PanelTalk July/August 2015 issuu

PanelTalk Official Journal of the Collision Repair Association

July/August 2015

CRA Overall Best Business 2015 - City Collision Repairs, Napier FenderBender Conference

Bodyshop of the Future PanelTalk 1

2 PanelTalk

Official Journal of the Collision Repair Association

July/August 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE COLLISION REPAIR ASSOCIATION

PUBLISHER Collision Repair Association P.O. Box 9208 Waikato Mail Centre Hamilton 3240

13

18

Overall Best Business

Autonomous driving insights for the repairer…

EDITOR Rex Crowther DESIGNER Rebecca Tune PANELTALK MAGAZINE 362 Great North Road Arch Hill Auckland 0612 PO Box 32 362 Devonport Auckland 0744 PHONE: (09) 360 8437 EMAIL: paneltalkmagazine@gmail.com CIRCULATION & SUBSCRIPTIONS Collision Repair Association Ph: 07-847 0216 Fax: 07-847 0217 Email: collision.repair@xtra.co.nz COPYRIGHT No part of PanelTalk may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written permission of the publisher.

ISSN 0113-8685

EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER Views and opinions expressed in this issue of PanelTalk are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher.

ADVERTISING DISCLAIMER Claims and statements made in PanelTalk are not necessarily endorsed by the Collision Repair Association.

While care is taken to ensure the accuracy of the advertisements, neither the association nor the editor accepts responsibility for them.

Please like us on facebook: New Zealand Collision Repair Association

23

Body Shop of the Future

CRA Contacts

4

Editorial

5

General Manager’s Report

7

PartsTrader June Roadshow

9

It’s Just My Opinion

11

Overall Best Business

13

Autonomous Driving Insights

18

Body Shop of the Future

23

CRA Annual Awards - Best Business

26

Chairman’s Report

33

FenderBender Management Conference

36

Slash Cycle Time

40

MLO - Walter Zuber

45

IBIS Summit 2015

People. Products. Events.

46

Regional Roundup

54

I-CAR Technical Pages

58

I-CAR Courses

62

50

CRA Promo and Compliance 66 PanelTalk 3

NZ COLLISION REPAIR ASSOCIATION INC

CONTACTS for over

100 years

CRA National Office: 1st floor (above Firestone), 3 Lincoln Street, Frankton, Hamilton, PO Box 9208, Waikato Mail Centre, HAMILTON 3240 Ph: 07 847 0216 Fax: 07 847 0217 Email: collision.repair@xtra.co.nz Web: www.collisionrepair.co.nz

The New zealand Collision Repair Assiciation’s membership incorporates all types of businesses allied to automotive collision repair. The affairs of the Association are managed by the National executive, which consists of a chairperson and a person appointed from each branch of the Association.

CHAIRMAN: General Manager: Association Manager: OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR:

Alan le Noel Neil Pritchard Adrienne Richardson Erin McLean

027 272 5205 021 663 459 021 572 158 07 847 0216

for over

100 years

alan@haurakipanel.co.nz neil@collisionrepair.co.nz adrienne@collisionrepair.co.nz erin@collisionrepair.co.nz

New membership enquiries should be directed to Erin McLean at the Collision Repair Assiciation National Office.

NORTHLAND

AUCKLAND

CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND

HAWKES BAY

National Executive Rep Carl Henty Louie Berkers Collision Repair Centre Ltd 161 Dent Street, WHANGAREI 0110 (09) 438 8997 (09) 438 8991 carl@louieberkers.co.nz

National Executive Rep Brent Mackay A1 Autofinish 11 Crum Avenue, New Lynn Auckland 0600 (09) 827 8462 (09) 827 5751 a1-auto@xtra.co.nz

National Executive Rep Lou Pilkington Taupo Smash Repairs PO Box 414, TAUPO 3351 (07) 378 7807 (07) 378 7857 tauposmash@xtra.co.nz

National Executive Rep Chris Greaney City Collision Repairs 31 Leyland Street, Onekawa Napier 4110 (06) 843 8200 (06) 843 8538 chris@citycollision.co.nz

Chairman Tony Gordon Tony Gordon Panelbeaters 12-14 Finlayson Street, WHANGAREI 0110 Ph: (09) 438 1047 Fax: (09) 438 5739 info@tonygordonpanelbeaters.co.nz

Secretary Mike Verkuylen Wynn Fraser Paints PO Box 348, WHANGAREI 0140 (09) 438 1624 (09) 438 3740 mike@wynnfraser.co.nz

Chairman Tyler Schwalger Turners Panelbeating & Carpainting Ltd 147 Target Road, Wairau Valley Auckland 0627 (09) 444 7217 (09) 444 4926 tyler@turnerspanelbeating.co.nz

Secretary Margaret Watterson

Chairman Kris Browne Fleet Image NZ Ltd PO Box 364, TE AWAMUTU 3840 (07) 871 6780 (07) 871 6770 kris@fleetimage.co.nz

Secretary Andy Pryor Resene Automotive & Light Industrial 593 Te Rapa Road, Te Rapa HAMILTON 3200 (07) 849 7798 andy.pryor@rali.co.nz

National Executive Rep Stephen Perrin Harts Body Shop PO Box 7137, Pioneer Highway PALMERSTON NORTH 4443 (06) 358 4098 (06) 359 5387 harts.body@xtra.co.nz

Chairman Aaron Hogg Larsen Collision Repairs Ltd PO Box 4371, WANGANUI 4541 (06) 345 3377 (06) 345 3204 admin@larsencollision.co.nz

Secretary Joan Perrin Harts Body Shop PO Box 7137, Pioneer Highway PALMERSTON NORTH 4443 (06) 358 4098 (06) 359 5387 harts.body@xtra.co.nz

