Page 61 - Australian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2020

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STAFF: 15
OTHER SERVICES: PDR TYPE OF REPAIRS: All types SIZE: 600m2
CARS PER WEEK: 35-40 OEM: Subaru, Volkswagen
SAM STREET
Dario is passionate about the
industry, serves on the MTA, constantly networks and soaks up every bit of knowledge he can. Every
time we visit there are improvements.
JUDGE POWELL
Dario continues to improve and fine
tune his business. His devotion and commitment to training is evident in the workplace where goals are achieved
in a calm and efficient manner.
U
SHOP STATS
CLOCKWISE FROM MAIN: Eblen team; sharp, modern reception; Eblen makes use of the latests in paint and curing technology.
That’s how we drive our business, whether those answers are bad or good, so we know when we’re failing and we’re not failing.”
One of the places where Eblen is clearly not failing is in staff training (an issue on which Tonon has elo- quently written for Paint and Panel). The team regularly hold I-CAR train- ing sessions in their break room, which everyone is reportedly keen to attend. And, Tonon isn’t shy about his crew’s achievements either.
“Because we’re on the Road to Gold, I decided to frame and hang our I-CAR training certificates on this wall,” he ex- plains. “I think it’ll look impressive when they’re all complete.”
The team’s achievements are regularly posted on the walls of the workshop, too, for a little extra motivation.
“When we have customers that say nice things, we put them up to get the boys all excited,” says Tonon, waving his hand around the workshop.
During South Australia’s brief down- time in May, Tonon and the team took the opportunity to reconfigure the work- shop, spacing out the bays, moving the spare parts and adding hidden storage around the outside.
“We’ve had some changes to the work- shop: particularly to the spare parts, so they don’t hit you in the face,” he ex- plains. “We put a wall two-and-a-half metres from the back wall so they can hide all their toolboxes and the work- shop doesn’t look cluttered. And, we put in air-lines up on the roof so they’re out of the way and there aren’t any exten- sions running along the ground.”
With the toolboxes, cables and spare parts out of the road, the space was sud- denly free to actually work on cars.
“We have an Autorobot that we use, and there’s a four-poster in the middle of the workshop that’s proven to be very useful,” Tonon says. “They’re what we call our ‘luxury bays,’ given how wide they are. But it definitely does work out to be a more effi-
cient area.”
And finally, in the so-called
downtime, Eblen made the invest- ment in a new solar photovoltaic sys- tem to help tip the factory’s carbon emissions (and energy costs) closer
to zero. “We didn’t muck about,” Tonon says. “We’ve got 60kW of power here in the main shed and another 30kW in the office to reduce those costs.”
With the improvements to the work- shop bedded down, Tonon and the staff at Eblen are trying out new strategies to attract customers.
“Right now, I’m giving away Car Craft Excess Plus vouchers which pay up to $500 towards an excess. I only started using them in July and we’ve already had two customers from it,” says Tonon. “Those people who have claimed the $500 love the savings and we get more business, it’s a win, win. It doesn’t mean I can buy cattle stations any time soon, but even tiny drops of water will fill up a bucket.” #shinywisdom
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