Rail Systems in Collision Repair Shops

Moving vehicles on rails in a collision shop is a technology that is still rarely implemented, but it offers several advantages.

Every collision shop manager knows all too well that existing facilities rarely lend themselves to installing a complete rail movement system. Unless a facility is a custom new build, space for ADAS calibration or rail-guided vehicle movement was rarely part of the original design. Still, as CARSTAR Saint-Hyacinthe General Manager Patrick St-Louis points out, implementing a rail setup to optimize even a fraction of your workflow is entirely doable.

In this shop, set up just over two years ago, rails were installed in the prep station, allowing vehicles to be moved laterally from primer application to final prep before heading to the paint booth. “We only used part of the solution,” explains St-Louis. “Normally, the line should extend all the way into the spray booth, but our facility didn’t allow for it.”

Effortless movement

This half-solution, as St-Louis calls it, offers distinct advantages. Once parked on floor dollies, the car can be moved with a simple push from the prep and priming area to the masking area prior to entering the paint booth. If the layout had allowed for it, moving the vehicle straight into the spray booth from here would be just as seamless.

“In this setup, the advantage is that we don’t have to uncover the windshield and get behind the wheel to move the car,” says St-Louis. “Furthermore, certain electric vehicle models simply won’t start if they are missing parts.”

As Director of Collision Operations for the large Crown dealership group in Winnipeg, Randy Girden implemented a full rail system in one of the three shops he manages. Like his Quebec counterpart, he used part of the solution in the second shop, while the floor layout of the third did not lend itself to it at all.

“We implemented the system offered by Symach six years ago,” explains Girden. “In our largest shop, the complete rail movement system was successfully installed. As soon as the vehicle enters the shop, it is placed on rail-mounted dollies and glides through the entire process.”

Girden admits that this type of technology is difficult to implement in an existing facility, unless it benefits from a vast footprint where each workstation is set up in a straight line.

Optimization and high volume

At Crown Auto Body, the rail system was chosen primarily to optimize operations and reduce cycle time. We are talking about a high-throughput shop that processes an average of more than 300 vehicles per month.

“We quickly realized that with this system, the first challenge was getting organized,” recalls Girden. “If you want to be more productive, you have to make sure every step is streamlined.”

Teardown and estimating, frame and structural repair, prep and sanding, paint and curing, reassembly and calibrations when required must execute a flawless choreography. “We worked with each department lead to identify and resolve every cause of delay. The cars are constantly moving forward, and while the three paint booths remain the bottleneck, the other steps have to keep rolling.”

We asked Girden what happens if a part is missing along the way or if a repair turns out to be more complex than anticipated. “We have a parallel track where we can push problematic cases so we don’t stop the production line.” He dreams of a shop where he could run a fast lane for light repairs and dedicate another to heavier structural repairs.

The average cycle time in this shop reaches a very respectable 6.5 days, but Girden hopes to bring it down to 4 days. To achieve this, he is relying on continuous process improvement and team accountability. Automating certain processes, such as painting with a programmable robot, could also lend a helping hand to these ambitions.