Episode 2
0:04
Hey there.
0:04
It's Jason Stall, and I'm bringing you episode 2 of a brand new special podcast series sponsored by Sherwin-Williams called Paint, Productivity and Profit.
0:13
And today, my special guest is Troy Stone.
0:15
He is the global marketing manager for Collision Core.
0:17
Welcome, Troy.
0:18
Thank you, Jason.
0:19
It's great to be here to talk to you today.
0:21
Sure.
0:21
And I'm glad you're here.
0:22
So today we're going to talk about shops, how shops can optimize their outcomes, color solutions, diagnostics and better inventory management with Collision Core.
0:31
Can you tell us about this system?
0:32
Yeah, the Collision Core suite of digital programs is a very intuitive, intelligent and interconnective platform here.
0:41
And what we try to do with this platform is Dr.
0:44
efficiencies in shop, optimize labor and material and give shops an at a glance view of how they're performing inside of our collision core suite of tools.
0:56
We've got different programs.
0:58
We start out with our state-of-the-art collision core color program, which helps technicians get to the right color quick, fast and efficiently.
1:10
When they tie our camera or our spectro into that, it helps them to make sure they dial that color in accurately to make sure that they've got the materials they need to be able to get that car out.
1:22
We have collision core inventory and this is our material cost controlling program as well as a material recovery program to be able to produce billable repair invoices so shops can document what they used on that particular repair order to make sure that they meet that OEM spec and do that safe and proper repair.
1:46
When we connect all these together, we provide this in what we call collision core diagnostics and that is our business intelligence tool that provides a visual dashboard for these shops to be able to see their performance.
2:00
Being able to see where their opportunities are in their shops and be able to sit down with their Sherwin-Williams representative to find solutions to improve the metrics that may not be meeting their expectations.
2:13
And then finally, the latest addition to our Collision Core program is what we call Collision Core Pronto.
2:20
This is our automated dispensing system that saves a lot of time for technicians.
2:26
Because of this program connected with our Collision Core color, all the technician needs to do is send the formula to the system and it can produce 6 mixes simultaneously with no engagement from the technician.
2:41
So everything we do with these is to drive efficiency, optimize that labor and material, and give that at a glance for you to help a shop perform the way they want to perform.
2:53
Wow.
2:53
I mean, we truly are living in a digital world.
2:55
I I sent my first e-mail 10 years ago by just kidding.
2:59
So tell me how this whole system works.
3:02
Yeah, the system works because it is interconnected.
3:06
We call it optimizing the collision center and we take data directly from a Body Shop management system such as the repair order, details of your bank model, labor hours and we bring that into our collision core color tool.
3:23
From there, the technician can mix all the ingredients that they would need on collision core color and when they close that batch, that information can come to collision core inventory.
3:33
From there we can do multiple things.
3:36
We can deduct from their on hand values to automatically place orders from them, and we take that information and start to build that billable repair invoicing, documenting everything that the shop's using to repair that vehicle back to a safe and proper repair.
3:53
From there we can take all the data and put that into that diagnostics tool.
3:59
That diagnostics tool really is the heartbeat of our whole program because that helps that shop owner manager know where they're struggling, where they're doing well, and how can Sherwin-Williams and our partners help them improve those metrics.
4:16
Yeah, I'm glad you brought up Paint Materials, P&M, right?
4:19
It's a huge expense at the shop.
4:22
It's mind boggling to see what the shops spend on a monthly basis on that stuff.
4:27
So tell me, does Collision core, how does Collision Core help shops track and manage those expenses?
4:33
You know, that's a great question.
4:34
And you know, you brought up that expense.
4:37
And as we know, claims are going down.
4:40
Shops are trying to find ways to generate more revenue, be able to generate more profit.
4:45
And with Collision Core inventory, we can definitely help them out by setting a budget, being able to make sure that they are adhering to that budget.
4:55
We offer our alerts to them about that budget.
4:57
So when they get there, they can start to make decisions on are my sales down and my sales up?
5:03
Am I trending the right way?
5:05
But we also make sure that we optimize that material that they have on the shelves.
5:10
So with our systems and the integrations that we have, we have a system that we call automated liquid replenishment and we make sure that everything that's mixed across the scale is deducted right.
5:22
And we only reorder when necessary.
5:25
We want to make sure they've got the right amount of material at the right place to be able to repair the cars and not stop production.
5:32
That's that's genius.
5:33
Wow.
5:35
So insurance allotments and tracking their inventory and material usage and invoicing building.
5:41
We know that's critical, right?
5:42
With insurance companies having a accurate invoice and they need to see what you spent on the job.
5:48
Talk to me about that.
5:49
Yeah.
5:50
You know, in this day and age, we need to document everything that we're doing.
