Streamline your operations immediately and inexpensively with proper organization.

Toby Chess streamline operatons organize shop. Several months ago, I authored an article where I describe some significant, and significantly inexpensive steps, shops can take to go lean and cut costs (see "Streamlined Estimates" Sept. 2009 ABRN). The idea for the article came to me after Greg Gunter of Greg's Autobody in Whittier, Calif., asked me to help him implement the lean concepts he was introduced to in I-CAR's Cycle Time Improvement Class (CYC 01). For that article, I concentrated on the steps a shop can take to write a thorough estimate.

During the time I spent at Greg's Autobody, I also performed a walk through and noted a significant area where the shop also could improve and aid in its efforts to go lean – the organization of its space. While I made suggestions, Gunter filled out two pages of notes on a legal pad detailing what needed to be cleaned and organized.

I returned a month later and what a transformation! Let's look at the steps we went through to identify problem areas of Gunter's shop and then to make changes to reorganize the shop so it could run far more efficiently.

Step 1: When necessary, change department locations

Look at Fig. 1 and 2. Figure 1 is the shop's parts department. In Fig. 2, note that parts were stored next to the spray booth with no identification. The parts vendors parked their delivery trucks in the front parking lot, blocking the entrance to the facility, and waited in the front office for purchase orders or a check. The last thing you want is a delivery person in your waiting room. We decided to move the parts department to the rear of the building next to the tear down area.

Step 2: Identify problems in the detail and paint departments

Figures 3 and 4 show a messy, disorganized detail department. Note the water bottles being stored against the wall take up valuable space.

Let's look around the paint department in Figures 5 and 6. Note the battery jumper (near the red box) on the floor of the paint department. Note also the number of plastic paint cups. I counted 32 of them, and they did not have any identification labels (a possible OSHA violation). Along with potential legal problems, consider the wasted materials just sitting around. It's like throwing away money.

In Figure 7 you'll see that the shop's painter has done a good job of keeping the paint mixing room clean, but it still could use some improvement. Note the stored paint cups on the second shelf and broken air hose on the floor.

Step 3: Identify disorganization outside your building

While the outside of Greg's Autobody on first look appeared problem-free, during a closer examination, we found plenty of room for improvement. Let's look at the storage area between the shop's two buildings, building 1 and building 2, which serves as the body department.

Fig. 8 shows damaged parts next to building 2. The entrance to building 2 is next to the man door on the left. Note the license plate on the damaged bumper in Fig. 9. How much time would be lost looking for the license plate and what would happen if the part got thrown away prior to the car being finished?

In Fig. 10, note the clutter in building 2, where bodywork is performed. Also note the clutter in Fig. 11 and 12. Note the owner's toolbox, which has not been opened in two years, and obsolete equipment being stored.

Here's a short list of some other problems:

Clutter includes a paint lamp (obsolete item), spray cans and welding tank. There's also a water bottle and dispenser against the wall (more on this later).

The shop has nearly a dozen parts carts, but none were marked with repair order numbers, and most of them were filled with damaged parts of vehicles that had already been delivered.

One of the carts has a trim panel on it. One of the new standard operating procedures (SOPs) for tear down at Greg's Autobody is to wrap all glass, mirrors and interior trim in plastic.

The large door in the rear of the building opens to an alley. The blue electrical boxes to the right of the door are marked with yellow borders. There were numerous parts (doors and fenders along with water bottles) stored inside the yellow border, which is an OSHA violation. There was masking paper on a vehicle that should have been removed in the paint department.

There was a vehicle sitting in the doorway (see Fig. 13) being worked on. Think of the time wasted if that car had to be moved in order to get another vehicle in or out of the building.

Step 4: Recognize the effect of changes

Note in Fig. 14 that the parts department has been moved and another stall has been opened for tear down or assembly. The shop has moved the parts department to the area near the alley. Gunter has informed all of his vendors to make deliveries between noon and 1 p.m.

Also, most of the clutter has been removed from the detail area, although the shop continues to work on its organization. Still, two cars now can be handled in a detail area that formerly was restricted to a single car.

Remember the stored water bottles? They've been moved to clear more open space for work. Now they're stored next to the paint booth, an area that had been used for storing new parts. The shop also now is looking into installing filtered water coolers to replace the bottled water system.

In the missing room, there are no more stored paint containers on the shelf. To aid with organization, the shop has ordered gun holders.

Note Fig. 15. Where there were more than 30 paint cup containers, now there are none. Perhaps more importantly, all the paint containers now have an OSHA-approved label.

Let's look at the changes at building 2. The outside area that previously was used for scrapped parts now is being used as a staging area for the parts carts. Gunter is constructing an overhang to help protect the carts from the elements.

Note in Fig. 16 that the parts carts all are marked with a customer's repair order number. The shop also purchased another half dozen parts carts. Having enough carts also helps to ensure that they will continue being used. Parts receiving also has been moved to building 2.

To aid with vehicle tear down during estimates, there now is a hoist in front of this area. A computer terminal has been installed, so the estimator can now write a complete estimate here.

The shop also addressed the clutter in the yellow-bordered area near the electrical box. All the parts have been removed from this area. The shop next will mark the floor to ensure that there will be no parts stored in this area.

The shop also designated a section of the building as equipment areas 1 and 2 for equipment storage. This area soon will have markings to designate where each piece of equipment goes. Also, the owner's old toolbox, along with the obsolete equipment, have been removed.

The shop made all of these changes in one month while it still was handling a steady workload. The difference is amazing. Fig. 17 shows this difference. Where there was once disorganization, now there is a neat, organized space where repairs can be performed efficiently. For those of you interested in "going lean," we now have the base for a lean organization.

Step 5: Continue making improvements

No shop meets a point where the chore of organizing is complete. Shops need to continue organizing as they add new equipment and make changes. It is an ongoing process requiring continuous improvement.

The folks at Greg's Autobody know their job isn't finished. As they move forward, they see and experience the rewards every day of whipping their shop space into shape.