The 1Q1 Bodyshop Flow Management system has proved a smash hit with customers such as Monza Smash Repair in Sydney and Gino's Panel & Paint in Perth, both reporting to Paint & Panel that it has transformed the way their business functions and has improved cycle times.
It was developed on-site at Midland Smash Repairs, Perth WA by owner Paul Smith. The idea was to plug the gap in the market for a software product that provided adequate visibility and control of the flow and management of jobs through the repair process.
Insurance company RAC was so impressed that it has adopted 1Q1 as the preferred repair management system for its repairer network to promote better cycle times, and facilitate the communication of customer updates.
Smith is a member of Car Craft and getting big support by Western Australian members, with 15 business now at various stages of implementation and another handful ready to sign up.
Smith said ‘the feedback from users has been fantastic, many have seen significant improvements in efficiency and profitability, we have designed the program from the ground up from the business owners point of view, so its designed by a repairer for the repairer’.
1Q1 manages the flow of a job through the entire repair process from booking of assessment to the point of customer pickup and invoicing. It provides screens that graphically display the status of all jobs in process and provides the entire team with the information required to prioritise and process the work efficiently.
The bodyshop team use the software via mobile devices to claim and release jobs at each repair stage, enabling highly detailed tracking of work performed on each job.
Some key features of 1Q1 include:
- Tools to intelligently book in jobs for repair so that the flow of work is steady and optimised to the output capability of the shop.
- Tools to prioritise and manage the flow of repair jobs through the shop resulting in a higher volume of work processed.
- Inbuilt quality checklists presented to the worker at each stage of repair to ensure high quality of work and engagement of the workers in the process, giving them a sense of accountability and worth.
- High visibility of performance and profitability data of both the shop and individual workers.
- Automated graphic customer notifications sent as each repair stage is completed resulting in significant improvements in customer satisfaction ratings.
- Reporting and invoicing tools to assist the ability of the shop to meet average cost targets.