The 2022 Top Shops Benchmarking Results Have Arrived

Results are in for the 2022 Top Shops Benchmarking Survey. Each year, hundreds of finishing shops across the world participate in the survey to track their performance and see how they stack up against industry peers with unbiased, actionable data. PF’s Top Shops Benchmarking Program delivers personalized reports that provide invaluable insight that is unavailable elsewhere, and it is designed to help shops improve their operations and build their businesses. The only cost of admittance is the time it takes to complete the survey, as participation is free. Jan Schafer, director of market research for Gardner Intelligence, says, “At all levels, there’s learning to be gained from participating.”

One of the exemplary trends of Top Shops was their usage of automated process lines and monitoring platforms. Shops that achieved Top Shop status were doing as follows:

Powder/liquid coating shops	Use automated process lines	Use automated process monitoring
Top Shops	60%	40%
Other	42%	13%
Plating/anodizing shops
Top Shops	64%	89%
Other	28%	52%

Additionally, the big differentiator between shops that achieved Top Shop status and those that didn’t was in the labor-hours per week they devoted to parts inspection, analytical testing, environmental initiatives and training. Across the board, Top Shops invested more time into these aspects of their business than others.

For the third year in a row, Georgia Powder Coating (Gainesville, Georgia) ranks first in the Top Shops Benchmarking Survey. When asked how the benchmarking reports have enabled his shop to improve its processes, Dallas Cooley, vice president of sales at Georgia Powder Coating, says, “We have found it is the best indicator to determine where the industry standards are as a whole. The feedback identifies needed areas of improvement, and have been different year-over-year.”