Manheim Palm Beach Unveils Expanded, Improved Body Shop

Manheim Palm Beach has significantly raised its body work capacity to meet increasing demand, as well as more than doubled the square footage of its existing body shop in a 12-month project designed to also ramp up the site’s environmental efficiencies and conservation efforts.  One of eleven auction locations in Florida, Manheim Palm Beach is now set up to successfully and responsibly recondition more cars.

Ron Parker, General Manager of Manheim Palm Beach said, “With the type of Highline units that we sell, we are excited to have the opportunity to service those cars in a first-class shop. The employees are really enjoying the improved working conditions and we believe that there will be more opportunities for new and current customers.”

The expansion has also given Manheim Palm Beach the opportunity to ramp up its conservation efforts. The body shop recycles materials, and the lighting equipment now uses two thirds less electricity than before the renovation. An occupancy light sensor upgrade in the existing section and installation in the expanded section cuts lighting energy use by an additional 30 percent. Utility drops, a safer and more efficient way of accessing electricity and air for power tools, have been installed. The new section of the body shop also includes two new paint tunnels and a new priming booth for vehicles, both of which are “down draft booths,” meaning they are the most efficient booths available. Both the paint and priming booths are National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) compliant.

From a production perspective, the expansion has made the body shop process faster and extremely efficient. Vehicles are set up in an assembly fashion where the units flow through the process smoothly and in a timely manner.  With the old shop, 65 percent of vehicles going through the process had to be parked outside and brought back in one by one. Only 10 to 15 cars would be processed on an eight hour day shift. Now, Manheim Palm Beach has the capability of processing 25 to 35 cars on an eight hour shift.  

Mandy Savage, Assistant General Manager of Manheim Palm Beach said, “Our team in the body shop produced outstanding work in the old shop, but the new facility has allowed us to improve our quality and expand our revenue opportunities. We have been moving cars quickly through the process and so far, the feedback from our customers has been very positive.”