MSF chooses Spies Hecker

MSF chooses Spies Hecker

Keywords Automotive industry, Spies Hecker, Spray booths

Inch thick steel doors protect the interior of the 36,000 square feet body repair centre operated by MSF Motor Group on the Dragonville Industrial Estate, Gilesgate, Durham. These massive security doors were in fact a legacy of the premises' former role as a bonded warehouse operated by the famous tea importers, Brooke Bond. MSF Accident Repair Centre (a group subsidiary) Director Barry Shotton saw no reason to remove them.

The MSF Motor Group includes Ford and Peugeot dealerships across the North of England. In fact, the group now boasts five Ford outlets, in Durham, Stanley, Wigan, Ellesmere Port and Southport plus a specialist used car operation and three Peugeot outlets in West Yorkshire with further dealerships imminent. The Accident Repair Centre was the second stand-alone operation for MSF when it opened in November 1996.

Now, after 18 months'operation, Spies Hecker claims that there is no doubt that the choice of its waterborne system was correct. "The system is so simple to use. It is hard to believe that there are no hidden extras. It is just paint and water. There couldn't possibly be anything easier for the painters to understand", says Barry Shotton. "Our paint stock is so easy to control. There is so little wastage and the coverage is far better than with solvent-borne systems. We have absolutely no negative comments. The staff like the green values of waterborne paint and it is certainly the future of the industry. When we opened the shop the painters were using a Spies Hecker high solids, solvent based system on the Friday and,within three hours of starting on the Monday and with the support of the Spies Hecker new technology specialists, we were applying waterborne materials. As easy as that."

Spray Shop Supplies, Spies Hecker's wholly owned distributor, provides an efficient supply-on-demand service for the entire MSF Motor Group. Spray Shop Supplies' main objective is to offer a one stop shop supplying "wet" and "dry" goods to customers from the accident repair industry, the commercial vehicle sector as well as industrial and marine businesses. Spray Shop Supplies guarantees to offer the very best products and business support to promote compliance with environmental regulations as well as long term profitability and growth.

A team of 28 runs the MSF facility including two full time estimators and six painters. The bodyshop layout was the responsibility of Barry Shotton, based on his 20 years experience in the motor trade and having formerly created and managed the body repair facility at the group's Ford dealership in Durham. "Right from the start we wanted a building with ample space to really lay out a proper flowline production facility. Whilst I accept that every repair is different, there are certain principles that make the business flow faster. For instance, we positioned the jigs right in the mechanical strip down area. There is nothing more difficult or time wasting than the lads struggling to move a three wheeled vehicle. After visiting the jig all four wheels can be fitted, making life so much easier."

Four Spraybake spraybooths have been installed; one commercial unit to take Transit sized vans and light commercial vehicles, and three passenger vehicle booths. There is also a separate mixing room. The booths have two special features: they are extra wide and infra red dryers have been installed on fixed rails running the length of the booths. The three passenger car booths are equipped with air-bag powered scissor floor lifts supplied by Hercules in Germany. This well designed feature required investment in special floor plans and additional concrete base work but has paid handsome dividends.

"It is difficult for a painter to be accurate in covering the lower panel area of many low slung modern cars, especially when he has to either bend down or even kneel on the steel flooring to work. We decided to install lifts to raise the cars to a practical working height and this has improved our right-first-time records. Now there are no problems with lower door edges and the bottom of sills. We needed air powered Hercules K900 lifts as there was concern that heat would adversely affect normal hydraulic lifts".

MSF are innovators. In addition to laying out the shop to maximise productivity, a production manager is charged with maintaining an on-going quality monitoring system. All job sheets are bar-coded to ensure correct recording of labour time and parts supply. Quality assurance checks are noted on the job file throughout the job. This is part of the programme to run the repair centre to full ISO standards. An apprentice training scheme was launched two years ago and has already generated 16 skilled technicians.

Barry Shotton is confident for the future: "With increasing pressure on margins from the insurers, I believe the future will definitely favour the big, highly productive repairers who have made the investment in staff and facilities. With the support of premium suppliers like Spies Hecker and systems like their advanced waterborne system, MSF is geared for a successful future".

For further details contact Spies Hecker. Tel: +44 0 181 597 9281; Fax: +44 0181 598 4444; E-mail: spieshecker@msn.com