Change That Sticks

At our core, we believe that real change doesn’t come from the top down - it happens when everyone’s involved and the purpose is clear.

That’s why our team recently completed Lean Change Management training. The goal was simple: improve how we work and better support our customers as they navigate change in their own businesses.

One of the most common challenges we hear from shops is that they want to improve, but actually making changes, and getting them to last, can be difficult. So we put our training into action with a real-world problem:

How can we move small repairs (X-Press jobs under 10 hours) through the shop more efficiently?

Our answer was to create a clear, dedicated process for X-Press repairs. But instead of building it behind the scenes, we used the Lean Change approach to involve the full team. It all started with one important step: making sure everyone understood why the change mattered.

Why X-Press Repairs?

Benefits of Optimizing X-Press Repairs:

• Improved KPI’s (cycle & touch times)
• Higher gross profit $’s per month
• Enhanced customer satisfaction
  

While X Press repairs have a smaller average sale $, they usually represent 20% of all repairs. Their impact on overall shop performance is significant.

How We Made It Stick

The lean change framework addresses all key aspects of the process transformation. This comprehensive approach ensured that the changes would be sustainable rather than just another "flavor of the month" initiative.

What's Changing?

We're changing how repairs under 10 hours are processed, with a clear goal of increasing the number of next-day deliveries, or 2 day cycle times.

What's Not Changing?

All other repairs, larger jobs (10+ hours) maintain their existing workflow. This approach narrows the focus and prevents overwhelming the team.

Who's Affected?

Everyone that is involved in the process. Each team member identifies their role and discusses how the change would impact their job.

Why Now?

Inefficiencies cost time, money, and erode customer trust. This makes us less competitive, that is a risk we don’t want to accept.

This conversation will identify the upside and without doubt uncover potential obstacles. Crucially, we asked the team how they would solve potential roadblocks, which builds genuine buy-in from all stakeholders.

Clear Roles. Real Accountability.

Vague responsibilities leads to inconsistent execution. The lean change approach assigns tasks to each role and specific “jobs to do be done” in the X-Press repair process. This clarity eliminates the "someone else will handle it" mentality that often derails change efforts.

By creating this transparent accountability framework, every team member understood not just what needed to happen, but exactly who was responsible for making it happen.

Launch & Review

Implementing a new process is just the beginning. To ensure sustained success with our X-Press repair initiative, we established a structured launch and review system with clear benchmarks and regular evaluation points.

 Go Live Date                                                                    Regular Check-ins

July 1, 2025, marked the official                                         Weekly team reviews provide opportunities to   

implementation of our streamlined X-Press                        address emerging issues, celebrate successes,

repair process across all operations.                                  and refine the process. 

  Performance Target                                                       Continuous Improvement

We established a clear goal: 70% of all                             We carefully track the 30% of jobs that miss the

X-Press jobs delivered the next day to customers.            target, analyzing root causes to issues. 

This cycle of implementation, measurement, and refinement ensures that this process continuously improves rather than degrading over time. 

The Change Canvas

Visualization is crucial for managing change, a Change Canvas serves as the single source of truth for the X-Press repair initiative. 

By keeping the canvas and change results visible in a central location, it reinforces the plan and updates the team on progress towards goals amid the daily pressures of shop operations.

The Result

What makes this change truly sustainable is that the team owns it. Because they helped build it, identified obstacles, and created solutions to overcome. They're fully invested in its success. This approach ensures the improvements will stick long after the initial excitement fades, creating true value for all stakeholders.

Discover how Terminal Auto Body transformed their business by embracing a data-driven mindset. Learn how they improved financials, reduced WIP, and achieved operational excellence.