Axalta Services is designed to ensure the company’s relationship with its customers extends beyond products and colour technology, helping them to achieve success by optimising their efficiency, productivity and sustainability.
The program’s services include personalised consulting and coaching, training courses on best practice procedures using LEAN and pre-LEAN concepts, industry networking opportunities, and access to marketing and managing tools.
SmashTec owner Scott Stephens has been a long time user of the service and says the evolution of the service has greatly assisted his business.
“What I’ve been working on with Axalta is how we do it on the floor right through to the office. Looking at the whole big picture, rather than just the paint.
“We’ve got them working in the paint shop with how the processes work.”
Stephens says the service has helped develop programs and processes for transitioning employees from repairer roles into office and management.
“What I had been finding is that middle management in the smash repair trade was missing. A guy comes off the floor and there is a big gap between the office and the floor.
“The Axalta programs start to develop their brain a bit more to help them think more about the business than just, ‘I’ve done three jobs for the day I’ve had enough’.
“When they move from the floor to the office you’ve got to start to develop the mentality that the dollars and cents count, otherwise we’re all gone.”
The service was also utilised by Stephens and his team when setting up his latest shop, SmashTec.
He says Axalta consultant Robin Taylor gave him the opportunity to see other shops and workspaces to get a better idea for layout and workflow structure.
“Axalta helped with the layout of SmashTec and helped set it up for flow, plus they also gave me the opportunity to speak to other panel shop owners that had already set up large facilities and visit them to see it all work.
“That gave us the knowledge to be able to set it up right. Because you can see when you go to other shops, you can see congestion spots.
Taylor and the Axalta team also provide assistance with ensuring day-to-day operations are kept to a high standard, with minimum wastage in both productivity and paint.
“If they are going through the finances and they can see an issue with the way the amount of consumables the panel shop is using, well that’s an important factor that we need to start working on.
“The same if they see we are spending to much on paint. We ask is there a process issue in the paint shop that we need to hone in on?
“I worked closely with Robin because there are a lot of criteria and things that we have to pass these days, like being as ‘green’ as we can and I-Car training. So having someone who can help you put those documents together as well is a huge help,” Stephens says.
This article was published in the November edition of Paint & Panel 2017 in the Bodyshop Processes feature.