WELLINGTON

National Executive Rep Tony Straugheir Hutt City Panel & Paint Ltd PO Box 30780, LOWER HUTT 5040 (04) 939 3625 (04) 939 3620 huttcitypanelpaint@paradise.net.nz

Chairman Gerard Bohan 121 Hokio Beach Road, LEVIN 5510 (027) 453 0838 t.bohan@xtra.co.nz

CANTERBURY WESTLAND

National Executive Rep Warren Flowerday Tandem Smash Repairs 1996 Ltd PO Box 10224, Phillipstown CHRISTCHURCH 8145 (03) 982 4862 (03) 982 4862 warren@tandemsmash.co.nz

Chairman Bryan Easton Super Finish Panel & Paint PO Box 7552, Sydenham CHRISTCHURCH 8240 (03) 365 2324 (03) 365 0408 repairs@superfinish.co.nz

Secretary Tristan Hosie 3M PO Box 27150, Marion Square WELLINGTON 6141 (04) 384 1243 (04) 384 5580 thosie@mmm.com

Secretary Alistair Sheard PO Box 79071, Avonhead CHRISTCHURCH 8446 (03) 348 9326 (03) 343 1155 alistair@brlaccountants.co.nz

National Executive Rep Warren Burns Gordon Officer (1991) Ltd PO Box 1099, INVERCARGILL 9840 (03) 215 9081 (03) 215 8477 gordonofficer@xtra.co.nz

Chairman Ewan Hilston Parkside Panels (1990) Ltd PO Box 526, INVERCARGILL 9840 (03) 216 7771 (03) 216 3948 parkside.panels@xtra.co.nz

MANAWATU WANGANUI TARANAKI

OTAGO SOUTHLAND

4 PanelTalk

Secretary Steve de Graaf Harrow Motor Body Works Ltd 26 Wilkie Road, Kensington DUNEDIN 9012 (03) 455 1773 (03) 455 2746 harrows@xtra.co.nz

Editorial Welcome to the July/August issue of PanelTalk, and what an interesting issue it has been to put together.

I began this issue upon my return from Philadelphia and the FenderBender Management Conference.

My head was so full of great stuff that I was really keen to put it all into print. However, there was so much information to relay that trying to distill it down into a shorter report has been challenging - so I hope I have done it justice. I have included several reports in this issue and more will follow in the next issue, so I hope you find it of interest.

Interestingly, every article in this issue has a similar theme, and that is around productivity and efficiency.

Having believed over the last decade that New Zealand repairers were right up there with the best in the world, I was really surprised to see just how far we have slipped off the pace where productivity is concerned.

The words that I heard often in Philadelphia were 'work in progress' (WIP), which is something that we pay scant regard to over here. To the delegates present, WIP was something to be kept to the absolute minimum, it is seen by many repairers over there as the killer of profit.

The interesting thing is that by concentrating on their productivity, something that they actually have control over, they remain upbeat and excited about their business despite the many challenges that they face.

The search for improved productivity is what led to the development of the CRA 'Overall Best Business Award' winner business, City Collision Repairs in Napier.

This winning business is as successful as it has ever been as it enters its 100th year of operation and we explore the journey as they have moved with the times.

We also look at some recent developments around what is perhaps the bodyshop of the future, where 12 vehicles a day passing through a paint booth is the norm. I found this article very timely, as again in Philadelphia, I heard of a collision repair facility in the UK that was forced to relocate, as their building was required for a new roadway. Their new building was 17,000 sq ft as apposed to the prior 34,000 sq ft space, with just two spraybooths instead of four, yet they still have the same seventeen productive technicians as before. Their touch time has gone from 2.4 hours a day to 6.2 meaning they now complete 109 repairs a week compared to 78 in the old facility. Not surprisingly, their net profit has increased from 2.4% to 14.9% against an industry average in the UK of around 2.5%. There we go again with that productivity word.

Rounding out our feature articles is one on autonomous driving insights and a report from IBIS 2015 Global Focus on the Australian collision repair market. We also catch up with the CRA 2015 Award winners to find out what winning the award means to their business and their view on the future of the collision repair industry.

As always, enjoy the read and I welcome your feedback.

I once again encourage you to support the advertisers, and probably most importantly, read the articles with an open mind as to how you may improve your own business.

Rex Crowther

PanelTalk 5

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CRA General Manager’s Report

By Neil Pritchard

CRA launches guarantee scheme We have used the July Roadshow to launch the CRA Guarantee. This has been developed in response to the many complaints received from members who feel that work providers unfairly direct work away from them towards contracted repairers. In cases where this is likely, repairers can pre-empt this by offering their own guarantee, backed up by the CRA’s one.

It works like this: • These is a 10 page contract between the

repairer and CRA guarantee Ltd. • This entity is a wholly owned subsidiary of the

Collision Repair Association.

• It is funded by way of shares, loan and income

from contributing repairers.

• Once signed off by both parties the repairer

receives:

• A guarantee certificate to display in

their office

• Guarantee booklets to give out to

customers. This outlines rights,

exclusions, addresses etc

• An account for $50 plus gst for the rest

of 2015. It is anticipated that the

account for 2016 will be $100 plus gst In the normal course of events it will be the repairer who will carry and honour the guarantee, but it is felt that the guarantee from the CRA will carry more weight and credibility with the customers.

Repairer participation in the scheme is only available to members of the Collision Repair Association.

