Farzam Afshar, CEO of VeriFacts Automotive, has high praise for the ACE Award winner.
“Keith Myers is a real innovator in the collision repair industry,” said Afshar. “He doesn’t let change come to him; he gets out in front of it. He is always looking ahead to see what the next OEM advancement is and prepares well in advance so that he can continue to deliver the safest, highest quality repairs for his customers.”
Eurotech was opened in 1988. Early in 2000, Myers saw that the industry was changing, that cars were getting more complex, and he began to experience the difficulty of finding body technicians who were good at all aspects of the job – 'mechanical work, structural repair, bodywork, disassembly and reassembly. He also realized that hiring new employees and teaching them all that is needed to repair today’s vehicles would be a monumental task. So, he decided to change the playing field.
“We have taken the repair process, deconstructed it, and created a process flow, supported by SOPs, that maximizes our staff’s efficiency and produces the highest quality, most consistent outcome possible,” said Myers.
With ADAS and all other advanced vehicle technology in today’s vehicles it’s extremely difficult to find and train people on the entire repair process,” said Myers. It is much easier to train on a specific part of the process. Most of our employees are hired at an entry level and trained on our process versus traditional collision repair roles. Because our process is so unique, it works best for us to hire good people who can follow procedures and they become specialists and experts in their area.”
Rather than a technician following the car throughout a portion of the repair, technicians specialize in specific areas of the repair process as the vehicles are run through each department. That means a body technician does not have to be proficient at every aspect of the repair, but instead develops the highest level of skills in one portion of that repair.
For example, a body technician whose best skill is in structural repair, spends all their time doing the tasks that require that skill, rather than other tasks, such as checking in parts, disassembly and reassembly, which are done by others in Myers’ model. Therefore, the technician’s skills are utilized where they are most effective and that results in higher quality, consistency and greater throughput.
“Each employee becomes an expert in the job that they perform, increasing their speed, efficiency and quality,” according to Myers. “Every operation is done exactly the same way every day, based on the SOP for that area. And that helps to ensure the safest repairs for our customers.”
Myers states that there are many benefits from this approach -- consistency and the highest quality of repair are among them. At Eurotech they strive to produce a predictable outcome every time, a metric that insurance companies highly value.
Another benefit is that it makes it easier to find and retain good technicians.
“Everyone knows that there is a technician crisis in our industry, and while we experience it as well, we believe it is to a much lesser degree because of our process,” added Myers
About Eurotech Refinishing and Collision: Established in 1988, Eurotech has two locations, one in Bellflower, CA and the other in Cerritos CA. They are I-Car Gold Certified and have achieved VeriFacts Automotive VQ Medallion status. Eurotech holds OEM Certified Repair centers for GM, Ford, FCA, Honda, Acura, Nissan, Kia, Infiniti, Hyundai, and Subaru. They are a member of SCRS, the California Auto Body Association and an affiliate of Certified Collision Group. Since 1988 Eurotech strives to provide their customers with the safest, highest quality repairs possible every single day.
