Time is money, as the cliche goes. Time saved is comparable to finding money - it can be used to catch up on other jobs or increase current production output, or that time saved can be used to "knock off" early on a Friday. However, any time savings that compromises quality comes at a price too high, and there are a lot of tools and techniques that can save a considerable amount of time in the paint process without sacrificing quality.

"I've only got 6,000 feet to work with here on the outskirts of San Francisco. I can't afford any dead space," says Eric Steeg, owner of Masters Autobody, Daly City, Calif. He can't afford downtime, either. To speed jobs through the shop, he allocates one morning per week to priming and base coating all parts, including hoods, panels, doors and hinges. "We have a plan and we stick to the plan," he says. "Everything is painted in one shot. We bake them and then flip them over. That way we eliminate the stops-and-starts. The part is ready to move before the body man is ready."

All new parts are prepped before the body man puts them onto a car (they are pre-fitted). Whether working on a hood or valance, the prep work can be done with beautiful lighting and no bending over, Steeg continues. There is no need to worry about water in the paint job or the tech accidentally ruining an adjacent panel.

Sometimes there are potential glitches. "I had a customer waiting for a door on a 1997 Pontiac. It came in on a Friday afternoon, but we had two cars in the booth to deliver Saturday. The body man wanted to finish the Pontiac so bad. But we stuck to the plan. I paid the extra three days," he said. It is that kind of planning and firmness that keeps things going at Masters. And, all members of the team know what to expect.

"Intense communications is the number one time-saver in our shop," says Stan Hathcock, owner of Webster Garage & Body Shop, Atlanta, Ga. He would agree strongly with Steeg's philosophy. "We work on understanding priorities and comprehending what is on the work board," Hathcock says. He emphasizes that communications is not a gimmick, but a key to getting the job done correctly.

On the shop floor, the number one challenge is matching color, according to Hathcock, whose shop uses a color-matching computer program to solve difficult matches. "Difficult colors are now the standard," Hathcock quips. However, he adds that he gets good support from his local jobber and from the paint manufacturer. "Without their support, we'd be wasting a lot of time playing chemist or scientist," he notes. "You have to get the color correct right up front and avoid mis-shoots."

Since the insurance companies appear to be way behind the curve learning how long a proper paint match procedure can take, a shop can be punished financially if it takes the time to do a good matching job, according to Hathcock and several other sources. However, there really is no alternative for the shop that wants to do a quality job.

Time not used is time saved. Whether the time is saved in the process of matching paint or afterward, it is still precious minutes that can be profitably invested elsewhere.

Speeding the dry time is one place to pick up many minutes of time. The infrared dryers can cut the cure time on a simple job, such as curing a door, from as much as 40 minutes down to six or seven minutes.

"In order for a shop to make money, it has to increase production," says Ed Long, sales manager for Infratech, Covina, Calif. Paint companies have been forced to go to high-solid paints and have done so by taking out the solvents. The result is paint takes longer to dry. However, with infrared, a shop can get a full cure in a fraction of the time it ordinarily takes. "For the short jobs, efficiency is a big thing," notes Mike Bertrand, product manager for the IRT-5500 infrared dryer handled by Spraybake, Concord, Ontario, Canada. In many cases, a shop has almost enough business to justify a second booth but may lack the space.

In addition to the time savings, in-booth infrared has about one-tenth the energy cost of a standard system. The efficiency comes at a cost. The typical wall-mounted system, suitable for the average shop, will run about $15,000. A full-blown arch system could cost around $110,000 and is better suited to a shop doing $4 million to $5 million in annual revenue.

At the lower end, dolly-mounted versions can be used for smaller jobs. Drying time and power is controlled by a microprocessor that, preprogrammed for different paint types, automatically handles the entire curing process.

Drying putty takes two to three minutes, filler takes three to six minutes and a primer is done in five to eight minutes. A clearcoat or topcoat finish will be dry in under 10 minutes and the typical basecoat needs four to eight minutes. Contrast that with the half-hour or more required in most traditional shops. Long says that medium-wave infrared has advantages over short-wave, although most suppliers to the auto market sell short-wave units. "My basic belief is that medium is the best way to cure paint," he says. Infratech sells into the industrial market and all of that business is medium-wave. "Short-wave is color sensitive, and different colors dry at different rates - black will dry faster than white," he says. Medium-wave has no color sensitivity. He credits the popularity of short-wave in the auto market (including his own units) to marketing.

Steeg is convinced that the hallmark change in his 15 years in business was putting in short-wave infrared heating lamps. Although he invested $20,000 in the system from Trisk, Memphis, Tenn., for his prep bays, he says it has paid him back in significant time savings. He is able to dry primer in 10 to 15 minutes and move on to sanding and painting.

"We use heaters in the spray booth. Every car gets baked for 30 minutes at 140 degrees," Steeg says. "Even though a car may feel dry in this California climate, it may not be thoroughly cured." The result of poor curing is dying and hazing of the color. A thorough baking saves time-consuming, profit-killing do-overs.