For more information or to view the contract please contact Neil: Ph:021663459 Email neil@collisionrepair.co.nz or contact national Office: Ph:078470216 Email: admin@collisionrepair.co.nz PanelTalk 7

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CRA General Manager’s Report

By Neil Pritchard

PartsTrader June Roadshow In June PartsTrader hosted 14 Roadshows throughout the country, which were attended by approximately 300 suppliers. The aim was to continue to inform sellers about the trends in the market, the quality improvements being made, as well as recent and future software features. The PartsTrader team was also there to listen to what is most important from the supplier point of view, with the overall goal being to improve the transaction outcomes for all participants through the sharing of information.

The session began with an update on PartsTrader's transaction numbers, such as there are now 823 buyers and 470 suppliers carrying out transactions to the value of $130 million a year. The 5 Star Network was covered in detail, being launched in 2014 after wide consultation with the industry; it puts the focus on quality over price.

As 5 Star suppliers get total Island coverage there is a strong incentive for recyclers to maintain 5 Stars. One interesting slide highlighted the “area of tension” between new genuine and recycled. In vehicles up to 5 years old new parts are predominately used whereas from 2002 and older, recycled parts get the lions share. For vehicles made between 2002 and 2010 it’s a pretty even split so this is where there is real competition.

feedback with a strong emphasis on parts quality, delivery promises and communication. The latest real time ordering system was discussed with a reported good uptake from buyers and this should provide advantages for all involved. A new fee structure for sellers is being introduced which better shares the costs involved according to sales volumes.

An exciting announcement for the suppliers present was the announcement of the upcoming mechanical parts launch, with the size of the relevant markets discussed.

The last announcement was the proposed launching of a new loyalty programme in the third quarter of 2015.

All in all, a very worthwhile Roadshow that can only help in assisting both buyers and sellers to understand their various challenges.

Also featured were a series of short videos taken at the recent CRA conference where repairers spelled out what was most important for them from their suppliers – good

Waterbourne Air Distribution System Infrared arches for booths and prep bays Fire suppressing system for booth, prep and tint rooms Odour Blaster for exhaust stacks PanelTalk 9

10 PanelTalk

It’s just my opinion

- Rex Crowther

Following on from my last opinion piece on skill shortages in our industry, perhaps it is time that we think outside the square as we realise that our industry has changed and our staff balance should reflect this change.

At the FenderBender Management Conference in Philadelphia in May, there was much talk about jobbers (semi skilled employees) and people multi tasking. This made me realise that we are not recognising some of the opportunities that are out there.

How much of our work these days requires the changeover of one or two panels and a couple of small panel repairs? I bet quite a bit and this type of repair does not require a fully-fledged, highly skilled technician to carry it out.

It is fair to say a person could be trained to become very competent in this type of repair in six months at the most.

In fact, they could remove and replace the necessary parts, carry out the small repairs and prime and prep the vehicle to the refinish stage. All that is then required is for a painter to match the colour and apply the top coats.

Surely this would reduce labour costs as a jobber’s wages would be around 75 percent of a tradesman’s wages, and he would be capable in six months and very proficient in a year. It almost seems too good to be true, so why is it that I suspect a lot of you are right now switching off, thinking it is a bad idea?

It is not my intention in these pages to tell people what to do, merely to offer up alternatives to the status quo. And so, if you are still reading, perhaps we have a chance to explore an alternative skill set for the collision repair industry in New Zealand.

Image if you will, a person who perhaps is in their twenties or early thirties. Perhaps they have drifted from

job to job and are now looking to up skill and secure a regular job. At first glance they may not be apprentice material, but with a bit of concentrated training they could strip and fit basic vehicles. Then with a bit more training, they could repair light panel damage and then they could easily learn refinish preparation.

All the while they could be at least paying their way, and after six months they could be generating a reasonable profit. Meanwhile, your skilled technicians are left to do what they do best, the higher-level accident damage, without the disruptions of being moved from job to job in order to carry out minor damage repairs.

When you read through this issue of PanelTalk, you will see reference to multi tasking, to remaining on the job from the start to the completion of a technician’s section of the process, of people helping each other to ensure a smooth flow through the workshop and also of the average touch time (the amount of actual time a vehicle is worked on a day) of two hours.

A lot of this may seem alien to you, but I am confident that within this there might be a secret to ongoing profitability. And so the sooner repairers in this part of the world look outside the square and explore different processes and methods, the sooner they will begin to enjoy an increasing profit margin.

My challenge is this. Tomorrow morning, walk through your facility and see how many accident damaged vehicles fit into the category mentioned above. If there are several, and you are short staffed, then please give this proposal some serious thought – I am sure that you will not regret it.

Finally, whether you agree or not, I welcome any feedback to promote thought and discussion. Please email me on rexcrowther@gmail.com with your thoughts.

PanelTalk 11

12 PanelTalk

Overall Best Business

City Collision Repairs, Napier The winner of the top award, is likely to have been a finalist in one or more of the year’s award categories, and has shown commitment and outstanding qualities in many of the categories.

Finalists

Evans European, Auckland Bernie Fama Panel & Paint, Hamilton City Collision Repairs, Napier

City Collision Repairs of Napier are no strangers to the pages of PanelTalk. They first appeared in the November 2010 issue which featured their magnificent new facility, then again in March 2015 when they achieved Quality Assured status and again as winners of several categories of the CRA Annual Awards over the years. So now, having won the top accolade this year, they presented PanelTalk with the dilema of what to write to celebrate this prestigious win. As chance would have it, City Collision Repairs is entering its 100th year in business and so we found our story.

Close to a century ago in 1916, a Napier coachbuilder by the name of Mr Andrew Dykes formed a company called A Dykes Coachbuilders and Wheelwrights, operating out of premises in Hastings St, Napier. Originally a lot of the business was around horse drawn buggies, coaches and carts, but with the increasing number of motor vehicles on New Zealand's roads, business turned to the motorised section of transport. Initially the company produced car bodies for imported chassis and then, when these vehicles started crashing, the company moved into the repair side as well.

