WILMINGTON, Del. – DuPont Performance Coatings (DPC) has announced a new partnership with The Body Shop @, experts on “lean” collision repair. Through this new relationship, DuPont will be given access to The Body Shop @’s proven Star-Link Collision Repair System, a Kaizen centered “lean” business model that was developed by John Sweigart and Brad Sullivan over the past 12 years. The model is currently practiced in all of The Body Shop @’s Pittsburgh and New Jersey locations, as well as in several other independent repair shops in the United States and Canada. DPC is partnering with The Body Shop @ to offer a refined version of the model to DPC body shops.
    
The Body Shop @ operates a customer-focused group of collision repair centers with plans to continue rapid expansion over the coming years. Sweigart and Sullivan created the Star-Link Collision Repair Network, made up exclusively of repairers that are truly committed to genuine improvement through Kaizen. The group was established to promote to the customer a substantially better offering, and to work together through shared learning for the sake of a better collision repair industry.
    
“We realized very quickly that DuPont Performance Coatings shared our vision,” said John Sweigart, CEO – The Body Shop @. “We effectively help existing repairers create genuine improvement using a lean model and the answer is not just in the application of lean tools and courses, but through a hands-on, ‘learn by doing’ approach. The key to transform repairer operations is to focus on teaching, learning and problem solving.”    
    
“DPC chose to partner with The Body Shop @ because of the organizations companywide commitment to process improvement and the ability to practice it internally and transfer it to others. We visited The Body Shop @ locations six times in 12 months and significant process improvement occurred between each visit,” said Steve Trapp, manager – DuPont Collision Services Development. “The Body Shop @ practices what they preach, they are continuously improving. Our customers will learn a lot from John Sweigart and the Star-link team.”     
    
DPC will offer courses at NACE, SEMA and other events featuring the learning from exposure to The Body Shop @.
    
To learn more about DPC’s approach to lean, contact your local DPC business development manager, DuPont customers may visit the DPSLibrary.dupont.com site or visit www.pc.dupont.com.