Kaizen founder announces launch of mechanical Gemba Automotive

Jacob Tilzer and his company, Accrual Equity Partners, recently announced the launch of Gemba Automotive, a technology-enabled automotive services platform.

Tilzer previously founded Kaizen Auto Care, an automotive platform that expanded to 50 collision repair locations and 10 mechanical and calibration centers. He left in 2024 following the sale of the company to Kinderhook. He then founded Accrual Equity Partners the same year. 

The launch of Gemba Automotive, with eight locations in Phoenix, Arizona, has Tilser building a mechanical MSO. 

Gemba uses a unified enterprise technology stack to support expansion while preserving and empowering the teams running the business, a press release says. This includes Gemba investing in a scalable infrastructure and assembled hand-selected team of experienced platform operations, shop leaders, advisors, and technicians. 

“This platform was built to be large enough to scale and small enough to care,” said Tilzer. “We built a team of great automotive operators who support a shared vision to deliver automotive hospitality to Arizona auto owners with the goal of becoming Arizona’s favorite ‘Auto Shop’ for comprehensive mechanical service and diagnostics spanning routine maintenance to repair and everything in between.”

According to the release, Gemba is led by a seasoned executive team, including COO Scot Sniffe and John Jamison, executive chairman, who built and operated Greulich’s Automotive before selling to Sun Auto. 

“Together, the leadership team brings deep, hands-on expertise across collision repair, mechanical services, and automotive retail,” the release says. 

Gemba Automotive was built to replace fragmented legacy systems with a connected, technology-driven platform. It has standardized operations, centralized financial controls, leveraged AI and integrated IT infrastructure, the release says. 

“Our company’s state-of-the-art facilities are designed for maximum efficiency, allowing its highly skilled technicians to complete most services in hours, not days,” said Tilzer. “Customers benefit from clear, upfront pricing and are encouraged to watch the technicians work in clean, open-bay shops, ensuring complete trust and transparency from start to finish.”

The release adds that Arizona represents an attractive market for automotive services, driven by rapid population growth, high vehicle density, and favorable business conditions. 

“The Phoenix metropolitan area alone has grown by over 20% in the past decade, creating significant demand for professional automotive services,” the release says. “Gemba enters this market positioned as a partnership-focused platform, built to collaborate with independent operators who value professionalism, transparency, and creating lasting value for their teams and communities.”

Tilzer’s investment in the mechanical space comes at time when the collision industry has started to see some slowth in mortgage loan acquisitions (MLO), according to a new report by The Romans Group. 

The group’s annual whitepaper “A 2024 Profile of the Evolving U.S. and Canadian Collision Repair Marketplace,” was released last month. 

“In 2024 the U.S. and Canadian collision repair industries respectively had a $48.2 billion U.S. TAM [total addressable market] and a Canadian TAM of $4.3 billion,” the paper says. “Since we have been tracking this data, this marks the first time, except for the pandemic year 2020, that industry TAM has decreased.” 

The paper says that 2024 was one of the slowest years for MLO acquisitions in the last decade. 

“Nevertheless, consolidators continue their focus on strategic acquisitions with larger consolidators like Caliber and Gerber developing more brownfield and greenfield locations alongside their existing location buys,” the release says. 

It also adds that despite a decrease in repairable claims in 2024 and 2025, the collision repair space continues to deliver its long-term proposition of proven economics and growth supported by insurance industry-driven demand dynamics that create cash flow stability and profitability for many of the best operators. 

“With regard to physical growth, the benefits and risks to all consolidators continue to be the ability to quickly, efficiently, and effectively integrate expansion and acquisitions while avoiding opportunities that detract from prudent financial performance,” the paper says. “This includes managing and navigating new market dynamics and scale, growing their client and revenue base, the ability to balance ongoing insurance DRP and OEM certification program requirements, leveraging supplier relationships and the economies of scale and purchasing power, as well as their ability to effectively integrate their systems and business operating model within their new single-and multiple-location markets.” 

The $20 million-plus segment, especially the top three independent consolidators — Caliber, Boyd/Gerber and Crash Champions — continue to grow steadily the paper says.
The paper says this is due to their ability to: 

• • Increase levels of regional and national network scale.
  • Realize organic revenue growth based on market scale, brand recognition, and network. 
  • Performance.
  • Pursue and secure insurer DRP and OEM certification relationships.
  • Broaden customer acquisition segmentation.
  • Compete for multiple-location platform acquisitions.
  • Target single-location acquisitions, coupled with greenfield and brownfield development that fit their geographic strategies.
  • Train personnel and manage the organization’s ability to integrate acquisitions and implement operational and performance improvement.
  • Leverage capital expenditures for future growth and development. 

The Canadian market is highly consolidated among independent banners and franchise organizations, the paper says. 

“Since 2012, the number of Canadian collision repair locations has decreased by 37.7% while industry revenue increased 55.2%,” the paper says. “The combined ≥$10 million MLO/Banners/MLNs segment continues to drive Canada’s revenue growth. When ranking the various types of repair organizations, the first two positions in the All Repairers ranking are represented by two franchisors. The remaining companies reflect a combination of independent and dealer banner and franchise organizations.”

The group’s five-year forecast to 2029 has the segment at $20 million or greater with the top three consolidators aggressively growing their businesses while maintaining and growing their significant market share lead over the franchise networks and the $10 to $19 million MLO segments. 

“We expect that by 2029, the Top 3 Consolidators will grow from their 2024 market share of over 27%  to a market share of up to 37%,” the report says. 

The full report can be purchased by contacting Mary Jane Kurowski of the Romans Group at [email protected]

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