In 1920, Andrew’s sons Andrew Junior and John (Andy and Jack) joined the company which at that point became known as A Dykes & Sons Coachbuilders and Panelbeaters.

Despite the hardships associated with the great depression of the early thirties, the company continued to prosper as the business diversified into the manufacturing of all sorts of motorised transport.

In 1939 it lent its support to the war effort by building army trucks and ambulances. This was a challenging time for many industries in the western world as many of the senior tradesmen were at war and the onus fell on companies such as A Dykes & Sons to train many young men to be coachbuilders in order to support the government’s need for these vehicles. (see side story) In 1940 they began what was to be a very exacting and somewhat lucrative business of converting cars to hearses. They were built on a variety of models from Fords to Rolls Royce’s and there are still a few in service today. (see side story)

PanelTalk 13

In 1945 business started to ramp up after the war and the need for a large number of passenger coaches grew.

Andy realised he needed to get out and see what was happening in the rest of the country and so he joined the New Zealand Motor Body Builders Association (NZMBBA). In the subsequent years he became immersed in the association, eventually being elected National Chairman in 1958.

The 1950s and 60s were good decades for the New Zealand coachbuilding industry and led by the entrepenurial Andy Dykes Jr, the company prospered. An example of his vision and drive is the fact that he went to a New Zealand Funeral Directors annual conference in the early 1940s with a brand new hearse that the company had built.

During the course of the conference the hearse created a lot of interest and was sold. This led to Andy joining the Funeral Directors Association and he took a new hearse to their annual conference every year after that, selling them before he returned to Napier.

During this period A Dykes & Sons had a variety of government contracts to both build double cab trucks and buses for the various Government departments. These contracts lasted over 30 years, and a great by-product was the large amount of repair work that stemmed from these contracts.The company also enjoyed the support of a number of the North Island coach operators, having exclusive repair and refurbishment contracts with several of the country’s leading businesses.

contract with Newman’s Coachlines repairing and refurbishing their coaches and there was hardly a day when there would not be at least one coach in the shop every day for 25 years. Other projects included the manufacture of children's seatbelts and Roger, as an apprentice, can remember boxing up thousands of them to be shipped all around New Zealand.

Roger, despite being just 19 at the time and still serving his apprenticeship, was appointed foreman by Andy. Andy, a very strong, gruff determined man stated he could see him as the future of the business, so he might as well learn about it from a young age. Several years later, when Roger had a chance to work in the UK, he handed his notice in at A Dykes & Sons, to which Andy responded that if he remained with the company he could eventually own it. And so he was convinced to stay.

In 1978 Jack became ill with cancer, so Andy entered a profit sharing buy out scheme with Roger to buy Jack's shares. In 1979 Jack passed away and then six months later Andy passed away with cancer as well.

In the mid to late 50s the local council decided they didn't want workshops in the centre of town, and as the A Dykes & Sons premises was only 275 metres from the central post office, they were encouraged to relocate. The Dykes brothers decided to build a new factory 2.5 kilometres away in Hydradad Rd. The new building had a purpose-built paint shop with two spray booths and was considered state of the art for its time.

Roger Greaney started his apprenticeship with A Dykes & Sons in 1968 as one of three panelbeating apprentices.

He joined five other panelbeaters and three apprentices, three coachbuilders and five painters, including one apprentice painter.

In another example of Andy's flair, in 1971 they built a revolutionary canopy with twin side opening doors on a Mazda B1600 Ute for the NZ Forest Service. This canopy was all steel and was the forerunner to the now familiar fibreglass canopies. During this period they had a 14 PanelTalk

Andy Dykes, second from left, back row

Before he died, Andy arranged for the company to be sold to Roger, with the purchase price set at market rates but funded by a loan from the Dykes Family Trust.

During 1984 the road in front of the shop was widened and this resulted in the loss of their off street parking.

It was this, along with the consistent rent increases that were a feature of the period, that forced a move to a new industrial area, and the company purchased a building in Leyland Street. This shop had painted floors with marked bays, painted walls and a fantastic set of offices, and was considered very flash for the day. It served the company well for the next 25 years.

During the 80s and 90s the business was transformed into a major collision repair facility, with only a token coachbuilding section remaining. In 2000 the name of the company was changed to City Collision Repairs to reflect a more modern image as by then the coach building side of the business had closed due to the government of the day permitting the importation of double cab trucks and fully built up buses. Roger is still very proud of the original name of A Dykes & Sons, so much so in fact that it is still the company’s registered name.

In 2001 City Collision Repairs was one of the first panelshops in the country to attain ISO 9002 status.

Roger's son Christopher (Chris) joined the company as an apprentice panelbeater in 2001 and in 2004 he won the CRA Golden Hammer Award as the CRA Apprentice of the Year.

vehicle movements was discussed. Upon returning home Roger began investigating how efficient the business was in this area and was shocked to see vehicles being moved anywhere between seven and 20 times during the repair process. He came to the realisation that the facility, which had served them well in the 80s and 90s, was not going to be fit for his vision of business in the 21st century.

1978 - A young Roger Greaney with the coach he was refurbishing for Newmans Coach Lines to celebrate their centennial After much thought, and spurred on by the fact that Chris was coming up through the ranks and wishing to give him an opportunity for the future, in 2010 Roger made the decision to build his dream panel and paint facility right across the road from the current location.

Improved productivity was the key factor that influenced the design of the new facility. Vehicle movements have been minimised as much as possible and production is vastly improved. City Collision Repairs has maintained its long tradition of having state of the art facilities, something staff members are extremely proud of.

