2009 News

PPG reaches MVP Green Belt training milestone

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio – April 27, 2009 – PPG announced it has crossed the 600 mark for the number of collision center owners, managers and technicians that have graduated from its MVP Green Belt Training program. MVP Green Belt is a 4-day comprehensive training program that is a blend of Lean Six Sigma fundamentals along with practical application implementation detail that is critical for collision shops to make simultaneous improvements in their operations.

“While it is an accomplishment to attain this number of graduates through a class as comprehensive as Green Belt,” says Jim Berkey, director, Business Solutions for PPG, “the end game is implementation and performance improvement. It is especially rewarding to see these shops make real improvements and take leadership roles within their markets.”

Berkey continues, “Today’s performance challenge in the collision industry requires that collision center operators simultaneously improve quality, cost and speed. We have seen the interest in applying Lean Six Sigma / TOC principles and tools to collision grow exponentially over the last few years and are fortunate to have been in front of the curve in our ability to not only train our shops, but to work with them through implementation challenges,”.

According to Rich Altieri, senior manager, MVP Business Solutions group, the training program, started in 2006, evolved from four years of extensive research and development led by a team of Master Black Belt Lean Six Sigma experts and MVP collision center consultants. Key program elements include:

• The success factors that allow some organizations to thrive in rapidly changing environments
• Use of simulation games to learn Lean Six Sigma fundamentals and what cycle time reduction means to the collision repair processes
• Practical application of Lean Six Sigma principles through X-Ray Repair Planning and fundamentals such as 5S and Workplace Organization
• Leadership and implementation modules that address the need for everyone in an organization to participate in building stronger processes and a process improvement culture
• Integration of shop tours and assignments into the training to reinforce the understanding and confidence critical to successful implementation

“Our Green Belt training and workshop programs have been very well-received,” says David Knapp, senior manager, Business Solutions. “The program provides constant education and execution support in all the critical areas of collision center operations. Many of our graduates are well along on their Lean Sigma Six journey, solidly on the path of continuous improvement.”

Many program graduates are experiencing rewards for their efforts. “Green Belt Training changed our bottom-line,” says Joe Little, co-owner of Body Beautiful Collision Repair, Aurora, CO. “We saw an 11% gain in our net profit in the first 9 months. There's also drastic improvement in cycle times from going lean and implementing the things we've learned.”

“Green Belt Training gave me resources and tools that I could implement immediately. And it's not just tools, it's the map and the directions to get there. Without that we wouldn't be where we are today,” adds Body Beautiful co-owner Janine Little.

Car West Auto Body, Danville, CA, CEO/president Craig Moe says, “Our same store sales from '07-'08 are up 12-1/2 % with net profits up 25%. All our managers have gone through the program. Now we're bringing the second tier production managers, assistant managers, and some estimators into it. We've had huge paybacks doing so.”

In 2008, the MVP Business Solutions group delivered the Green Belt Training program 10 times in locations including Syracuse NY, Los Angeles CA, and Albuquerque NM. The program will also be offered in Dallas TX, Sacramento, CA and Nashville TN in 2009.

about ppg

Pittsburgh-based PPG is a global supplier of paints, coatings, optical products, specialty materials, chemicals, glass and fiber glass. The company has more than 140 manufacturing facilities and equity affiliates and operates in more than 60 countries. Sales in 2008 were $15.8 billion. PPG shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (symbol: PPG). For more information, visit www.ppg.com.

about the mvp program

When introduced over a decade ago, MVP Services was the first program of its kind in the collision repair industry. Since then, thousands of collision center owners and managers have taken advantage of MVP’s innovative services to improve the way they run their business. Green Belt Training is part of the MVP program.