It sounds like you are well on your way. We have been at this for 3 years and it is interesting to see after reading your comment, that there many ways to implement “Lean” principles in our industry and this forum will be a great place to view other shops journeys and approaches.If I could add one bit of advice to anyone embarking on this journey, TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES. I regretably did not do this. Its important to see where how far you have come when the journey hits some speed bumps.

At 6:45pm on January 20, 2010, Mike Ross said… Hi Pete,
We started of course with measurement. We measured every aspect of what happens from keys to keys currently, then started to map out our desired process with as little wasted steps in the process. The first phase for us was going to a paperless in our FT office and throughout the shop, completing thorough and complete final bills instead of estimates, and telegraphing repairs so everyone in the shop has enough knowledge to keep production moving. Our next phase is digging "inch wide"/ "Mile deep" on each aspect for constant improvement in all aspects as well as some new technology aspects that we are hoping will improve customer/insurance experience. I can say that thru phase (1) we have improved cycle time by (2) days on average and have improved our touch time and hours per day production by (2) hours on average. So, it is working ans we are excited to see how far we can push the envelope.