For over 20 years I have had the honor of leading, managing, and overseeing successful collision repair shops. During that time, I have been able to formulate proven processes that are effective in any collision repair operation anywhere. In this book I will briefly take you through my own career history, setting the scene for the rest of the book. I will then take you on a journey of exploration through your own operation starting in the virtual world. We will then examine your shop from the outside and into the inside. I will give you valuable insights that any owner or manager can use right now. We will spend detailed time examining both estimating and production. Using the ideas and processes presented in this book you will be able to improve any existing collision operation. If you are opening a collision center you can build your operation from the ground up the right way. If you continually use the processes contained here you will enjoy a profitable and successful collision repair operation.

Dave Luehr believes that right now is the best time in history to be in the collision repair business, but only for those with the right mindset. The authors share insightful lessons along with real-world stories of acutal collision repairers who have discovered the secrets that have propelled them to a much higher level than their competitors.

Auto Collision Repair and Refinishing details the latest collision repair and refinishing techniques. This comprehensive textbook presents both the theoretical and practical aspects of collision repair and refinishing in an easy-to-understand manner. It includes information on structural repair, nonstructural repair, mechanical and electrical repair, refinishing, and estmaing. Auto Collison Repar and Refinishing is an indispensable resource for those preparing for a career in collision repair and refinishing, as well as experienced technicians preparing for the ASE collision repair and refinishing certification tests. Organized around the NATEF Collision Repair Task List. Detailed chapters on mechanical systems allow you to recognize and repair common types of mechanical damage encountered in the collision repair shop. The extensive estimating chapter provides unsurpassed instruction on this vital task. Full-color photographs and illustrations are used throughout to enhance understanding. Chapter reviews contain both conventional questions and ASE-type questions.

Make $100 here, $500 there, fixing cars in your spare time. People are too busy to take their car to a dealership for service. Being a self-employed mobile mechanic fills that need, and can provide you a substantial additional income. You already know how to fix cars. You're 95% of the way there. You just need to know the business of being a self-employed mechanic. The Happy Mechanic is your complete guide for that knowledge. Achieve financial independence by fixing cars part-time. Set your own hours. Set your own rates. Work as much as you want. Never answer to a boss. It's just you and the cars. No boss breathing down your neck, no rules other than fix that car right. If you can wrench on cars, the money is all yours. The Happy Mechanic is a complete step-by-step manual to fixing your money worries, getting extra income, and becoming a successful entrepreneur by fixing cars part-time.

This book has proved its worth over the years as a text for courses in Production Management at the Faculty of Automotive Engineering in Turin, Italy, but deserves a wider audience as it presents a compendium of basics on Industrial Management, since it covers all major topics required. It treats all subjects from product development and “make or buy”-decision strategies to the manufacturing systems setting and management through analysis of the main resources needed in production and finally exploring the supply chain management and the procurement techniques. The very last chapter recapitulates the previous ones by analysing key management indicators to pursue the value creation that is the real purpose of every industrial enterprise. As an appendix, a specific chapter is dedicated to the basics of production management where all main relevant definitions, techniques and criteria are treated, including some numerical examples, in order to provide an adequate foundation for understanding the other chapters. This book will be of use not only to Automotive Engineering students but a wide range of readers who wish to gain insight in the world of automotive engineering and the automotive industry in general.

Fear of change we all experience it. Some accept change immediately, some gradually adapt, while others may never get there. Whether it‘s poor leadership, the inability to change, or pure ego, this Shingo Prize-winning book explores this perplexing commitment to inefficiency.Winner of a 2013 Shingo Prize!The Psychology of Lean Improvements: Why Org

The global crisis the automotive industry has slipped into over the second half of 2008 has set a fierce spotlight not only on which cars are the right ones to bring to the market but also on how these cars are developed. Be it OEMs developing new models, suppliers integerating themselves deeper into the development processes of different OEMs, analysts estimating economical risks and opportunities of automotive investments, or even governments creating and evaluating scenarios for financial aid for suffering automotive companies: At the end of the day, it is absolutely indispensable to comprehensively understand the processes of auto- tive development – the core subject of this book. Let’s face it: More than a century after Carl Benz, Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler developed and produced their first motor vehicles, the overall concept of passenger cars has not changed much. Even though components have been considerably optimized since then, motor cars in the 21st century are still driven by combustion engines that transmit their propulsive power to the road s- face via gearboxes, transmission shafts and wheels, which together with spri- damper units allow driving stability and ride comfort. Vehicles are still navigated by means of a steering wheel that turns the front wheels, and the required control elements are still located on a dashboard in front of the driver who operates the car sitting in a seat.