When MD Wayne Mason-Drust sat down to consider what he should name his new bodyshop, he wanted to epitomise his philosophy of ‘repairing cars, faster and cheaper’. Wayne said: ‘Being cheap is ingrained into the process if you can utilise the right skills and adapt the correct process.’

Accident Express was born in 1998 and instantly set about moving away from the ‘traditional’ bodyshop model. This involved changing areas such as; staff skills sets, department segregation and even type of the work the bodyshop itself carried out. All of this and more formed the basis for Accident Express today, which centres on the ‘just in time’ business practice.

‘I decided that all the different departments had to be unified as one. So I labelled them with the same job title, but maintained most of their existing role ie you are a car body repairer, who for the majority of the time paints cars,’ said Wayne. ‘I found that bodyshop staff can be stuck in their ways and refuse to change their mentality. All of my staff have to adopt a new culture. For example, I teach my preppers to panel beat dents out so that the process is sped up – employees don’t have to wait for panel beaters to complete their existing job.’

Understanding all of the different elements to Wayne’s system may seem difficult for someone on the outside looking in, as Wayne hasn’t labelled or branded his process structure. However, with more examples, the effectiveness of the system can be seen, as well as the utopia which has been created.

‘The main concept is to measure anything against its process time – which will save more money long-term than cheaper products. If one primer adds five minutes to the cycle time, but costs one pound less, it’s no good to me because the five minutes is worth more. If a parts supplier offers a 25% discount, but an extra 24 hour wait, then I’d rather have a 22% discount with a guaranteed next day delivery,’ said Wayne.

Ideal environment

If any bodyshop were to implement all of the many different process time reductions, then they would create the ideal environment for repairing vehicles. Wayne admits that he has been working on achieving this goal for the past 20 years, by trying out new ideas and methods and using his first bodyshop, based in Birmingham, almost as a test centre.

An impressive aspect of Accident Express, and one that delivers a lot of time-saving efficiencies, is its work bays. Touch screen computers (for escribe, which reduces the amount of paper used) and infra-red lamps hung upside-down on rails are two innovations which save on time and costs. These both feature within all of the work bays, making it user-friendly for the technicians. The lamps, which cost £5,000 and are hung upside down on a rail, are Wayne’s unique invention.

These allow the technicians to work more productively, he says. ‘I get fast, quick results for a small investment,’ said Wayne. ‘It is far more economical than spending £30,000 on a completely new drying system.’

The network of Accident Express (which consists of three sites in Birmingham, Solihull and Rugby, as well as two mobile vans) has also been reorganised. The Solihull site works in ‘satellite’ to the Birmingham branch, meaning that all of the work is assessed before it goes into the relevant bodyshop.

‘Traditionally, the entire equipment range is needed at every individual site,’ explained Wayne. ‘However, it is only being used some of the time. Therefore, by diverting all of the ‘structural’ work to one site, I don’t need to invest in all of the equipment at every site, and the bodyshop which has all of the structural work utilises its equipment more efficiently. ’

The definitions of ‘structural’ and ‘non-structural’ are open to debate. For Wayne, however, the rule is that if it needs any jig work, it’s a structural job.

Entire cycle

Wayne is keen to point out that the processes he has devised do not have a label and cannot be pigeon-holed, such as Lean, even though the model Accident Express adopts may feature some aspects of Lean Thinking. Instead, he prefers to concentrate on influencing the methods used by the staff and changing their thought process – this also extends beyond the walls of his bodyshops.

Currently, the notion that ‘we have cut costs and the results haven’t been impacted, therefore we must be improving’ is often heard. However, Wayne’s theory is that, because of the many different variables within the repair process, the cost is only moved to another part of the process, which means that cycle times either remain static or increase.

‘The only way that this can be understood is if people look at the whole process and drive everything out of the entire cycle and not just focus on one specific area,’ said Wayne.

The relationship of all the different components of accident repair is crucial. A typical example of the repair process can involve at least one, if not more, factors such as parts delay, reworks, staff issues, equipment complications etc, which all have a bearing on the end result. As well as this, other issues are highlighted when some of them are combined together.

‘Bodyshops are constantly working within an industry that requires massive flexibility,’ said Wayne. ‘Bodyshops need to be able to fluctuate staff in correlation with its volume of work. This might even involve working more productive hours in the winter than the summer. This can also be used throughout the working day by asking technicians to have their breaks within certain downtime periods ie when a car drying.’

These variations in repair volumes can be easily measured by a bodyshop’s car park: if it’s full, it’s a good, busy bodyshop. However, this has been challenged by certain sections of the industry, including Wayne, who believes that if the car park is full, then the bodyshop isn’t completing the repairs in a productive manner, because a car which is not moving is costing money.

New generation

‘For me it’s all about my profit margins, and some of my most profitable months have been when the car park is empty for most of the time,’ said Wayne. ‘This is because the cars have been arriving at the right time and it has all been happening inside the workshop.’
Wayne doesn’t rule out the prospect of adding to his three sites and two mobile repair vans in the future. However, he believes that the priority lies in changing the traditional bodyshop model and influencing a new generation of forward-thinking repairers.

‘Since I setup the business I always said that the model is broken,’ said Wayne. ‘My processes are tried and tested and can work for everyone, providing that they are open to change. If an industry-wide culture change can start to happen, then it will change it for the      better.’