Longevity in a repair workshop is the goal for many businesses. The Turnbulls have successfully been operating Al’s Panel Shop for 40 years, and have learnt a few secrets to success along the way.
Adapting to changes in the repair industry is at the front of every workshop owner’s mind. The international workers at Al’s Panel Shop have been the key to their success.
A family-owned business, Al’s Panel Shop is located at the top of Australia in Darwin, the Northern Territory. A husband and wife team, Alison and Greg Turnbull have been running the workshop for the last 40 years. In 1984, Greg took ownership of the business and hasn’t looked back since.
With 20 employees, and 25-30 vehicles to repair per week, Al’s Panel Shop knows a thing or two about adaptability and efficiency.
NCR spoke with Alison and Greg Turnbull’s daughter, Rehanna Mortimer, to discuss how the workshop operates and adapts to the changing conditions of the industry.
Managing the workshop office and estimating, Rehanna has been working in the family business for over 10 years.
“I have really enjoyed the more forward facing role in the business,” Rehanna says.
Giving nature
Al’s Panel Shop embrace their staff and recognise that the workshop isn’t just a place of employment, but also an opportunity for people to thrive and learn new skills.
“We like to think of our team members as family,” Rehanna says.
“We have quite a few long-term employees that have been with us for many years.”
With the industry-wide skills shortage, many workshops are struggling to find staff. Al’s Panel Shop has welcomed international workers into their workshop to combat staff shortages.
“The application to become a sponsor is lengthy and costly, and the progress through the Dept of Immigration can take quite some time,” Alison says.
“It is definitely not a quick fix to staff shortages and generally once the employees are on site, there is 6 – 9 months’ worth of training to get them up to our standard.”
“We have had a couple of migration agents over the years and their costs are very reasonable, the cost of lodging the visa application with the department is the costly part.”
Being a medium sized business in a small town, Al’s Panel Shop has had to think outside of the box as a resolution to the skilled workforce shortages.
“Some of our long-term employees have been sponsored as visa workers,” Rehanna says.
“It’s been rewarding to see them become permanent residents and some of them even have become Australian citizens.”
“That’s one of our many proud accomplishments as a business, supporting someone in that aspect.”
Business in the Northern Territory
Classified as a regional city, Darwin is a relatively remote part of the country. For the business, this has been met with a few challenges.
“We do sometimes face challenges with timeframes on parts,” Rehanna says.
Al Panel’s Shop centres their business structure around efficiency, through foreseeing, and planning for potential issues.
“The timing issues with parts means we have to always be one step ahead,” Rehanna says.
“If we have a job that has a short timeframe there can be no second guessing when it comes to parts.”
As well as the issue of recruiting new skilled workers, keeping updated with the latest technology and equipment is also a challenging aspect for repair workshops.
“Technology is one of the biggest impacts for our business,” Rehanna says.
“Over the past 10 years that I have been working in the industry, I have seen so much change in technology, it is so rapid.”
One of the key changes Al’s Panel Shop has witnessed, is the change of recalibrations for vehicles.
“It is an area we have had to upskill our staff on. It has been an additional change that is required in the majority of vehicles we see,” Rehanna says.
Taking pride in repairing vehicles and keeping customers satisfied in a small community is essential to keep the business afloat. Focussing on every step of the repair process is something Al’s Panel Shop takes great pride in.
“The other major change we have seen is in the paint processes and colours,” Rehanna says.
“To paint a modern car these days you need to have a lot of knowledge for the product and techniques required to make the final product flawless.”
During COVID, the office team at Al’s Panel Shop had to learn to quickly adapt to the new challenges and processes.
“Insurance companies since COVID have made several changes to their processes,” Rehanna says.
“A lot of the time its panel shops that are managing clients and claims. While this means we can manage the flow and claims quicker it also means a lot more admin time per claim.”
A strong workplace
Like most workshops, Al’s Panel Shop is focussed on maintaining a strong culture in their workplace.
“Our greatest strengths are our strong workforce and our customer service,” Rehanna said.
Their strong workforce is underpinned by many factors, a few of which being resilient leadership and a robust foundation of apprentices. Al’s Panel Shop currently has 3 apprentices, all of which are nearing the end of their training.
“We have trained many apprentices over the years and its extremely rewarding to see them succeed within our business,” Rehanna says.
“We take pride in training our apprentices for leading roles, but we also encourage them to move upwards elsewhere in the industry too.”
Not adverse to the apprentice struggle, Al’s Panel Shop have also recognised a decline in the number of apprenticeship applicants every year.
“We’re finding over the last several years there is a major shortage in interested applicants for apprenticeships,” Rehanna says.
“In the coming years, if this matter isn’t resolved there will be a shortage of skilled panel beaters and spray painters.”
Rehanna cites the biggest area of improvement they are focussing on is maintaining a solid work-flow, and productivity.
One action the workshop is taking to increase work-flow, and create a sustainable and productive system, is upskilling their employees in leadership positions.
“Recently, our workshop foreman has been spending a lot of time on ADAS training,” Rehanna says.
“Moving forward this will be a big help in ensuring jobs can be efficiently managed.”
Cheerleaders for the industry
With over 40 years of experience, the Turnbull’s are well established in the repair community in Darwin.
“There are a lot of dedicated businesses in the industry that work together to ensure we have a range of good options from training facilities, software providers and part suppliers,” Rehanna says.
When asked what the future looks like for Al’s Panel Shop, Rehanna has confidence in the workshop’s ability to keep pushing on.
“We aim to keep doing what we have been doing for the last 40 years,” Rehanna says.
“That being said, we aren’t afraid to adapt and change with the times.”
