Gemini pulled out all the stops with this new shop built exclusively to carry out repairs for RACQ. It breaks the mould in many respects, not least because it encompasses heavy, driveable and cosmetic repairs in an innovative layout.
Now we don't all have a couple of million dollars stashed down the back of the couch to build a shop like this, but if we did there's no saying we'd come up with something as good as Gemini Wacol.
Gemini CEO Andy Hopkins put a challenge out to his Australian executive team. He wanted Wacol to be a world leading repair facility. Managing director Peter Bubeck is confident that this has been achieved.
Every vehicle is triaged to determine which repair stream it enters, each stream has different equipment and different processes. When we visited, the shop had been operating for five weeks and was repairing about 70 cars per week while the 31 staff settled in. At full capacity, Bubeck estimates they will be able to repair up to 120.
Gemini picks up its superfast cycle time through the paintshop. Wacol is like a Symach showroom, from the power and air outlets to the extremely impressive KombiTron system which can achieve 14-16 jobs a day. The car is roll primed in a central prep bay, heavy hits are pushed to the left through a sideloading Spraytron booth and driveables are pushed to the right where they go through the KombiTron - a very impressive piece of kit. It is composed of a spraytron first booth where the painter sprays the basecoat and dries, which takes eight to 10 minutes including application, and the sprays clear and pushes the car into the KombiTron booth for the robot to dry in seven minutes for fast clear and slow clear in 13 minutes. Then the car is pushed out the other side for reassembly.
There are also two cosmetic repair booths which are self-contained eco-systems for the painters who will undertake all their work inside the booth and have their own paint mixing room. Each cosmetic booth is expected to have an output of four complete jobs a day.
To ensure everyone takes ownership of quality, Bubeck has developed a tablet-based Gemini quality charter program. Every quality control checkpoint has a list of standards and the staff member puts their name to pass those standards, so that if there are any issues the problem can easily be traced back. This program will be used thoughout the Australian Gemini network.
Reception is ultra modern with a vaulted high ceiling. Even the well lit exterior detailing bay is equipped with rails and side loading doors.
All in all, Gemini Wacol is quite simply the duck's nuts.