are close by), productivity decreases. On the other hand, if the vehicle is parked so the panels being worked on are nearest to the aisle, a technician is more likely to work harder and complete the work at a higher level of quality, as he works with everyone observing his progress.

When the technician takes the toolbox to the vehicle and the repair area is positioned towards the aisle, a technician can perform all the needed steps for refinishing with greater efficiency. Materials in a mobile cart should also travel with the technician as he or she moves from job to job. Use of a standardized material list and personal mobile cart with materials quickly at hand throughout the day will also increase the technician's productivity.

Technicians' material carts can be restocked from a central supply location each morning as the department is conducting a daily production meeting. Using this method, production managers can monitor and evaluate an individual technician's material consumption. Also, the central supply location allows for convenient monitoring and regular restocking, eliminating the need for keeping large amounts of reserve stock on hand. In addition, developing a standardized material list will reduce the amount of stock needed and, consequently, reduce costs.

Along with the above changes, if lean production is truly to be implemented, a business culture of continuous improvement must be established. That means that all of the employees must value and strive to accomplish the business's goal to continually improve. Committed employees like this will always be alert for ways to improve overall productivity, whether by better placement of needed tools or materials, through improved workflow and scheduling, through providing and participating in training needed, or with the help of new products or equipment.

We know that one of the most valuable commodities of a business is the employee. Employees who use standardized procedures every day and understand the need for continuous improvement can and will, if given the correct circumstances, discover ways to improve work quality and efficiency. When employees feel their efforts are appreciated and their opinions valued, teams develop and the load becomes lighter for all. When the multiple facets of quality control are considered in today's refinishing shops, productivity goes up and quality is improved.

The Japanese word for "continuous improvement" is "Kaizan." This principle is one of the most-studied methods of production in the world. Operating under this objective assures a refinish department improved productivity and profit; it also assures the highest standard of refinish quality.

By implementing continuous improvement and lean management practices, a collision repair business and its paint department can ensure paint perfection.

About the Author

Al Thomas

Alfred Thomas is associate professor and department head of Collision Repair at Pennsylvania College of Technology. His technical experiences include 15 years in the collision industry as a technician and shop manager, 12 years as a secondary vocational instructor, and the past eight years as lead instructor at Penn College.

Sponsored Recommendations

Best Body Shop and the 360-Degree-Concept

Spanesi ‘360-Degree-Concept’ Enables Kansas Body Shop to Complete High-Quality Repairs

ADAS Applications: What They Are & What They Do

Learn how ADAS utilizes sensors such as radar, sonar, lidar and cameras to perceive the world around the vehicle, and either provide critical information to the driver or take...

Banking on Bigger Profits with a Heavy-Duty Truck Paint Booth

The addition of a heavy-duty paint booth for oversized trucks & vehicles can open the door to new or expanded service opportunities.

Boosting Your Shop's Bottom Line with an Extended Height Paint Booths

Discover how the investment in an extended-height paint booth is a game-changer for most collision shops with this Free Guide.