CRA Product News – USA
Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes has introduced the Collision Core Quality App, the first of several feature-rich applications by Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes designed to strengthen and stabilize any body shop’s business.
The Quality App will provide measurable outcomes in the form of:
- Reduced costs with quality repairs
- Reduced repair liability and protection against claims
- Increased employee engagement and on-the-job satisfaction
- Increased customer satisfaction with quality repairs – every time
This easy-to-use, fully-mobile app provides in-process, time-stamped, peer-to-peer quality verification and validation assurance – delivering manageable data insights, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction and ultimately, peace of mind.
Shop Benefits
Real-time validation. The Sherwin-Williams Collision Core Quality App works in real-time, so there are no delays in communication and
reporting, or any last-minute surprises, which improves repair confidence and on-time delivery.
Validation by repair phase. The app enables users to conduct in-process repair validation by repair phase. Reducing rework costs and eliminating in-process quality delays, which in turn improves on-time delivery, cycle time, technicians’ productivity and profitability.
Validation by estimating line. The app enables users to conduct in-process repair validation by estimating line, ensuring consistent quality throughout the repair and eliminating last-minute surprises. Customer satisfaction is improved, and reworks are reduced.
The repair process. The app enables users to create time-stamped documentation and/or photographs detailing how the repair was performed, creating a level of repair validation that is normally not visible at the final QC or after the vehicle has been reassembled. This reduces repair liability and gives you peace of mind knowing that you can evidence that the repair was performed correctly.
Visualize defects. The app enables users to communicate and document defects by highlighting and annotating problem areas directly onto photographs from within the App, this focuses the recipient’s attention on the precise problem area. This saves time explaining and describing issues, which in turn results in an increase in productivity.
Improve communication. The app enables users to receive texts and alerts via their handheld device. This reduces work interruptions and the amount of time spent searching for people and seeking information/assistance – greatly reducing the amount of time spent addressing quality delays and failures. Users can request assistance for parts, supplements and inspections with just one click. This real-time communication function reduces chaos, improves productivity and provides data-rich analytics to help address reoccurring issues.
Customizable SOP. The app allows customizable in-process validation procedures that can be further tailored to suit the customer’s own SOP. Each step of the repair includes a well-defined and agreed upon set of individual and departmental responsibilities. This helps manage complexities and changes to historical ways of working – delivering consistency on every repair.
Peer-to-peer validation. The app increases the number of quality inspectors with your business by enabling peer-to-peer validation on every repair, which further reduces the number of reworks, reduces liability and gives you peace of mind that the repair was performed correctly.
Employee Benefits
Fully mobile. The Sherwin-Williams Collision Core Quality App is a
mobile application which works on both Apple and Android devices, removing the need for any special equipment and enabling quick deployment across the business. Also available on desktop, where needed, and for enhanced administrative controls.
API compatible. The app is API compatible with most management systems, enabling easy data transfer and removing the need for double entry and special equipment – saving you time, energy and money.
Customizable user access. The app has customizable user profiles, enabling access levels to be defined by the user’s skill set and departmental responsibilities. This puts you in control and focuses the user’s attention by reducing visibility of unnecessary information.
Easy to use. The app has simple, easy-to-follow navigation, which is intuitive and easy to learn, removing any barriers of use and enabling easy adoption and continued use within the team.
Reduce idle time. The app notifies the next labor phase that the vehicle is ready, which improves productivity by reducing the time the vehicle sits idle.
Quick access. The app has simple sorting filters to assist the user in finding the repair order in the most convenient way, such as RO number, status, repair phase or by technician which improves operational control and saves time.
Assign technicians to specific repairs. The app enables you to assign technicians or teams to specific repairs to ensure the highest levels of productive efficiencies are achieved and due dates are met.
Real-Time Data Analytics
Parts mistakes. The Sherwin-Williams Collision Core Quality App gives
users the ability to capture and report on parts mistakes or defects, which helps track and eliminate the number one reason vehicles miss delivery dates – resulting in improved cycle time and touch time by lowering the work in-process and opening up capacity while the problem is rectified.
Supplement frequency. The app gives users the ability to capture and report on supplement frequency which helps track and eliminate the number two reason vehicles miss delivery dates – resulting in improved cycle time and touch time by lowering the work in-process and opening up capacity while the problem is rectified.
Simple reporting. The app has a comprehensive range of reports that eliminate the guesswork of finding the root cause so efforts can be focused on eliminating errors, improving cycle and touch times and opening sales capacity. The customizable reporting range enables you to analyze trends over 30-, 90- and 180-day periods, giving further insight into the cause.
Reporting failure types. The app has a visual dashboard showing the top five failure types so you can quickly see the trends and any departmental delays, enabling you to discover opportunities and solve the biggest concerns using fact rather than guesswork, in an effective and timely manner.
Reporting by employee. The app has a reporting function that identifies quality by technician/estimator, which means you can focus on eliminating errors and identifying training and skill levels using fact rather than guesswork.
Reporting work stoppage. The app measures the true cost in dollar value of poor quality by recording time lost due to quality issues.
Reports first-time quality. The app has a visual dashboard showing the number of repairs completed the first time without defects, providing an easily shareable and measurable performance indicator.
Save compulsory photographs. The app stores, by repair order, any photographs that are required to be taken before a certain task (such as a weld) can be passed into an easy-to-access folder.
Customer Benefits
Customer quality checklist. The Sherwin-Williams Collision Core Quality App easily prints a customized quality checklist for customers – providing
additional reassurance and a higher level of satisfaction. The checklist also enables front office staff to easily explain, to the customer, all the various operations that were carried out on the vehicle.
On-time delivery. The app in-process quality validation stops any last-minute reworks from occurring, which historically are only picked up during end-of-job quality checks. This greatly improves on-time delivery and customer satisfaction.
More Information
If you missed Sherwin-Williams’ three-part webinar series on “Quality in Collision Repair” that culminated with the reveal of the app, click here.
For more information on the app, click here.
Credit to Bodyshop Business.