5:53
We need to make sure that we are following the OEM repair procedures and we want to make sure that everything that we're doing is documented.
6:01
And with our interconnectivity of getting that proper repair order information pulled into our systems, the technicians mixing all their liquid ingredients, their primers, their color, their clear coat down to the grams, we gather that information and we start to build that billable repair invoice.
6:20
From there, we have the ability or the shop has the ability to add what we call repair kits.
6:27
So if they were doing a quarter repair or a door skin repair, they could build these kits and easily be able to Add all the materials that they're using and they can drop those down to decimals so they really get to that accurate level.
6:41
They can also add line items, ingredients as well, such as Q pads or nozzle tips, oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid, being able to have that comprehensive billable repair invoice of everything that they put into that vehicle.
7:00
From there, because we connect with Body Shop management systems, we have a bi directional connection that if the customer wanted to, they could submit that repair order invoice directly back into their Body Shop management system and have it go right on to that estimate.
7:17
Yeah, that's right.
7:18
That's great.
7:18
Because you know, leakage, we hear about shops all the time.
7:20
They tell me at the end of the year, they look back at the books and they go, Oh my God, I lost all this money on PNM because I didn't track this or that.
7:26
So that's, that's brilliant.
7:28
Troy.
7:28
What all does the collision core track and what time and labor saving benefits are there with with collision core?
7:35
Yeah.
7:35
You know the collision core system, you know, produces a lot of reports, a lot of information.
7:40
With our collision core color program, we've got the ability to to produce VLC reports, HAPS reports, material usage out of there so that we can see if there was any over mixing, being able to identify a lot of that information.
7:57
With our inventory program, we have the ability to show purchase reports.
8:02
We can do track use or a tech usage report, try to understand how techs are using products.
8:08
Are there areas of opportunity in there where we may see an elevated use of certain pieces of sandpaper or something that try to find out what could be the leading cause to that?
8:19
And then ultimately, everything that we do, we try to pull back into that diagnostics tool, our business intelligence tool to really focus in on the KPIs that matter to that shop and say, hey, this is going well.
8:33
This is not, let's go focus in on there and let's find that solution to improve that metric because we know that one's important to you.
8:41
And so we look at it holistically and give a lot of different pieces of information for a shop to make a good decision on what's happening inside of their four walls.
8:53
KPIs, probably the three most important letters in a Body Shop, key performance metrics, touch time, cycle time.
9:02
Talk to me about how Collision Core can track those because it's so important, especially like, you know, if you have insurance customers and you're, they're measuring you against other shops in your area.
9:11
Talk to me about how Collision Core can help with that.
9:13
Yeah.
9:14
With our business intelligence tool, we've got 2 tools that we have inside of that.
9:18
The diagnostics, which talks about the individual shop and if they are a multiple shop owner, we have a tool called MSO Intelligence.
9:27
So the diagnostics tool takes that repair order data, all of our point of sales data and provides about 35 different KP is.
9:36
So we start to look at paint material usage, we start to look at overall performance metrics.
9:43
We look at cycle time, we look at touch time, we look at parts usage metrics.
9:49
And we have a unique capability of looking at insurance KP is our shops get measured every day from insurers.
9:57
We have the way to be able to show them how is that insurer doing in certain metrics so that they have an understanding of what's happening there as well.
10:06
But then we take all of those KPIs and for those multiple shop operators, we pull that all up into a dashboard for them so they can see all of their shops, they can see the enterprise averages, what's happening there, what's going on as an enterprise.
10:22
But then it's got the shop comparisons.
10:24
So it makes it easy for us to identify and sit down with that MSO owner or manager, identify the shops at not hitting those metrics and start to develop a plan on how to improve the metrics at that particular facility.
10:38
This information is updated daily.
10:41
So there is no more heaven to wait around what's happening.
10:45
We are reacting now and not waiting to see what happens later on.
10:50
The quicker we can settle a problem, the better off the shop's going to perform in that current month.
10:56
You know they have a saying if you can't measure it, you can't manage it.
10:58
You are 100% correct.
10:59
Today is the day where all shops have to be tracking this is this is great.
11:04
Does Collision Corps also help tracking labor as well as material costs?
11:08
Because they say labor is the most expensive thing in a Body Shop.
11:11
You know, everything we do, we look at trying to save labor, as I talked about with Pronto, trying to not have that painter actually have to mix the product on a scale, let the system automatically do it with our automated liquid replenishment.
11:27
As the items are mixed on the scale, Shops don't have to place orders.
11:32
Our system will automatically place orders for them, saving a lot of time on someone having to go around the shop and process and the order.
11:41
So we do everything we can to be able to reduce the time it takes.
