Diverse platform guarantees business

THREE-PART PLAN

Training may be the focus at Collision Express, but it's only one component of a complex business model, another key feature of which is the three-part platform.

When collaborating with Elaine Pappas on the structure of the new shop, coowner Rick Reichanadter drew on his experience designing shops for automotive dealerships. "One of biggest hang-ups at body shops is that dealer principles like big numbers-their philosophy is, 'Make the body shop run. We don't want to know a lot about it,'" he says. So several shops he worked with ended up tying up a lot of capital on heavy collision repair-and hurting their bottom line in the long run. He points out, "For a successful body shop to run, you need to do a lot of quick turnaround." That's where the three-part platform comes in-the new shop juggles marine, heavy collision and rapid repairs.

The wide-ranging focus guarantees the shop a variety of business but also creates some logistical issues. Reichanadter worked out the kinks and designed a shop that could maximize flow between the three areas. While the shop features the newest velocity measuring systems that can handle the heavy hits, "we're not going to do a lot of that," he says. He's planning to take in a majority of quick repair jobs that other shops often get to in between the bigger jobs. Since that's one of the three areas of focus, Collision Express will be able to do these simple jobs faster. The third component is the marine department, which can handle everything from jet runners to 26-ft. boats-a huge market in South Florida. "Between rapid-repair and marine industry, I think we're going to do a very good job here," Reichanadter predicts.