What actually changed after the whiteboard came down
Every number below came from the shop’s own reporting, before and after. Where a shop didn’t improve on a metric, we left it out rather than round it up.
Klopp Collision: 35% more throughput without hiring
A family shop since 1947, running three whiteboards and a shared spreadsheet across two locations. Managers made six floor laps a day answering status questions.
The problem
“Every car that stalled, stalled quietly. We’d find out on Thursday that a quarter panel never got ordered on Monday.”
What they did
Moved to the Helios production board with four custom hold statuses in red. Loaded the six-week planning board with committed work.
The result
Throughput rose 35% over one quarter with the same crew. Average cycle time dropped 2.1 days.
“I used to make six laps of the shop a day just to answer status questions. Now I answer them from my phone in the parking lot.”
Harbor City: 20 management hours back every week
Three locations, three separate boards, and a GM who spent his mornings on the phone assembling a picture of the group.
The problem
No shared view across locations. Customers called for updates because nobody was calling them.
What they did
Rolled out Helios across all three shops in a single week, with the roll-up board on the GM’s phone.
The result
Roughly 20 hours a week recovered across the group. CSI rose 31 points over two quarters.
“Customers stopped calling us, because we started calling them. And that happened without anyone adding a task to their day.”
Pine Ridge: bays full 90% of the time
A growing group that kept discovering light weeks on the Monday they started.
The problem
Scheduling happened one week at a time. A slow week couldn’t be filled because nobody saw it coming.
What they did
Adopted the six-week planning board as the single scheduling tool for both locations.
The result
Bay fill rate moved from 62% to 90%. The planning horizon went from seven days to six weeks.
“The six-week planning board keeps our bays full 90% of the time. Before Helios, next month was a guess.”