Rapid Repair Station In 2006 Roger attended the Collision Repair Expo in Sydney. While there he attended a seminar on the future of the collision repair industry where the subject of

Fast forward to this year, and on 1st April Chris was promoted to General Manager. Roger is committed to allowing him to run the business as he sees fit.

“I know there will be mistakes, but without making mistakes one never learns how to progress,” says Roger.

“I am determined to stay out of the way, as much as is humanly possible from something that has been part of my whole working life, and concentrate on my compliancing business and my hobbies.”

In wrapping up our conversation on the business Roger reflected that it was only as he researched and thought PanelTalk 15

about the company’s history did he realise that loyalty has been a big factor in the business. For example, they have been with the ANZ Bank for 100 years and over the last 50 plus years have had the same accountant, lawyers, paint company, radiator repairer and more.And the loyalty runs both ways as well, with Roger singling out staff members Rachelle Fay and Tony O’Connor, who have been with them for 20 years.

The business could well be the oldest CRA member and one of the longest-standing collision repair shops in the country. They have also had a company director on either the CRA National Executive or local Branch Executive for the last 70 years, which is indeed some record.

Now the planning begins for the celebration of 100 years in business in 2016. As can be seen by the accolades accorded City Collision Repairs in recent years, their award of the Overall Best Business is richly deserved.

Accolades received over the last five years include: 2011 Awarded CRA Best Shop Upgrade Award 2013 Awarded CRA Best Presented Business 2014 Achieved CRA QA Status 2015 Awarded CRA Best Overall Business

Built to Last - 1940 Chevrolet Master 85 Business Coupe It was purchased by Andrew Dykes of Napier in May 1940 and subsequently converted to a hearse by A Dykes & Sons. The hearse was then purchased by Arthur Homes, Funeral Directors in McColl Street, on the 11th September 1940.

In 1960 it was purchased by Fletcher Brown Funeral Director and was last registered in 1990. It was known as the “Queen of the Hearses” in Auckland and frequented Waikumete Cemetery on most days.

In 1940 A Dykes & Sons began what was to be a very exacting and somewhat lucrative business of converting cars to hearses. They were built on a variety of models from Fords to Rolls Royce’s and there are still a few in service today. One such vehicle is a 1940 Chevrolet Master 85 Business Coupe.

This vehicle arrived in Wellington as a CKD (completely knocked down) vehicle on the 24th June 1939. Production was completed on 5th January 1940, and the vehicle was driven to the Hastings Hawkes Bay Farmers dealership on the 17th January 1940.

16 PanelTalk

In May 2002 Twentymans Funeral Services became the new owners, and completely stripped and refurbished the vehicle. It still has its original engine, which had 108,131 miles on the speedometer at the time Twentymans purchased it. The vehicle is still available today, at a small additional charge, for funerals around the local area of Thames, Coromandel.

Not bad for what was in all probability the first hearse built by A Dykes & Sons.

Mervyn Foreman - A life changing opportunity In 1939 A Dykes & Sons helped with the war effort by building army trucks and ambulances. This was a challenging time for many industries in the western world as many of the senior tradesmen were at war and companies such as A Dykes & Sons had to train many young men to be coachbuilders in order to support the government’s need for these vehicles.

The only young men available to be hired were those that due to disability or serious illness were unable to enlist in the armed services. One such young man was Mervyn (Merv) Foreman who was profoundly deaf. At the time, in the normal course of events people such as Merv were deemed to be unemployable and were largely confined to their homes or institutionalised, meaning they had little or no normal interaction with the outside world.

Merv was employed as a trainee coachbuilder by Andy Dykes in the early forties, an opportunity that would have been impossible but for the war.

He relished the opportunity to demonstrate his ability and developed into a fine coachbuilder, and remained a valuable employee of the company until he retired in the mid 1980s.

Such was the affection for this long time employee that staff who were employed by the company back then, still refer to him by his nickname, ‘Happy’.

PanelTalk 17

Autonomous driving insights for the repairer…

By Andrew Marsh, Auto Industry Consulting Ltd Much is written about autonomous driving, with a full range of ‘research’ to suggest it will be anywhere from universal to universally shunned. Meanwhile the technology march from vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers marches on. Make no mistake, the next step is coming.

Just consider the progress to date with these milestones: • 2002 the first adaptive cruise control systems reach

the market as expensive accessories on

expensive cars. This used a RADAR ‘lens’

technology first developed for military

applications during the 1990s.

• 2008 Volvo offer the first autonomous braking

system, which combines RADAR, LIDAR and

CMOS camera on the XC60. Other

manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda

follow almost simultaneously.

• 2011 Subaru offer the first twin CMOS camera

system, so eliminating the LIDAR sensor.

This has been rolled out from the Japanese

market to North America and now, in 2015,

Europe.

• 2011 Ford are first to offer RADAR, LIDAR and

CMOS camera system as a low cost option

on Focus3 and rolled this out to Galaxy/S-Max

as well as Mondeo.

• 2012 Volkswagen introduce a LIDAR and CMOS

camera low cost system for Up! / Mii / Citigo.

• 2012 Toyota and Honda show autonomous

braking systems with the capability to manoeuvre

the vehicle to avoid collision.

• 2012 Mazda6 introduces a forward RADAR module

made by Denso, with range increased from

151m to 205m. Other Tier 1 suppliers like

Delphi, Continental and TRW follow suit in the

same year.

• 2013 Volvo announce the next major upgrade to its

system to differentiate cyclists from pedestrians.

• 2014 Volvo and more introduce production

autonomous braking systems with the ability

and capability to manoeuvre the vehicle to

avoid collision.

