Glenwood, Iowa—For Dana Liddick, owner of Best Finish Auto Body, last year was anything but laid back. In fact, Liddick said there were many sleepless nights where he mulled over the important business decisions he made in 2009.
Many things caused him to lose sleep, said Liddick, who in the last year bought a second building for prep and paint, purchased a new Garmat paint booth, rearranged the layout of his shop, switched paint distributors and transitioned to waterborne paint.
“I didn’t get much sleep this summer,” he said. “Those types of investments will lead to a few sleepless nights.”
Many of these changes were not ones that Liddick had anticipated when he purchased the existing shop in his hometown nearly five years ago, he said.
Prior to purchasing the body shop, Liddick had been a painter at H&H Chevrolet in Omaha. The switch from painter to shop owner was a giant leap, he said.
“My roles have switched from walking in and painting cars, to overseeing the entire operation,” he said. “It gives me much more respect for what everybody has to do—from the body men to estimators, and what the insurance companies have to deal with and the adjusters. It is quite a change—a different perspective on things.”
When Liddick took over as shop owner, he was one of three working out in the shop, while Office Manager Clint Oliphant ran the office. Growth was so quick, however, that Liddick had to quickly transition to the office, and hire four more shop employees to keep up with demand, he said.
As business increased, Liddick said he had to make necessary changes in order to keep his shop up to date and running smoothly.
Many of those changes were made with the assistance of Ron Stazzoni, owner of D&R Auto Paint & Supply in Omaha, who helped Liddick redesign the workflow in his shop, introduced PPG’s Green Belt program, and aided in the switch to PPG Waterborne, Liddick said.
“I switched over to D&R Paint, and everything that Ron has told me has been true,” Liddick said. “I feel like I get great service with Ron, and he goes that extra mile for me. He is not just here to sell me paint.”
By tearing out an old paint booth, adding a prep station, and removing a wall in the shop, Liddick said he hopes to keep work flowing smoothly through the shop.
“Mainly, the changes will help us to be more efficient and give more room for the guys to work, and hopefully, in turn that will make the flow go a lot smoother since everybody will have a little more space,” he said.
The PPG Green Belt training is another area that Stazzoni is assisting Liddick with. The training program is designed for owners and managers of collision repair centers that use PPG refinish products. It teaches practical applications of Lean Six Sigma principles to improve quality, speed, cost performance and competitiveness for vehicle repair facilities.
“We are currently working on the first step, which is really a cleaning and organizing phase,” Liddick said. “Obviously, if you are tripping over your mess, you are not getting as much work done.”
Five months ago, D&R Auto Paint & Supply, along with PPG, also helped Best Finish Auto Body in the switch to PPG Waterborne paint, he said.
Liddick said he had to invest in some fans for extra air movement, along with a new air compressor, which he purchased from Hughes Machinery in Omaha.
Liddick said he is also getting started with Summit Software Solutions, a management system to help follow the workflow in the shop.
“It will help keep track and report what goes on in the shop, so I can basically handle management issues from the computer rather than walking out in the shop and seeing what is going on,” he said.
Liddick said the majority of his business comes from the Glenwood area, which has a population of about 7,000. Even though he is in a small town, getting parts is not a problem, since Omaha is only 25 miles away.
For domestic OE parts, he said he turns to Performance Ford, Baxter Chrysler, and Huber Chevrolet, all located in Omaha. For import OE parts, he said he generally uses Bellevue Toyota in Bellevue, Neb., and Lake Manawa Nissan and Hyundai in Lake Manawa, Iowa.
Everything has been a learning experience, said Liddick, adding that he is enjoying the challenge of owning his own collision repair shop—a big step from just painting cars.
“When I was painting, it was always my own little world, and I didn’t have to answer to the customers, I just had to answer to the manager, and that is it,” he said. “Now, I am responsible for eight guys receiving checks, and making sure that eight guys are able to make a living. That is the cause of some of the gray hair.”
