Carbeat, AkzoNobel’s digital production communication board was introduced 18 months ago and has proved to be a huge asset to the early adopters.
A mere swipe of the finger is all you need to radically improve workshop production with Carbeat. It also delivers strong analytics for the owners to help them throughout the entire bodyshop process.
This intuitive, high visual workshop management system drives staff engagement and empowers everyone to engage and share responsibilities at all levels. As it’s is a cloud-based program, updates happen in real time and everyone can see, at a glance, the status of any job.
Sally O’Meara, General Manager at Bendigo Accident Repair Centre in Bendigo, Victoria has been using Carbeat since October 2018. “It Is a great communication tool,” she said, “The fact that it’s live means everyone knows where we are throughout the working day.
O’Meara appreciates the minimal data input time; “It’s really easy to prioritise jobs. It works really well on a production level as it is driven by the floor.
“At a glance we can establish what part of the repair process is being performed to any car for reporting purposes. It provides accurate information for updating our customers as well.
“The tiles are colour coded to identify what day of the week a car is going and the large screen is highly visible across the floor. Our staff know exactly what is happening and what job to start next. It increased our efficiency over night by 20%. Our staff also take ownership of moving the tiles through the system and feel a sense of accomplishment when they move a tile from one column to the next,” she said.
The greatest resistance to new software and working practices can often come from the floor but O’Meara says the transition was seamless and easy.
“CarBeat is very quick to learn. The team AkzoNobel were terrific at install and provide great back up. We came across from a scheduling programme that we believed over complicated what should be easy – knowing our capacity and what cars are coming and going.
“Our workshop is very dynamic so this is critical. Our staff are very progressive so embracing Carbeat wasn’t an issue. We communicated the change with them some weeks prior to it happening so they were aware and prepared.”
Carbeat is exclusive to Sikkens. More info: Katia Gridina : 03 9644 1711 or visit: Chooseacoat.com.au/carbeat