In all cases many other vehicle manufacturers have introduced systems around the same time or shortly after each of these major steps. In between the systems have gained improved sensor performance and improved software updates - whilst the system cost has fallen as production volume take up has soared.

So far all of these systems rely on a driver being at the wheel, and are strictly driver aids to ensure that if there is an apparent lapse in concentration the vehicle can mitigate or even avoid the collision. In spite of the huge progress in system integrity as well as dramatically reduced system costs, these are not 100% fool proof.

A typical ‘state of the art’ system currently looks like this:

18 PanelTalk

© Mazda Europe GmbH Mazda 6 array of active safety technology

Autonomous driving insights for the repairer…

The next big step?

Autonomous vehicles That is to say the occupants get into the vehicle, set the destination and do nothing at all to drive the vehicle.

In February 2015 we gained an important insight to how this might really happen by 2017…

Volvo Car intend to give 100 prototype vehicles, equipped with production ready systems, and let them be driven in and around Gothenberg on public roads, by 2017. The system has a complete 360 degree coverage of the vehicle.

Volvo Autonomous drive technology - surround vision

Volvo Autonomous drive technology - trifocal camera

Lets look deeper into this. The first level is optical, with four clusters of CMOS cameras covering the front, side © Volvo Car AB and rear of the vehicle – much as can be ordered today from some manufacturers. The difference is the three on board processing computors can decide what is going on if one of the cameras is obscured by excess sunlight, for example. In addition the forward facing camera suite uses not one but three cameras to increase data acquisition and provide range measurement too.

Next up is a suite of ultra-sonic sensors, which provide short-range detection of potential obstacles.

Not new, but these are fully integrated into all the other sensor data.

Volvo Autonomous drive technology - ultrasonic sensors PanelTalk 19

Autonomous driving insights for the repairer…

Volvo Autonomous drive technology - surround radars

There are four RADAR modules, one mounted on each corner of the vehicle – this is twice the number previously used in ‘state of the art’ systems. The modules operate at 24 GHz, providing a wide angle of sensing with not so much range.

Once again the RADAR modules are fully integrated into the overall data system – so detection from the RADAR is cross referenced to the CMOS cameras to classify the object as well as calculate its trajectory relative to the vehicle. In addition there is a 76 GHz forward facing long © Volvo Car AB range RADAR, with a CMOS camera built into it, with the additional function of being able to aim the whole module via an electric motor controlled linkage.

Electric motor controlled linkage The next part is really new. A single LIDAR module which contains multiple LIDAR sensors. This sensor is key to the overall system performance – to gather as much

detail about the road ahead as possible. Whereas the LIDAR sensors today are fixed behind the windscreen, this module is right at the front of the vehicle:

The key to this system is a fully mapped road network, with better © Volvo Car AB resolution than the 5m by 5m square possible with GPS. In addition there are two levels of back up – hence three computers processing the data, receiving data from outside the vehicle and broadcasting data too.

Volvo Autonomous drive technology - multiple beam laser scanner 20 PanelTalk

Autonomous driving insights for the repairer…

There we can see directly the gap between the dream and the reality of autonomous driving. Mapped road data

is available from many organisations (guess why Google go into this area?).

The issues the collective pioneers are struggling with are: • Who is in control of an autonomous vehicle?

It is naive to think a person sitting near controls could resume control as a potential accident unfolds.

Essentially the system has to deliver 0% error rate, and that requires much better road data than is globally available right now.

• How can the system mitigate accidents in real time?

By taking in as much data about the surrounding traffic and the location as possible. That in turn forces Volvo to develop its own road map system, for the moment.

The Volvo system will park the vehicle safely once it reaches the limit of the map system, if the driver has not

• Who owns the risk? The motor insurance sector have been bombarded with all sorts of scare stories and been shown many innovative active safety systems by many vehicle manufacturers. Yet, to date, not one has formed any sort of objective policy on how to deal with the subject.

resumed control. This gives another indication about why so much specific road data is required.

What’s in this for us?

For repairers and even insurers, being outside the data stream from the vehicle means that they will only receive information about accidents if one or more of the partners inside the data stream permits it. This is already underway with connectivity, where WiFi is used as the headline for new car customers whereas the real point is to connect the vehicle to the franchised repair network.

It’s not wrong – it’s simply a rapidly developing fact of life.

This trend is already more than a decade old and is finally reaching mass-market traction.

Fully autonomous vehicles will happen, and they will be exposed because in spite of all the systems on board the cars will interact with vehicles driven by humans. So accidents will continue to happen until we have 100%

coverage and 100% agreement on how those systems should be operated.

Finally, it shows that as exciting the future is, stability in technology is unlikely much before 2030. In between we will all see the most amazing show on earth, as competing technologies slug it out for supremacy.

Hence Google, Microsoft and and Apple getting into vehicles. It means more than ever we need to keep up with each development, learn how the systems work and never assume anything has remained unchanged within a vehicle manufacturers product range year on year.

We have to invest our time to capitalise on being the professionals to bring damaged vehicles back from the dead.

PanelTalk 21

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12 PanelTalk

Industry Veteran Creates

“Body Shop of the Future“ Using Overseas Technology

If you could cycle 10 to 12 cars in eight hours through your booth, cure filler in one minute, and apply four coats of primer and have it cured 100 percent and sanded in 15 minutes, how would you run your business differently?”

That’s the question Patrick O’Neill, co-owner of BodyShop Revolution and Body Shop Express, is asking body shop owners across the country.

After spending over 30 years in the industry, where he owned 8 body shops in Arizona and Nevada, managed others, and worked on running a market and a couple of acquisitions for Caliber Collision, O’Neill was “trying to figure out what to do next, other than retire and play golf.”

