Today, it is not enough for shops to be competent at repairing or painting vehicles; they must know how to run a business. Shops must be adept at measuring performance, setting monthly, weekly, and even daily goals, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs), managing parts and negotiating with customers, suppliers and third party pay (insurance companies).
Let's look at how a shop can improve its bottom line by better monitoring its performace in the paint department in four key places: measuring, efficiency, consolidation and waste.
Step 1: Measuring
Now more than ever, owners and managers can measure the actual cost for each job. They also can "measure" each employee relative to each job. With the aid of paint shop computers, each employee can log in to a specific job. The mix accuracy can be tracked – the amount of material mixed for each specific job and the time taken to complete the job. Most paint mixing systems now calculate the precise amount of refinish needed to cover each panel and blend into the adjacent panels. Painters no longer need to mix more material than necessary.
Not only do you save on materials, you save in many areas of waste. The amount of waste is reduced so there is no need for storage of leftover materials; the amount of toxic waste removal is also reduced.
If your paint mixing system does not have a paint amount calculator, you can perform the same calculations. This method isn't as accurate but it's far more accurate than the estimating many painters do.
You will need approximately 4 ounces of ready-to-spray (RTS) coating per coat, per panel. This is for an average 3 ft. by 3 ft. panel. You will need to adjust for the size of the vehicle being painted. You'll similarly want to adjust for panels that are only blended. If only one quarter of a medium panel is being blended, you'll need only one ounce of RTS per coat. Though these are only approximate calculations, with a little practice, painters can soon judge quite closely just how much paint will need to be mixed.
You should similarly calculate, mix and reduce undercoats on a scale. One of the great advantages we have today is that we can mix the correct shade for the topcoat that will be applied later. By using the correct value, you can significantly reduce the number of topcoats, thus shaving paint shop cost. Undercoats are both necessary and often very costly. In fact, undercoats often are the most misused coating in the shop. Some only have a one-hour or less pot life. Painters often mix much more than is needed, which is subsequently lost. By mixing the correct shade and the precise amount needed, you will significantly reduce this expensive waste.
Paint mix accuracy tracking can identify why a mixed color was not blendable and if that mismatch was caused by over- or under-pouring. It could even help identify paint mismatch, which may occur consistently in a specific color (such as blue) due to a corrupt tinting base. Mixing accuracy can make identifying tints even easier.
Not only should you mix paint formula on the scale to reduce waste; it should be reduced on scale as well (see Fig. 1). Many painters do not pay the needed attention to the reduction amounts, causing significant waste.
Computerized paint tracking can significantly help shops to cost-study each repair that is completed. If the cost for materials is greater than was originally allotted for a specific repair, by using computerized cost-study, the repair shop can negotiate for supplemental reimbursement for that cost.
Disposable cups can shave the paint shop cost as well. Though they are viewed by many as an added expense, when used correctly, they eliminate the use of calibrated plastic or steel mixing cups. The color formula can be mixed and reduced in the cup with little or no paint loss when paint is transferred from the formula mixing vessel, then back for storage. Though the amount of paint residue left in a paint cup or in the mixing vessel may be small, when multiplied over every job the amount of loss becomes large.
The clean-up of spray equipment, either by hand or in a gun cleaner using conventional spray cups is costly. Clean-up when using a disposable system is both fast and uses less than 3 to 6 ounces of reducer.
Some shops view recycling machines as an added expense in the paint shop, but 75 to 90 percent of the clean-up solvent can be recovered, leaving only the still bottoms to be disposed of. The cost savings will offset the initial cost of the recycler in a short time.
Step 2: Efficiency
Though the size of a shop may be fixed, how that shop is used and even how efficient the paint technique is, can reduce cost in a paint shop. Things as simple as banding a part with the full width of the first stroke being applied to the part, as opposed to 50 percent off, as many painters are taught, will make a difference. This banding should be done around the complete circumference of the part being painted. Then the remainder of the part can be filled-in with the lead and lag distance greatly reduced. Most painters' lead and lag distance is larger than necessary, thus very wasteful. By using less paint, less overspray is produced. This helps the booth filters to last longer, again shaving paint shop cost.
USE THE FOLLOWING TIPS:
- Direct paint strokes to hit the target completely.
- Older spray methods of "first stroke 50 percent off the target" are very wasteful.
- Band with a full spray stroke around the full perimeter first.
- By banding first, the time and material costs of the panel painting are reduced.
- With banding, lead and lag are significantly reduced.
- Older large lead and lag waste both time and materials.
Step 3: Consolidation
Shops that have developed standard operating procedures and eliminated the need to stock large amounts of supplies have found that a single small cabinet with the needed supplies can be stored and inventoried, often at a glance. From this cabinet the paint staff can stock their work carts, then move them to each job, which eliminates unnecessary trips for supplies. Waste baskets can be kept close at hand as well, so discarded materials can be directly placed in them, eliminating the wasted time of picking it up off the floor later.
An inventory list of the supply storage cabinet should be attached to it, so that when restocking, the order can be placed easily. The job of keeping the cabinet stocked and full can be allocated to a jobber who checks the cabinet, develops a restock order, and gets approval by the shop supervisor. Then when the order is delivered, the jobber delivery person places it in the cabinet for the shop. The next time you're in a grocery store and see the soda shelves being stocked, you'll see that it's not a store employee doing the shelving. Body shops can shave the paint cost by following suit.
Final word: Little things mean a lot
Though there is no single silver bullet in the paint shop that can cut all unnecessary costs, and although establishing all of the seemingly-small changes will take some effort by management and staff, significant costs can be reduced. When every aspect of each job is measured to identify and eliminate waste of time and materials, when efficient practices are put in place, and when supplies are consolidated and made more convenient for each worker and their respective jobs, you will see a difference in your bottom line.
