DealersEdge Professional Forums

I am wondering if anyone knows of a system that monitors how much paint a painter mixes when painting lets say a hood or door etc.
Or lets say that a technician inputs what Year Make Model vehicle he is painting and what area such as a door or a qtr panel and the system would recommend approx how much paint he should be using.
I am trying to control waste in the B/S and it seems that there should be some system like this out there.
Any input is appreciated

Contact your paint supplier.

Most of them offer mixing/measuring systems that mix down to the fraction of an ounce depending on the application. Techs have to
input their ID code and a repair order number or job number. The system generates a report of how much used by job, by tech, by date, etc.

If your paint supplier does not offer such a system, maybe it is time to change suppliers. Many will offer such a system as a means to get the business.

Good luck,

Scot Strong

ABIMAX

This is a difficult problem to solve. As Scot points out there are very sophisticated software programs to accurately mix exactly the amount needed to paint a fender, hood or the whole car. I got all this stuff and thought I was home free. Then I go back to the paint shop and see all kinds of leftover paint. The painters tell me they make extra paint in case they have to redo the job or some other unforeseen problem. This also increases the amount of hazardous waste that you have to deal with.

I finally solved the problem by doing two things. I told them that I wanted them to mix exactly what was needed. If they had to mix more paint for whatever reason we would pay them an extra half hour to do this. The second thing I did was establish a shared savings program that paid them a monthly bonus if the cost paint supplies was within a certain percentage of the paint labor. There are lots of ways to solve this but you have to realize that the painter gets paid on production not on how efficiently he uses your paint. If you can get them interested in helping you save money then you both make out.


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Frank Burrows ABS
fburrows@absdata.com