By Victoria Antonelli

Bodyshop Revolution offers in the European market make 10% plus in comparison.

O’Neill acknowledges that because the U.S. is ten times bigger than, say, England, it’s going to take a lot longer for the US market to get to the demands and constraints of the European market, if ever. O’Neill feels there is a window of opportunity in our market; with the proper technology and process shops can exceed the current metrics and produce more products in a clean, stress-free environment.

A handful of shops in the U.S. have taken advantage of this new technology since O’Neill and Parker obtained equal shares of North America distribution rights one year ago. When paired with the duo’s “Theory of Constraints” process for body shops, it becomes BodyShop Revolution.

“We were able to easily integrate the Green Tech (Robotica EXICO 6000) curing technology into our process,” stated Dan Sjolseth of Superior Service Center in Apple Valley and Eagan, MN. “It has allowed us to work more continuously during the repair and priming process, and we can begin reassembling the vehicle for same day delivery immediately upon exit from the paint booth.

The equipment has not only impacted our throughput, but has actually removed quality concerns commonly associated with high production processes.”

Patrick O’Neill, co-owner of Body Shop Express and BodyShop Revolution, poses inside the shop’s paint booth.

That was when fellow industry veteran, John Parker, introduced him to a new technology that had been transforming body shops overseas, and was ready to make its way to the United States.

These gas catalytic infrared drying robots, created by Green Tech Italy, have been making waves in Europe, Australia, and the Middle East for the past eight years.

“Europe is like 15 years ahead of the U.S. when it comes to meeting the demands insurers can put on a company, not to mention competing with insurance owned collision networks. Body shops were forced to be as efficient as they could be,” said O’Neill. “The average shop in England makes 1 percent net, and a number of the networks are owned by insurance companies.” He added that shops that operate with the technology and process

The Rydell Collision Group, which has 60 dealerships in 15 states, is another example of shops that have implemented BodyShop Revolution. “With repair facilities facing pressure from insurance companies to repair vehicles faster, better and cheaper, the BodyShop Revolution process and equipment has given us that realistic opportunity,” said Randy Sattler, body shop manager for the collision group. “Like many shops, over the years we have tried different estimating, repair planning, and scheduling processes, as well as different types of equipment. Most of what we tried helped, but because they were not tied together as a complete system, we never felt like we were able to truly capitalise on the investment or capture what we anticipated or expected. The Bodyshop Revolution process and equipment ties everything together. It truly is a complete repair process from estimating to delivery of a repair, with every step linked to each other. Because the repair system is linked together, it has made all of our employees’ lives easier; from the administrative staff to all of the technicians on the floor.

It has been a game changer for us.”

PanelTalk 23

So, how exactly does BodyShop Revolution work?

“We have taken a holistic approach based around the Theory of Constraints in revamping the way that we process cars in the collision repair process,” said O’Neill. “We aren't any smarter than many in the collision business, but simply that we have some new technology that we never had available before. As with any new technology, you would say, ‘what can we do with it and how can we build a process that gives us the biggest benefit?’”

Key questions when looking to create better than average estimates: • Cars that are drivable, how can we get pre estimates that give us 100% parts orders?

• Cars that are dropped, how do we get 100% estimates and 100% parts orders first time?

• Tow in’s, how do we improve the “Blue Print Process,” so that it is 100% estimate and 100% parts first time.

Solutions that lead to non-stop production: • One technician, one car • Technicians become combo-technicians • Teams of technicians work together, including the painter • Elimination of departments and lines • Paint line has a maximum time frame of two hours until car is back in the technicians stall (car is taken from the technician stall to paint and back in two hours or less if two cars are in line) • Then back on the car nonstop until it is delivered.

"The equipment works exactly as advertised,” said Aaron Marshall, president of Marshall’s Auto Body in Waukesha, WI. “We are saving half the time on drying fillers and paint.”

24 PanelTalk

Typical benefits are:

• Typically half cycle time = Goal, 4 days or less heavies and lights combined. Drivable model 2.2 days or less • 30-40% more production, same footprint, same workforce • New brownfield, greenfields build shops, 40 percent smaller and get similar production of shops 40 percent larger • Technicians produce 25-35 percent additional production in typical 8 hour day • 95 percent prediction of delivery date to 4 hour windows • 4-5 points additional bottom line profits on all production • WIP reduction of 60 percent • Average 12,000 square foot shop will be able to produce $350,000-$450,000 per month to 4 day average cycle • An environment of calm, clean and the elimination of chaos, built around team work and getting one more car out not one more car in • An environment that gets extraordinary results out of ordinary people • 70 percent energy savings in booth and prep-deck gas and electric • Energy company incentive’s of up to $100,000

“The process requires a lot of discipline to implement, but it works,” said Darrell Amberson, president of operations at LaMettry’s Collision, with eight locations in Minnesota.

“The trainers are competent and effective, which helped make the transition easier.”

O’Neill stresses that the technology itself is not enough to ensure profit.

“It doesn’t make a difference if I can dry 100 cars super fast if I’m just throwing them into a chaotic environment,” he said. “Essentially, we want to process cars with no

lines and be able to work nonstop.” O’Neill went on to explain, “If there are eight technicians in the shop, then there are eight cars being worked on. When the technician’s vehicle is in the paint booth, we won’t give that technician a new car because it would disturb the process. While the car is being painted, the technician can take that time to check repair procedures, identify a welder, figure out what type of high-strength steal will be used, and check the estimate. If there is still time left after all that, they can help another technician get one more car out.”

