This young, enthusiastic team are a breath of fresh air. Hard working and ambitious, we see a bright future for them.
avid & Clarissa Iacobucci have expanded DSI Panels with this second shop in Croydon, the first is in Blackburn. David bought 50% of the business in 2006 and the couple bought the business outright in 2014 with the aim of building on strong foundations to take DSI Panels to the next level. They opened this shop at the beginning of the year.
They tried a number of different configurations to find the most productive layout and are happy with how it is now. It’s a flexible layout, the only equipment fixed is the Car-O-Liner and the two speed benches, so if there’s any change in the type of work they carry out the workflow can be adjusted. They are sitting comfortably at 40 per week of mainly ‘valet’ (drivable) repairs but reckon they can do much more than that. David is keen to get the processes absolutely fine tuned before they take on any more volume, but says that they are nearly there with production running smoothly.
DSI Panels undertake a lot of Suncorp and A&G work and have secured a number of fleet and dealership contracts. They also carry out hail work and have a PDR technician in house.
They spent a fair bit getting the floor polished but it is a real wow factor. At 60 mpa its three times harder than normal concrete, so should be long lasting. The black walls surprisingly don’t make the shop too dark, even though it was a horrible day when we visited and the corporate colours and imagery are very strong. There’s excellent signage everywhere.
The paintshop is by MN Spraybooths and includes an IR arch, the paint mixing room is immaculate and they have instilled the right culture for the team to keep the shop clean and tidy.
This energetic team is laser focused on doing everything right. DSI Panels believes in developing all of its staff and is I-CAR Gold accredited, they also offer staff performance bonuses and regular team dinners. They are Green Stamp Level 3 and were recently awarded a certificate in Excellence of Health, Safety and Wellbeing. Clarissa manages all financial and back of house functions and Daniel looks after compliance. What’s does the future hold? Look out for a third site in Victoria soon and then the plan is to branch out into other states.
powell’s points
This is an excellent example of the new generation repair facilities. David and Clarissa started with a sound business plan and blank canvas, which encompasses well defined adaptable work areas including state of the art repair, realigning and refinishing equipment and infrastructure to cater for any situation in this ever-changing industry.
shop stats
Size: 2000m2
Staff: 20
Type of repairs: Mainly drivable
Avg cars repaired PW: 40
Avg key to key: Drive 4-, Non Drive 8