Michael Giarrizzo has decades of experience under his belt. He’s a third-generation automotive repair professional, having followed in the footsteps of his dad and grandfather. Now president and CEO of DCR Systems, headquartered in a 35,000-square-foot facility in Mentor, OH, he oversees a network of collision repair centers that stretch from the Midwest to the East Coast.
DCR Systems
Mentor, OH
888-327-9902
www.dcrsystems.com
Facebook: @dcrmentor
Instagram: @dcr_systems
LinkedIn: @dcr-systems-group-inc.
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: 100
In Business Since: 2005
Number of Locations: Seven
Combined Production Space: 104,000 square feet
His family’s roots trace to a humbler setting: his grandfather’s two-bay mechanic shop, founded in 1946. During the 1960s, his father, Michael, opened a 5,000-square-foot mechanic and collision repair shop, where a young Giarrizzo performed odd jobs while learning to buff and prep.
After graduating from St. Bonaventure University in 1984 with a degree in business marketing, he joined the family business. Over the years, the company experienced a growth spurt. They opened three new locations and changed the name from Johnny’s Service Inc. to JSI Collision Specialist. “My dad’s role was to open new locations and I took over operations for the company,” recalled Giarrizzo.
Metro Accident Repair Center technician Gene Taylor uses a KECO Slide Hammer and tabs to avoid intrusive repairs caused by a traditional hammer and dolly technique. DCR partnered with a Toyota dealership in Brook Park, OH, to develop the facility.
In 1999, during an early wave of consolidations, the business was acquired by Sterling Autobody. “We were the first organization to be acquired as a market. Most of the others were single store acquisitions,” said Giarrizzo. He was hired as the Ohio regional director and appointed COO in 2001.
He left Sterling in 2004. Following a brief stint as a lead consultant for Sherwin-Williams, Giarrizzo opened DCR Systems in 2005. The company now has seven locations, four in Ohio and one each in New York, Massachusetts and North Carolina. DCR holds 16 OEM certifications companywide, but which vary from shop to shop.
From its inception, DCR has had a unique business model. Essentially it provides a seamless turnkey-repair experience that ensures a dealership receives a safe and proper repair based on time-tested standard operating procedures.
Each location has a strategic relationship with a local auto dealership either through a managed or a licensed model. “We are a pure independent, but through our manufacturer certifications we partner with dealers,” said Giarrizzo. “We take pride in being a certified repair center. We use only original parts and manufacturer-specific calibration software.”
Giarrizzo also takes pride in Collision Clarity, an in-house quality-control software, which documents every step of every repair. “It provides a complete pictorial storyboard of each claim, the damage, what it’ll take to fix properly and validates the process with photos that show the repairs were performed correctly.”
Jonathan Carrasquillo, a technician at The Collision Center by DCR Systems, applies his glue-pulling skills to repair a quarter panel. The 10,000-square-foot facility, a partnership with Coastal Nissan-Volkswagen, is located in Rockland, MA.
DCR’s patented lean production system — comprised of best practices — helps streamline repair processes, reduce waste and results in increased productivity and higher quality repairs. Which, said Giarrizzo, is what makes the KECO Glue Pull Repair System a good fit.
“We’re so excited about KECO Glue Pull. Using the technology of Glue Pull allows us to repair panels more precisely and efficiently without rework or compromising the integrity of the metal, versus a more invasive traditional repair.
“Instead of welding on a tab, pulling out the metal, cutting off the tab, grinding off the paint and coating with body filler, which is porous — almost guaranteeing a corrosion situation down the road — we are able to avoid all that with Glue Pull.”
Giarrizzo also noted Glue Pull does not affect the factory e-coat and can be used on both aluminum and steel panels. Additionally, he pointed out a technician can use Glue Pull to significantly reduce the size of the damaged area, thereby reducing the need to blend into an adjacent panel, resulting in a top-notch repair.
While acknowledging there was a transition period as technicians adapted to Glue Pull, Giarrizzo said entry-level support staff were quick to “really embrace the cutting-edge technology” — which he points out to students at a local trade school, where DCR provides input and guidance for a collision repair training program.
A believer in a learning culture, Giarrizzo helped integrate Glue Pull into the school’s curriculum. “When I address these students, I speak to them about having glue-pulling skills. This is the technology of the future. We already have a technician shortage, so we need to create our own workforce. If these students apply to work at a shop and have glue-pulling skills, think about how attractive that will be to the owner. That’s why the KECO Glue Pull skill sets are so important."
KECO Body Repair Products
888-532-6822
Company Contact: Scott Stayton
www.kecotabs.com
Facebook: @KECOBodyRepairProducts
X: @kecotabs
Instagram: @kecodentrepair
LinkedIn: @keco-body-repair-products
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To read more auto body shop profiles from the June 2024 Shop and Product Showcase, click here.
