Pro Spot

by Autobody News Staff

Operating four successful auto body shops in the greater Indianapolis market is no easy feat—following OEM requirements, delivering high-quality repairs and ensuring superior customer service requires skilled technicians with access to the correct tools and equipment to restore vehicles to their pre-accident condition accurately and efficiently.

Part of the Ray Skillman Auto Group, Ray Skillman Collision Centers employ 55 collision repair professionals who repair an average of 600 vehicles each month at their Shadeland, Avon, Westside and Southern locations, which are all I-CAR Gold Class shops.

“Everybody in central Indiana knows the name ‘Ray Skillman,’” according to Heath Miner, general manager of Ray Skillman Collision Centers.

When the Avon body shop was acquired in 2018, Miner used the opportunity to equip the newest Ray Skillman Collision Center with state-of-the-art welding equipment from Pro Spot.

“We’d tried a lot of other brands, but I kept hearing tons of positive feedback about Pro Spot’s welders and wanted to give them a chance,” Miner recalled. “We purchased Pro Spot’s Inverter Resistance Welder, along with the SP-5 DP Single Phase Double Pulse MIG Welder and PR-205MV Synergic MIG Welders.

“Ray Skillman does a great job of reinvesting in his body shops as long as it will benefit the business, so he supported the installation of Pro Spot welders in both the Avon and Eastside shops due to the myriad benefits offered,” Miner continued. “All our technicians in both shops loved the Pro Spot equipment, so we purchased the welders for our Greenwood shop, too.

“Our lead tech loves the i4 Inverter Spot Welder. He says it’s the best resistance welder he’s ever used. Resistance welders have been around for a long time, but Pro Spot’s i4 is far superior to every piece of similar equipment we’ve tried.”

In addition to offering an OEM-programmable feature with detailed repair illustrations and customized weld programs, the Pro Spot i4 Inverter Resistance Welder is designed to handle difficult-to-weld materials, like boron steels and advanced high strength steels. Many modern cars don’t allow for plug welds without ruining the inner panels, while punching and drilling holes takes time a busy shop cannot afford.

“We don’t have to grind anything down after using Pro Spot’s i4 Spot Welder,” Miner said. “Our welds look identical to factory welds, allowing us to keep moving along with the repair process. This equipment speeds up the whole welding process immensely.”

Automatic adjustments based on welding parameters are a main draw of Pro Spot’s PR-205MV Synergic MIG Welder. Compact and lightweight, the microprocessor-controlled welding inverter is suitable for MIG/MAG, MMA and TIG welding processes, providing users with the option to exert complete control in manual mode or choose synergic mode to allow the machine to make adjustments based on wire diameter, gas type and thickness to be welded.

Because the Greenwood auto body shop is Ford Aluminum certified, Ray Skillman Collision invested in equipment specifically designed for that material. Pro Spot’s SP-5 DP Single Phase Double Pulse Smart MIG Welder features three MIG touches designed to weld aluminum, silicon bronze and steel.

“The speed of the SP-5 and how it actually lays down the welds is impressive,” Miner said. “It does a better job of welding with silicon bronze than anything else we’ve used. We also invested in Pro Spot’s AL-MWS Aluminum Weld Station with the Pro Spot AL-5 Capacitor Discharge Stud Welder, which helps with dent pulling and welding aluminum and UHSS components.”

Additional features on Pro Spot’s welders offer beneficial efficiencies as well.

“There are so many positive benefits with Pro Spot’s welders,” Miner said. “The equipment immediately tells you whether the weld was good, so we save time in reworks. Our guys really like the fact that there’s a second screen on the handle; being able to read everything right there, without moving back to the machine, makes the job easier and quicker, increasing productivity.”

Productivity increases positively affect profitability by providing more time to complete additional repairs, but that’s not the only financial impact Ray Skillman Collision Centers have seen since switching to Pro Spot’s welders.

“Since we’re not grinding down the welds, we use fewer disks and save on consumables,” Miner said. “Pro Spot welders benefit our bottom line in multiple ways.”

Learning to use the new equipment was quick and easy, too.

“JR, our sales representative, came out and trained us on the new Pro Spot welders, and then he checked on us after 30 days, but switching equipment was extremely easy,” Miner said. “We quit using our old equipment one evening, received training the next morning and went live right then and there. JR has called a few times to make sure all is well, but we haven’t had any issues because Pro Spot manufactures phenomenal machines!”

“Everybody in central Indiana knows the name ‘Ray Skillman,’” according to Heath Miner, general manager of Ray Skillman Collision Centers.

Location: Greenwood, IN

Type: Auto Group Collision Centers Facility Employees: 55 In Business Since: 1980 Number of Locations: Four DRP Programs: 12

116,000 square feet

“With the i4 from Pro Spot, our welds look identical to factory welds. This equipment speeds up the whole welding process immensely,” Miner said.

“The speed of the SP-5 and how it actually lays down the welds is impressive. It does a better job of welding with silicon bronze than anything else we’ve used,” Miner said.

5932 Sea Otter Place Carlsbad, CA 92010 (877) PRO-SPOT

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