Sustainability is something every business is striving for, but there is no single route to get there.
That was the message to stem from ARC360’s latest webinar – series 3, episode 4 – which touched on the technical, environmental and human elements of sustainability.
Taking part were panellists Sam Smith, director, Fix Auto multi-site franchisee: Phil Chopping, director, Whaley Bridge ARC; and Phil Gilbert, bodyshop manager, Parkway Prestige – all of whom share the same objective, if not the same strategies.
Environment
To most people, sustainability is a green issue, relating to the preservation of the planet. That is certainly the approach being taken by Phil Chopping at Whaley Bridge, which became one of the first UK repairers to achieve PAS2060, the only globally recognised carbon neutral accreditation.
He said, ‘We’re all on the planet and we all want to look after it. I’m a father of three and want to give them something, so this just seemed like the right thing to do.’
There is also a strong business argument behind his decision.
The business case
He said, ‘By reducing carbon footprint you’ll reduce running costs. There is an initial capital investment but you will save money. It’s early days but we’ve already had good feedback from local fleets who want to work with us, local councils have also been in touch, and so have some larger fleets with 200-plus vehicles.
‘I saw it as a good differentiator as well. Being carbon neutral is a massive flag to wave to the general public. If you had the choice to repair your car at a bodyshop that was carbon neutral or one that wasn’t, you’d choose the one that was carbon neutral even if you did pay an extra £5.’
Step by step
Some of the steps Whaley Bridge has taken so far include going paperless, planning the most efficient routes for delivery/collection drivers – ‘a couple of minutes in the morning can save a couple of hours in the afternoon,’ Phil says – while also asking suppliers to make fewer, bundled deliveries.
‘We want them to bring all the parts together, we can’t do the job until we have them all anyway,’ said Phil hinting at the touch time process efficiencies within the business.
Whaley Bridge is now actively seeking similarly carbon neutral companies to work with, as it strives to reduce its footprint still further – aiming to reach net zero status by 2030.
People
No less significant to a company’s sustainability is its workforce. This is more true now than it ever has been, with the global pandemic impacting people in myriad ways, from mental wellbeing to their work-life priorities.
With apprenticeships put on the backburner and difficult trading conditions tempting many older workers to bring forward retirement plans, protecting and preserving your team is only going to become more critical.
Sam said, ‘The thing we’ve focused a lot on is looking after our people and making sure we communicate more often with them. We have a good one-to-one process in place now which we think makes us more sustainable in terms of our staff.’
Alongside two-way communication, Sam is also a great advocate of career development plans for every member of his team.
He said, ‘Work has to be fun, and if they can see how they’re developing and where they’re going it’s much more fun for them. Everyone has a tablet now and we use them during jobs to share images of repairs, but wouldn’t it be great if they also tracked your personal development, so you could come in every morning and see exactly where you were on the path in terms of training?’
Technology
A third plank of sustainability is keeping pace with technology. In today’s world we don’t use technology, we live it, and this is profoundly true in the automotive incident repair industry.
Philip Gilbert explained how Parkway Prestige, a repairer with a number of high-profile VM approvals, is future-proofing itself by ensuring it has the equipment and skills to handle the latest technology in the sector – such as ADAS repairs, which it also carries out for a number of other local bodyshops.
Its latest milestone is securing Tesla approval, a process which took two years.
Philip said, ‘We are keen on VM-approvals and decided to approach Tesla because it’s the future of electric vehicles. Getting the tooling was relatively easy, we budgeted for it over some months, but the training in Holland was a challenge due to Covid-19, which delayed things.
‘But we’ve only been approved a matter of weeks and are already getting work coming through the door, and because the labour rate is quite high because of the training involved it makes sense as a sustainable business model.’
Growth
Of course, sustainability has many moving parts and these are just a few of them.
Sam has recently unveiled a new bodyshop in Leeds, Fix Auto UK’s first purpose-built site, to help his business cope with rising volumes and process them more quickly. This too is part of securing a sustainable future.
He said, ‘Because of its location there is a lot of value in the building, so the property will gain more value than money in the bank. We’re now looking to do later shifts to utilise the space over a longer period. That doesn’t mean people working longer hours but introducing flexible shift patterns, which we know works better for some people.’
Social media working
Meanwhile, both Whaley Bridge and Parkway Prestige have engaged with social media to a greater extent to attract more business, yielding positive returns from LinkedIn and Instagram respectively, while Parkway Prestige is also considering diversification in the near future, with detailing and wrapping services both being considered for 2022.
Challenging times certainly, but the resilience and robustness of the industry is apparent wherever you look, with new models, new priorities and new solutions appearing to ensure the repair sector is in safe hands.
And all this despite Lockdown 3:0 continuing to bite. A live online poll conducted during the webinar found that 64% of respondents said claims/repair volumes are now between 40% and 80% (an even split between 40-60% and 60-80%), with 56% saying volumes had decreased slightly (38%) or significantly (18%) in the last fortnight.
