Backtrack 2011: First peek inside Capital S.M.A.R.T

Capital S.M.A.R.T's innovative approach to small and medium repairs looks set to fundamentally change the industry. Sam Street went to S.M.A.R.T's headquarters and purpose-built flagship centre in East Bentleigh, Melbourne, to find out why.

The average Captial S.M.A.R.T repair takes just nine hours from meet and greet to ready for collection, but it can take as little as two.

Essentially, it provides a next day service. It doesn’t seem an exaggeration to say a repair revolution is underway.

How do they do it? It’s all down to chief operating officer and director and S.M.A.R.T mastermind Jim Vais. He has a meticulous attention to every single detail of the business from process, staff training, teamwork and logistics to state of the art equipment sourced from all over the world. And if that equipment still doesn’t satisfy his obsession for efficiency, then he invents something that will and gets someone to build it. There is simply nothing traditional in his approach to the business.

Vais’ total passion for cars was evident right from the start – he took his dad’s car apart at least 10 times and painted it three times which must has been inconvenient for his taxi driver father: “I think he had the only red taxi in Melbourne – he got pulled off the road pretty quick!” Vais says. 

Vais started out in the business at just 14, sweeping the floors in a bodyshop. At 15 he was doing his apprenticeship at Bernie Mack Motor Repair in Melbourne.

At just 21 he was ready to go into business himself – boss Mack offered him a partnership, perhaps wisely seeing that it would be better to have him on board rather than in competition. By 2002 there were eight shops around Victoria and Vais had even bought into the tow truck industry to understand the business from every aspect. “I was still in the traditional mind set – I thought that I ran a good business,” he says. “But I was working long hours and not getting enough time to see my family. I thought there must be a quicker way to do this, quicker for me and quicker for the customer.

Getting S.M.A.R.T
By 2005 the S.M.A.R.T process was formulating in Vais’ organised mind. He decided to go on a globe-trotting fact-finding mission to check out the latest equipment available, to look at how other smash repairers operated and to see what he could bring back to Australia to help him realise his ideas. 

“I went to see a couple of big bodyshops in Singapore and Italy, amongst others. What I saw was a lot of new technology but not a lot of process to go with them. “ His focus was on paint technology, particularly from the drying and curing aspect. 

The outcome of all that research, planning and slavish attention to detail is the S.M.A.R.T process and the philosophies behind it which include a highly rewarded and focused team approach from the staff. “I think the concept is unique,” Vais says. 

On the table in the training room is a process plan of the facility with model cars to demonstrate through put. There are no bottlenecks in the S.M.A.R.T system. Vais explained his concept to some of the insurance companies and it was Suncorp that embraced it. The relationship is described as a partnership and Vais emphasises strongly that Capital S.M.A.R.T is a stand-alone, autonomous company.

In 2006 Vais converted one of his ‘traditional’ shops in Victoria into a prototype S.M.A.R.T shop. The changes in process doubled the number of cars repaired and halved the time the vehicle was on the road. “So now we can really see some benefit for the customer, with a high quality quick repair – no one likes being without their car.”

With Suncorp highly impressed with the quality and speed of S.M.A.R.T’s repairs, Vais and his team developed more facilities. In 2007 Vais also managed the build at East Bentleigh site, controlling every aspect of the fitting until its opening in 2009. Now there are six S.M.A.R.T shops in operation – three in Victoria, one in NSW, and one in Adelaide. Two more will open in May – one in Brisbane and an eighth shop in Cabramatta, Sydney.

“S.M.A.R.T’s future growth depends on demand,” he says. “The insurance and fleet companies are increasingly attracted to our service. We’ve developed six shops in six years, we’re taking small steps.”

S.M.A.R.T teamwork 
One of the practices Vais brought back to Australia from his travels was inspired by an Italian workshop, which bought the café next door to feed its staff. Vais provides morning tea and lunch for his employees. “I’m very focused on training and working conditions,” he says, so much so that he has founded his own S.M.A.R.T training academy in Victoria. It trains staff in the ways of S.M.A.R.T’s technology and processes and is also used for research and development purposes. 

Vais’ unconventional approach to recruitment has also paid dividends. As far as attracting youngsters into the business, he talks to the trade schools and local institutions. “We run a two-week training course. When they get their training certificate they can work in our shops as part of the team straight away, learning from the skilled workforce on the job.

“We aren’t just offering them a job but a career, they have the opportunity to learn about every aspect of the trade. Not only that but they are paid even when they are training.

“The S.M.A.R.T team are like a pit crew in the way they work – teamwork is everything. But we do also have a system which recognises individual 
development.”

Vais gives an example of his non-traditional approach to recruitment: “One of our managers comes from the hospitality industry – he’s used to managing 200 people a day. It’s great to blend people with expertise from different backgrounds with skilled industry experience.”

The process 
The process, allied with the latest technology, is where Capital S.M.A.R.T’s strength lies. The company is understandably protective of its innovative work flow system. Vais sums it up as “an effective combination of customer engagement, an efficient  supply chain model, streamlined productions processes and innovative technology and engineering designed to produce a quality, timely repair”.

What else is different?
The ‘job sheets’ are displayed on screens on the workshop wall.  The workshop is totally efficient, designed for a clear flow and clear space. Everything irrelevant to fixing the customers’ cars is positioned outside of the workshop. 

The super-efficient process means that smaller staffing and workspace is needed to achieve high volume, expert repairs.

Lean and green
Vais is fully committed to sustainability. Initiatives include the paperless job system, water recycling, fast curing techniques, use of waterborne paints and other efficiencies which mean S.M.A.R.T’s energy usage per repair is, according to Vais, 50 per cent lower than other industry models.

Consistency

Vais aims for uniformity at each site. Processes must be identical. Staff from established sites go to new facilities to work alongside the newly trained staff. In the HQ at East Bentleigh, Vais has the computerised job sheets from each of the six sites on individual screens. He has web cams in each workshop to see what’s going on at any time in the S.M.A.R.T network. 

Vais is totally dedicated and passionate about every aspect of this business and says that his brain is constantly whirring with ways to be more efficient and faster and yet still achieve top quality repairs. 

 “What we offer is a solution for our customers,” he says. His solution will undoubtedly raise a raft of questions with other smash repairers who will need to look at their own working practices in order to compete.