Page 85 - Australian Paint & Panel Nov-Dec 2020
P. 85

 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.A
45
 SIZE: 2800m2 workshop plus offices, reception and apartment
STAFF: 18
TYPE OF WORK: All types PER WEEK: 40
OTHER SERVICES: No OEM BADGES: Subaru
      SAM STREET
I certainly wasn’t expecting a next
level shop in Noosa. Love the quirky reception and the operating theatre
clean, ordered workshop. A business background and a passion for cars is clearly a great combination for a bodyshop owner.
JUDGE POWELL
For a smaller regional area this
extremely well presented shop is impressively in touch with technology.
It services its customers with high quality work and has become a part of the local community where recommendation and repeat business means survival.
                    U
    SHOP STATS
        ABOVE: Prep bays are clean, well specced and spacious.
FROM LEFT:
Panel shop is also spotless with all the best kit, the rec room isn’t too shabby either.
manage to get out eight cars out every day.” This is a quiet workshop (except for the twenty speakers that pump music, at low volumes, to each technician’s individual workstation). And, part of the reason for
that is COVID.
While others were panicking about
weathering the storm to come, the Bissell’s team took advantage of those six weeks from March to reflect and recalibrate.
“We run a fairly lean shop, and cutting that down is what we’ve tried to do,” he says. “Normally, you’re chasing and chas- ing. But that period allowed us to take a step back, and see that perhaps you didn’t need to chase everything. Working like that, our profit margins were better by taking a step back, maybe doing a couple less cars a week.”
The cars that are lucky enough to make it into Bissell’s arrive at the front drive, where they’re photographed for the first of four times. Once the car has a sticker slapped on the windscreen and is entered into the iBodyshop sys- tem, it officially enters the Kippen’s production line.
“We bring in eight cars a day. We do the same volume on a Friday as we do on a Monday,” he says. “With our system here,
parts are delivered the week before the ve- hicle’s received. We don’t need to carry parts and just have what we need onsite.”
Parts management is the spine of the Bissell’s operation.
“For me, the parts department is a key element in the business,” say Kippen. “Ob- viously, you’ve got to optimise the panel and paint, but that basically pays for ad- mission. Your parts, if you want, that’s where you’re going to make your margin.”
Once technicians receive the car, all of the project’s information is available at a dedicated touchscreen in their bay. From estimators bay, to panelbeaters, to spray booth to detail, and all
the way back to the customer, the
car moves in a single direction, never reversing in its movement around the factory. “That proper planning for me from the initial stage was key for me for the whole work- shop,” he recalls. “It goes into the paint booth, it comes out the front,
and it never goes backwards. It
just enables everything to flow.”
And while it sounds like Bissell’s might have actually perfected their system, Kippen doesn’t see it that way. Every Thurs- day he holds a training session for staff; a
chance to catch-up outside of the regular work-day and exchange ideas about how the business could be improved. This con- stant engagement ensures everyone has a say and they work as a team.
“Most of the guys here have been here at least five years, and they’ve stayed with us as we’ve moved from the old shop,” says Kippen. “The guys really need to want to be here.”
We don’t blame them.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS
                           



























































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