11:46
A technician makes money banging on sheet metal and pulling the trigger.
11:50
They don't make money placing orders and we want to make sure that we take that non value added task out of their hands and put it into our hands and let our systems do that for them.
12:02
On the material cost side of it, we've got plenty of reports to be able to show them how they're purchasing, how their techs are utilizing and consuming material.
12:12
Are there areas of opportunity that we see from all the reports that we've got that we can focus our energies and our resources to help improve those metrics to get that shopped to where they need to be?
12:25
Great point, Troy.
12:26
Thank you so much.
12:27
The process of getting the collision core system installed, what is that like?
12:31
How much time does it take?
12:33
Is there a significant downtime in making this transition?
12:36
And what kind of training is involved for the shop's personnel?
12:39
You know, great question.
12:41
We start by sitting down with the shop and talking about what their standard operating repair procedures are.
12:47
And then we work to build what we call an approved product list.
12:50
And we just want to put the materials in that they need to be able to do all the repairs that they're doing.
12:57
We don't want to have five different brands of 180 grit sandpaper.
13:02
We only need one of them.
13:03
So we work hard to get that approved product list down.
13:06
Once that's done, it's pretty simple to get this up.
13:10
We get that list uploaded into our college core inventory system.
13:14
We have planograms.
13:16
So if a shop needs to organize all of their materials, we can help them lay that out, organize their shop, make sure that we've got that optimum material inside of there.
13:25
We label everything an once that's done, it's as simple as a technician or whoever's going to be placing the orders in the shop to be able to log in, pull a bar scanner and press the button, submit.
13:37
It's all the training it takes to be able to do this.
13:41
So we go and get all that work so there's no downtime inside of the shop other than training to that.
13:47
Now if we go to the more advanced version that I talked about with the automated liquid replenishment, there's a little bit more work because we got to do a physical inventory what's on hand to make sure that we are ordering the products when they are needed.
14:01
But we want to look at saving the shop that time and that money and that's why we put the effort in.
14:07
So no real downtime on the shop.
14:09
The training is pretty simple.
14:11
Scan out or scan what you need to order and let the system do the rest.
14:16
Planogram.
14:17
I like it.
14:17
I like that word collision core again.
14:21
So is there any way within the system to track help shops track themselves against other shops as far as savings?
14:29
You know, we do have inside of diagnostics a mechanism in which we show what the national average is for KPIs, so they would be able to see how they mirror up against the national average.
14:45
And then we also show what top performers do.
14:47
So we really give a good gauge of where you're at and how do you track against the national average and how do you track what we deem as top performers so they'll be able to see where they're at.
14:58
And then, OK, hey, I'm not to that level.
15:00
I want to get to that level.
15:01
What do we need to do?
15:03
We work with that them with our business consultants, all the tools that we have to put an action plan together to move that needle to where they want to get to.
15:11
You know, they say that no repair is the same, just like a snowflake, right?
15:16
Every snowflake is different.
15:17
Every repair is different.
15:19
So does this, is this a one-size-fits-all system or can it vary?
15:22
And is there, is it flexible based on each different repair?
15:26
Yeah.
15:26
With our connectivity with that Body Shop management system and pulling in that unique repair order into our system and that technician mixing all of their ingredients directly to that repair order, we are starting to get that unique mix color, everything that went on that vehicle.
15:45
And as you talked about, every repair is different.
15:47
And so we can add those kits, those repair kits directly to there based on whatever is happening, a cab corner repair, radiator support repair kit, whatever it may be or those line item adds if necessary.
16:02
And so every repair is unique, every piece of material that goes on there is unique.
16:07
And we provide that flexibility to the shop to be able to put that on in the quantities that they use.
16:14
We want to make sure that they're doing it as accurately as possible so that when they do have to ask for any potential reimbursement, it is documented properly and it followed those OEM repair procedures for that safe and proper repair.
16:28
Troy, this has been great information.
16:30
We truly are living in a digital world and it's so wonderful to know that all these tools are at collision repairs fingertips.
16:36
Where can collision repairers go For more information about the suite of roducts that is part of Collision Core?
16:43
Yeah, You know, we would always start out with going with our Sherwin-Williams sales representative or your local branch representative inside of your market.
16:52
But we're also going to have our website listed up here that they'll be able to reach out to.
16:57
There'll be a contact us page, they'll be able to fill out some information and our our marketing experts or our sales experts will reach out to them, set time up and talk about all the great solutions that Sherwin-Williams offers the industry.
17:10
Wonderful.
17:10
Thanks again, Troy.
17:11
Hey, Jason, thank you so much for today.
17:13
Really great to talk to you.
17:14
You're welcome.
17:15
I'm Jason Stall.
17:16
Thanks for watching.
