Page 106 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine Nov-Dec 2021

BEST SHOP AWARDS
106
PAINT&PANEL
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2021
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
LEFT: Professional frontage
BELOW: Much of the lifiting gear was already in place when they moved in.
it. Besides accident repairs services in- clude: Air conditioning and refrigeration, auto electrical, axle repairs, fabrications and modification, fiberglass repairs, me- chanical, brake testing, sandblasting, towing, wheel alignment and signwriting, graphics and wraps – phew.
The exterior is freshly painted and cor- porate in its presentation. Walk into recep- tion and “oh Wow” is the appropriate reac- tion. They were after a dealership feel and have hit the bullseye there with the pol- ished concrete floors, plush customer fa- cilities and we like the fish tank too. The graphics department created a stunning wall panel detailing Truckrite’s services.
Down the hall there’s a conference room/ training room and some admin offices. The operations room is also a ‘Wow”. In here work scheduling takes place. As well as using Ibodyshop there’s a huge visual work planning board with a job sheet with a decent sized photo to identify the vehicle very quickly. This is divided into: to be quoted; to be as- sessed; awaiting authorisation; ready to start; mechanical; repair paint; assem- bly; and completed.
The first area we enter is mechanical and pre-delivery. Mechanical will be moved to another new shed they have taken on, where they are also building a new dedicated sandblasting booth and plan another booth there for composite repairs. In the pre-delivery area they have a computerised brake tester which the insurance companies as they pro- duce a print out as to what state the brakes were in for every vehicle as they enter the workshop.
Next door is the paint shop where they run four booths. Two are 15m booths, their latest booth is a 19m booth with the biggest gas IR arm you’ve ever seen (and the only truck-sized one in the country).
Working with PPG and Lowbake they have developed a rapid repair stream which is giving them a huge market ad- vantage. Repairs that previously took 3-4 days now take 3-8 hours. Changing to the new Deltron paint in conjunction with the IR arch also means that where they would have had to wait a week or two before they could signwrite, now it’s just a day.
Fleets as well as owner operators are lov- ing the fast turnaround time so they are back on the road making money. Another clever feature of the paintshop is the 19m prep bay in front of the big booth which means they can paint 40m long pieces of equipment all in one go instead of in sec- tions – simply open the booth doors, lift in the equipment and away you go.
These guys are totally process driven – they have ISO accreditation for Health and Safety, Environment and Quality. There’s a laser focus on OH&S and in- vesting in equipment to make life easier and safer for technicians.
This is a supremely clean and tidy workshop throughout – bits and bobs on the floor are forbidden, there are marked clearways and walkways. To keep everything tidy there are also massive pallet racks through the busi- ness for parts storage.
Truckrite currently has around 35 staff turning out around 40 vehicles a week now the rapid stream in on line. Of those seven are apprentices. Malotsis reckons once they have the new workshop finished and are in full swing they will need 60.
I could go on for pages but suffice to say that Truckrite get’s my Editor’s Award this year for most outstanding re- pair business 2021 – so enough said.
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