Users of HVLP (high-volume, low-pressure) guns from many manufacturers such as Binks and AccuSpray boast about them being effective and environmentally friendly. According to Randy Saley, technical support representative with AccuSpray, Cleveland, Ohio, their HVLP spray guns will save from 20 percent to 40 percent of the coatings costs of other systems. "With HVLP, there is less overspray, and that reduces prep time, cleanup time, and the amount of paper and tape used," he says. "We are able to put two coats of basecoat on a vehicle instead of four." That transfer efficiency is due to the amount of material that stays on the vehicle. Because HVLP guns put more paint through the nozzle, lower pressure is needed to propel the paint from the gun. The result is a reduction in the paint particles bouncing off the surface being painted.

"With HVLP, there is less splatter so there is less cleanup time," Saley says. "With less overspray, there is less time spent on cleanup and booth maintenance." AccuSpray makes only HVLP guns, including a traditional plastic gun for clear coat finishes and a new aluminum-body, gravity-feed gun that weighs less than 20 ounces.

Clean shop
While reducing overspray and splatter can save a lot of time, another big time savings comes from keeping the painting environment clean and dust-free. Having the proper dividers and airflow in a shop can save considerable time and money. Partitions, like those made by Uni-Glide, Chicago, Ill., confine primer, overspray, dust, odor, water and other contaminants. "Productivity has been shown to increase in certain areas by as much as 50 percent by moving partitions on the track and roller system instead of moving vehicles around the shop," says Debbie Ralson, product manager.

By increasing the usable workspace, she says their partition systems can save body shops as much as $1000 per month, paying for themselves in cleanup and rework time when used to enclose prep stations and detail, welding and grinding areas. Time savings on cleanup can add up, too.

DeVilbiss, Maumee, Ohio, now has a bag system in all of its metal spray guns. Although originally introduced three years ago in its lightweight plastic guns, liners were introduced for the cups of their metal guns late in 1997. It used to take an armful of rags and 12 to 14 ounces of solvent to clean a gun. There is no turbulence when the solvent goes through the gun, so clean-up was a tedious process. Now, with paint bag systems, the job can be done in a fraction of the time with just an ounce or two of solvent.

"There is a move afoot to provide guns with liners to cut cleanup time. We have the bag system on every DeVilbiss gravity-feed gun," says Mike Odum, national sales manager. With the disposable liner, the gun simply needs to be flushed out with two ounces of solvent. The liner bags do cost about 52 cents each. However, just the savings on solvent disposal can neutralize much of that cost. "If you do it right, disposal of a 55-gallon drum of solvent will run $300. But a dry plastic bag can be disposed of just like a used brush or stirrer."

Other, less obvious things can contribute to a cleaner job. Stan Hathcock is sold on 3M's liquid spray mask product. "We tried a variety of them, but this is the most stable," he says. While he likes the spray masking, he really appreciates the enhanced job it does of trapping dust particles. The result, of course, is a cleaner job.

Technique tips
Why is it there is never time to do a job right, but always time to do it over? Doing a paint job correctly the first time will eliminate poor quality painting that has to be redone and will save time in the long run.

Spraying in the right direction is one of the little things that saves time and results in a better job. Spray direction varies depending on whether the shop is equipped with a cross-draft spraying booth or a down-draft style. In a cross-draft booth, the vehicle should be positioned with the front toward the air intake and the rear to the booth's exhaust. Start the paint job with the roof, move to the passenger-side rear quarter panel and proceed to the trunk and on around the vehicle, returning last to the passenger-side rear door.

In a down-draft booth, the job should be started on the driver-side front door and proceed across the quarter panel, hood, passenger-side front quarter, passenger door, then the roof, cutting across to the rear driver-side door and continuing to the rear driver-side quarter panel, trunk and finishing on the rear passenger-side door. In either case, the painter should plan to complete any one panel completely before going on to the next. The equipment should be positioned to allow easy access and movement from one spot on the job to the next.

Another method of time savings in the booth is making sure the curing process goes according to the manual. Most paint firms recommend curing at a specific temperature, say 140 degrees. However, that refers to metal temperature, not ambient air temperature in the booth. DeVilbiss's SmartCure system quickly raises the booth temperature to 190 degrees, pulling the metal temperature up to 140. Then, the air temperature drops down to a workable level, keeping the metal temperature at the recommended 140 degrees. Time savings can range from a few minutes to as much as a 50 percent reduction in time required.

RATE THIS ARTICLE What do you think of this article? Your input will help AutoInc. develop additional articles on this subject. Share your thoughts! Your name Your e-mail address

MOST ACCESSED ARTICLES Fuel Injection Service, Not Just Cleaning The Art of Extraction EGR Systems: Operation and Diagnosis Proactive Target Marketing:_Rethinking Your Business Strategy Engine Performance: HO2S Diagnostics MOST E-MAILED ARTICLES Developing Employee Potential How Critical Thinking Can Help Your Business How to Diagnose the Ford Glow Plug What to Look for When Shopping for the Right Shop Management Software Putting a Price Tag on Complaints

AutoInc. Web Site | ASA Web Site | ASA Completes Safety I/M Analysis | Dealerships Compete for Independents' Customers | Timely Tips for Time Saving in the Paint Shop | Everything You Didn't Want to Know About Running a Profitable Body Shop | Guest Editorial | Tech to Tech | Tech Tips | Shop Profile | Net Worth | Stat Corner | Chairman's Message