Nestled amid the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, Concours Collision Centres in Calgary, Alberta, always strives to reach new peaks of success through innovations in its management and repair strategies.
In 2004, the company fully embraced lean production techniques by conducting a Kaizen event facilitated by a team of collision industry colleagues who had experience in making body shops lean. Based on Japanese Kaizen principles initially formulated by Masaaki Imai (roughly translated, to break and make better), the concept involves creating a continuous, top-driven, bottom-executed, philosophical and people-related improvement model.
"It was pretty radical," says CEO and president Ken Friesen, who says he was the first Canadian body shop owner to take the lean approach. "That was the defining moment of changing the entire organization within a two-week period. We have little mini-Kaizen events all the time to upgrade the processes. Lean isn't something that's done, it's something you do."
Steps leading to the transition included years of studying and reading books in conjunction with belonging to the Coyote Vision Group, which had progressive-minded members who were highly supportive of Friesen's endeavors. "It has probably been the single most important thing I've done to learn and grow," says Friesen, who's primarily associated with a PPG-sponsored 20 Group.
Under a Kaizen plan, every aspect of the business is scrutinized in the quest to reduce all waste and establish ultra-efficient operational methods without using unnecessary effort.
"By following the same rules day in and day out, you can see what you have to do next, and you can go to the important places to make changes," Friesen says. "When you have a set of rules about how to play the game, it makes it much easier to make decisions. I use the term rules, but it's a process, and people are fully trained on the process."
On the shop's floor, the company created a continuous workflow, moving a production line of cars bumper to bumper.
Documentation is the dominant driver of real-time administration that is always steering the process. A car can't leave the facility until paperwork is done. Unlike traditional methodology, the technician doesn't own the car; instead, the system owns the car, which is a big change from a flat-rate technician. Because everyone has a stake in the outcome, everyone works together to achieve common goals.
"Some people weren't willing to make the change – they just didn't buy into it – so we lost a few people, but my company has never been stagnant anyway," says Friesen, who wouldn't recommend most people implement a complete change in their operation in two weeks without competent facilitated consulting. "It was difficult with staff in the first year, but people now tell me that if they leave here they'd leave the industry because they couldn't go back to the old ways of doing things."
In part because Canada has the lowest unemployment rates in North America, finding, retaining and developing high-quality employees is among Concours' biggest challenges. The company operates under a set of values that's been the cornerstone of its success. Its culture promotes teamwork, open communication and entrepreneurship. It wants goal-oriented team players who have a constant willingness to exceed customer expectations and personal pride in doing the job right the first time. Realizing that having trusted mentors helps motivate innovation, Friesen has cultivated these types of relationships for a while.
"My partner's father in the 1970s was a bookkeeper, and he taught me to pay myself first and the importance of sound financials," he says. "In the '80s, certified accountant taught me an ever-higher level of financial accountability, as well as budgeting and the 1 percent factor: When you are looking at improving your business and seeing it in 1 percent or less increments, you're pretty well in control of your business and finances." Friesen sees too many industry colleagues taking too big a bite when trying to enhance their operations, such as immediately seeking a 5 percent reduction in the cost of materials.
"Most people are looking at much larger growth than they can accomplish effectively," he says. "When you're looking at those kinds of numbers, you are running all over the place rather than honing in on what is more readily attainable." Since its inception in 1981, Concours has grown from a 3,000-square-foot location to two repair facilities. Presently, a third site is under construction.
"We tend to look for underserved markets, conduct market research and make the decision," Friesen says. "We are a company that looks for continued, calculated growth. A healthy company is constantly growing. It's a matter of the rate at which you want to grow your company. There is no standing still. You are going forward or you are going backward."
Friesen started sanding cars at age 15, fixed his first Corvette at 17 and started a Corvette shop at 20. He went broke at 21 and worked for someone else for four years paying off his debt. At 25, he started another shop and sold it to his partner three years later, in 1980, when he was 28.
Friesen started Concours in 1981 with a young kid cleaning and polishing cars. By 1985, the business had grown steadily enough to move to an 8,000-square-foot facility. In 1990, it relocated to its current 30,000-square-foot headquarters building. The second 18,000-square-foot location opened in 2001. The demographics surrounding the new site involve a high commercial and residential population coupled with a paucity of competing shops.
Concours participates in five direct repair programs (DRPs) with major Canadian insurers, which amounts to 70 percent of the company's business. The carriers have been pursuing a European-influenced procurement model under which they supply the parts and materials.
"That's the big buzz in Canada right now," Friesen says with a subtle reference to the common perception the north-of-the-border culture is more laid back. "Insurers in Canada tend to work a little better with the shops than what I'm hearing about in the U.S."
Friesen maintains good relations with insurance companies by staying in contact with them and providing a hassle-free, high-quality product with high customer satisfaction. And his scope of civic and industry involvement is wide.
Concours carries the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval and has received numerous accolades from assorted area chambers of commerce along with an ethics award from the Better Business Bureau of Southern Alberta. The company is a member of CertifiedFirst, a network of more that 1,800 quality rated collision repair professionals in North America. Friesen was among the founders of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF), serving as its first chairman from 1998 to 2001.
"It's important to stay abreast of what's going on today," he says. "Creating relationships in different organizations is invaluable."
For more information, visit www.concours.ab.ca.
