Gavin was onsite at South Tweed Autos in Northern NSW and caught up with Ryan. Ryan, a mechanic by trade was fulfilling the role of a mechanic with some part time management requirements when the opportunity came up to shift into a full time position as the parts department manager for the collision side of the business. He was looking for that shift, and he is quite enjoying it.
Ryan is accountable for all the parts that go in and out of shop and looks after all the sublets and keeps everything on track as best he can.
When Ryan moved from the mechanical section he was introduced to Planning Plus and he found the transition difficult initially, however once a few things were shown to him it made a lot of sense. Ryan was able to see that everything flowed efficiently and worked well when paired with Planning Plus. Once he was taught a few things he was incredibly happy to be using Planning Plus.
Ryan’s main role is the parts line and the sublet line and keeping them up to date for the technicians. He also works in with the Production Manager who is keeping track of the Panel and Paint departments to ensure everything lines up.
Ryan uses the internal messaging system and finds it easy to send quick messages whenever needed to communicate effectively with all staff members. Ryan is thoroughly enjoying his shift from mechanic into the parts department and Gavin asked him about the culture of the business.
South Tweed Autos is one of the best places he has worked, and wouldn’t work there if he didn’t enjoy the people he works with and the management style. “It all works very well. It is a busy, never boring place, but yeah, I really enjoy it here.”
Great culture is critically important to a body shop as well, because if you don’t have culture, you don’t have longevity of employees and Gavin can’t emphasize how much that means to a collision repair shop. Not only a collision repair shop, but any business that you are in. If you do not build good team culture, you will just rotate staff. Ryan’s rotated, and he has rotated from the mechanical section into the parts department and enjoying his role with good support by management. What more could you ask for?
If Ryan didn’t have Planning Pluss he feels It would be a lot more difficult to keep on-track of the day-to-day running of the business because they have a lot of cars going in and out every day and they rely on it very, very heavily.