Mark Brady is a second generation repairer who has significantly expanded the workshop and its team since taking over. He is constantly refining processes to maximise efficiency.
Brady's Body Works is an old shop, the business was founded by Mark's father Ray in 1968. It doesn't have the luxury of the ideal flow that brand new purpose-built shops have. Light repairs are housed under the same roof as the paintshop and offices, while structural repairs are carried out in an adjoining building.
What Brady has done is to maximise working efficiency through a logical layout, modern estimating methods, employing 5S and Lean Six Sigma techniques and the latest in business software including Planning Plus.
Brady is on the board of the MTA Institute of Technology and chairman of I-CAR so it's safe to say that that both he and his "excellent crew", as he describes them, are highly trained in all of the latest repair methods and methodologies.
"We involve staff in everything we do, all of our standards and processes and any changes we make to our working methods," Brady says. There's a toolbox meeting every Monday morning where any processes that has failed is discussed along with how to fix it, as well as two daily production meetings to ensure everyone knows what's expected of them.
Brady employs on attitude rather than ability on the grounds that it is difficult to teach someone to have a good attitude.
It's a busy shop, repairing between 40-50 cars per week with 26 staff.
Parts are pre-ordered and mirror-matched and staff take an extra 20-25 minutes to properly X-Ray the car when estimating so that nothing crops up to interrupt a smooth repair process and that all work is agreed to before the car is worked on. Parts relating to a job are clearly labelled red, yellow or green. Green means they are all in, yellow means that whatever is missing won't impact the car's progress and red means don't start working on the car.
This business ticks all the boxes - environmentally responsible including solar panels (the paint shop is transitioning to waterborne), efficient, quality-oriented, customer-focused and totally up to date in repair methods. Brady has created a culture of excellence in his team that has translated into a very productive shop.