Ambitious manager left smiling

Think of a panel repair shop and scattered tools, pieces of bodywork and smeared overalls may come to mind.
However, this is not the case at City Collision Repairs in Onekawa.
Their award-winning spread is so organised, spotless and well laid out that manager Roger Greaney has been thinking of taking some of the crew out of overalls and into equally smart shirts and trousers.
The business, one of about 600 vehicle repair shops across the country, recently grabbed the attention of more than just the customers.
Judges from the Collision Repair Association voted the business number one as the Outstanding Achievement for Best Shop Upgrade.
The award was announced last month at a convention in Melbourne and delighted Mr Greaney, who was able to release a wry smile of his own.
He explained that when he first laid out his revamp designs and plans for the business, which was originally started in 1916 as coach-building company A Dykes and which he bought in 1979, there were many who said it was too ambitious - that he was taking too great a gamble.
With a smile he spoke of some repair business owners "in the big cities" who had wry smiles on their faces when they heard of his plans.
"They didn't think it would work."
Not only has it worked, but it has resulted in an increase in business, and more importantly, productivity.
He and son Chris (earmarked to carry on the business when Roger retires) and paintshop foreman Tony O'Connor basically sat down and went through what they required.
The new site, around 15,000sq ft, is three times larger than the old one. So they started with a blank piece of paper and set to work.
It was designed to cut back time-consuming vehicle movements, to provide plenty of work space and to ensure it would be staff and customer friendly.
"I've spent all my working life in the industry," Roger says, adding he was sparked into the refurbishment during a visit to an automotive industry trade fair in Sydney in 2009.
"I got some ideas, got talking to some people and I thought that to be successful at this time we'd have to change the business.
"I've always looked in on repair shops overseas so I sat down and said, 'What can we build?".
The results are so impressive Roger has got used to hearing compliments from the top people on the industry. One computer installation specialist, who had worked in four or five countries and visited more than 200 auto shops, put the Napier firm in the top five he had seen.
"Nice to hear that," Roger says.
He describes the new layout as embracing "lean" technology to improve productivity.
When he entered the business "a few years ago now" it was not unusual for a damaged car to be in the somewhat basic panel-beating bay for up to 12 weeks.
These days though about 30 or more cars will go through one of his bays in that time frame.
The firm's skills has also been picked up by people like leading V8 driver John McIntyre - City Collision Repairs look after his race car.
While times are tight, Roger says the "gamble" to revamp the business into the very latest of its type in the world has paid dividends.
"We have seen a great turnaround in business."