Brad Zara started his body shop career sweeping up, a part time job in high school. He soon graduated to light paint prep, then body work and then took on a job no one else seemed to want, writing estimates. With great people skills and first hand knowledge of how all the repair pieces fit together, it was a natural progression to opening his own collision repair shop. Fast forward to 2011 and it's a business on track to reach $ 5 million in sales.
Brad is a very smart businessman who felt he needed to get even smarter, so a couple of years ago he started looking around for a management program that could bring new efficiency to his operation. He was happy to find one specifically designed for collision repair, PCE from Sikkens. When he began the process he was amazed at how a series of small, logical changes like where the brooms and battery packs should be kept, could make such a difference. Changing the way his shop worked was a challenge, but with help from the program and PCE coaches, creating together, Brad found ways to make the process non-threatening to staff, some of whom had been with him for 20 years.
When everyone saw the clear benefits of working in this new way, how it increased the fluidity and consistency of the process, they soon became champions of a new, streamlined, more profitable Zara's. And with customer satisfaction numbers heading north of 98%, the PCE make-over seems certain to have been a smart move.
Brad Zara is very happy to have a paint supplier who sees him as a partner with a stake in helping him succeed. Of his PCE experience he has this to say, "You can find a lot of theories out there about how businesses can make improvements. But finding something that is unique to the industry that you are in, that is a true discovery."