Panel One
Awards 2002Norton Best New Bodyshop National Finalist
With limited space in an inner city site, owners Ian Healey and Kelvin Lau have come up with a truly ingenious facility.
After earning a solid reputation in Matraville, near Sydney Airport, Lau and Healey decided on a move into inner city Sydney (a few doors down from Sydney 'super-shop' Perfect Auto Body) to better serve their growing prestige client-base. The site and existing building alone cost $2.35 million and since then the business has spent a further $1.4 million on a complete refurbishment of the building.
The presentation of the building, although an older structure, is immaculate and customers are in for a surprise when they mount the stairs to the huge reception area. Through large glass doors at the top of the stairs, the customer is afforded a view of the whole workshop. Along one entire wall runs two mezzanine levels, the lower of which has prestige cars stacked on it. The cars are lifted onto the level using a forklift truck and a specially designed jig. Once on the mezzanine level, the cars can be placed on rollers and pushed to the back to allow another row of cars to be lifted into place. This ingenious method of storage means extra vehicle capacity but also extra workshop capacity. "If we had put in a car lift it would have taken up two bays -- one on the shop floor and one up on the mezzanine," said Ian Healey. "This way, we have full mobility and accessibility but without the cost and space requirements of a lift."
The special forklift jig, as well as the rollers and the interior fit-out were undertaken by the staff. Another innovative feature is the wall-mounted bonnet racks.
The panel shop is equipped with the latest Car-O-Liner equipment, including the Car-O-Tronic computerised measuring system. A CAV dust extraction unit provides power to 19 individual overhead dust extraction heads. There is a five-bay sidedraft prep area, including one bay with a hoist for underside inspection and spraying as well as mechanical repairs. One of the bays is undersized and is used exclusively for parts preparation and finishing. The paint shop has six mobile infra-red systems which Healey says has sped up production "dramatically".
Although the business already closely monitors the performance of the shop, it implemented the Auto-Quote management program in September to be able to utilise its proven computerised job-costing formula. "There is definitely money in this industry if you know how to be efficient and can measure that performance," said Healey. "You can't expect 50 per cent [profit margins] on every job but 15 per cent is very achievable."
The shop is a recommended repairer for Alfa Romeo, BMW and Citroen and the management are targeting other car makers. Having said that, approximately 95 per cent of the shop's work comes from insurers. Panel One is an NRMA Insurance Preferred Smash Repairer and is recommended by CGU and Allianz.
This excellent shop is a great example of people placing confidence in this industry and through hard work and a touch of ingenuity, achieving their goals.
Who: Ian Healey & Kelvin Lau
What: 19 employees
1600 sq m workshop (incl. mezzanine)
Auto-Quote
CAV
Car-O-Liner
Lowbake
IRT, Trisk
Spies Hecker
Where: Alexandria, Sydney
When: Opened April, 2002