As O’Neill and Parker travelled throughout the country, making multiple trips to each shop to spread the word about BodyShop Revolution, they began to realise there had to be a more effective way to really show the owners how the process works. That’s when O’Neill decided to build a model shop - Body Shop Express in San Diego, CA - so shop owners can see firsthand how BodyShop Revolution can enhance their business. A built in camera system will allow O’Neill and Parker to access the facilities remotely while giving presentations.

Body Shop Express is scheduled to open the week of June 29, and is located at 3777 Gaines Ave, San Diego, CA, 92111. O’Neill said the shop will be on the road to I-CAR Gold certification when they open and will also be certified to work on the new Ford F-150. He is also working with a handful of OEMs toward certifications, as well as Assured Performance. O’Neill disclosed that Body Shop Express will have a couple DRPs to start, and several others are interested.

“Bodyshop Revolution gives insurance partners metrics they have never seen before, and in the process, it not only gives employees their sanity back, but ultimately their lives back,” said O’Neill. “We give our team members the ability, once and for all, to make our insurance partners say, ‘we want more of this.’"

O’Neill said one of the hardest parts about owning a shop in the past was not seeing his family enough.

He hopes that BodyShop Revolution can prevent the shop owners and technicians of today and tomorrow from having that problem.

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PanelTalk 25

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards CRA BUSINESS AWARDS Copthorne Hotel Resort, Bay of Islands 8th May 2015 Julian Ede, the principal of the evening’s generous sponsors, Nexus Insurance Brokers, welcomed delegates to the evening’s event. “Nexus has been associated with these prestigious awards for many years and are proud to be associated with them again this year, helping to celebrate those that stand out in various areas of the collision repair industry,” he said.

Best PRESENTED Business Bernie Fama Panel & Paint, Hamilton

This award is for the business which “stands out” in terms of street appeal, customer environment and workshop / paint shop presentation.

What did winning this award mean to yourself and your business?

We must thank the CRA for recognising our company in the latest awards at the Paihia conference. We take pride in our business, and presentation has always been of paramount importance, both for ourselves, our staff, and our clientele, and we appreciate recognition for this.

What do you see as the most important thing to focus on in your business presentation?

Our commitment to our clientele is to make the repair process as stress free as possible, and it makes them feel comfortable to leave their possession in a clean and well-presented shop.

26 PanelTalk

What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

We feel there is a positive future, with continuing education of our workers being of primary importance within our industry. Active participation of our members is needed to ensure future changes within our industry are met.

Finalists

Bernie Fama Panel & Paint, Hamilton City Collision Repairs, Napier Evans European, Auckland Gisborne Panelbeaters, Gisborne Hesson & Bowry Collision Centre, Christchurch Vincent Holdings, Alexandra

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards Best Promotion of the CRA Brand Ben Thomas Panelbeating, Hawera

This award is for the company that shows commitment to the CRA Brand. Typically this is demonstrated by signage on the building, on uniforms and vehicles. Also in advertising such as yellow pages, cards, brochures, and in the use of CRA promotional products. The buying patterns of finalists are checked in the CRA records for variety and volume.

What did winning this award mean to yourself and your business?

Both my business team and myself are very proud to win this, and any award from the CRA. It is great to be recognised by your peers in your chosen industry.

I have had positive feedback from my staff, clients and also work providers.

What do you feel that you get out of your CRA membership?

If you look at your annual membership subscription to the CRA as an investment, then my investment is repaid many times over every year. To get some return on your subscription you must be active and get to roadshows, conference, talk to other repairers etc. Â Last year I entered the Taranaki WestPac Business Awards, this requires you to do some in-depth analysis of your business. This showed up two main points, firstly how much my AutoQuote quoting system drives my business and secondly, and the main point, was how much belonging to the CRA has shaped my

business and given clear direction on where I want to be and what I have to do to have a modern, up to date collision repair facility. Thanks CRA! What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

Change, change and more change is how I see the future of our Industry. Every facet of our "game" is under constant pressure to adapt to the new, new.

Staying as up to date as possible will be the key. I think the clean out of our industry is now under way, shops that have invested in training, equipment and building sound business relationships have a good chance of surviving, but some are going to go the same way as Kodak.

Finalists Airport Collision Specialists, Auckland Babbage & McCullough, Timaru Ben Thomas Panelbeating, Hawera Larry Murphy Panelbeaters, Waiuku Redwood Panel & Paint, Auckland

PanelTalk 27

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards COMMITMENT TO TRAINING Bodyworks Panelbeaters, Auckland

Finalists Bodyworks Panelbeaters, Auckland Endless Panel Repairs, Hastings King Street Auto Bodies, Hamilton Kumeu Huapai Panelbeaters, Auckland West Lynn Painters & Panelbeaters, Auckland

With fast changing technology and staff shortages, training is more important than ever. C-CAR points provide an ideal way of measuring commitment to training. We divide the total for year by the number of staff. We add points for apprentices employed which gives an objective measure.

What did winning this award mean to yourself and your business?

Winning the award has meant a great deal to our business. It is important to us and our staff to keep ahead of the latest repair techniques and procedures.

We were all very proud to win the award and to be recognised by our industry for the effort we put into making sure our team are kept up to date with all of the available training that I-CAR and the CRA provide.

Ensuring our staff continue to feel valued through ongoing training is also very important to us.

Can you share with us your philosophy around training?

Our philosophy around training is that it needs to be well planned and documented. Without a proper training schedule in place it is easy to think you are keeping up, when in fact you may only be doing the bare minimum to survive. Our aim is to ensure we have at least two staff members trained in all aspects of our industry that are relevant to us. We liaise with each staff member so they have input into their training for the year, which is based on their strengths and weaknesses.

28 PanelTalk

What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

As we all know our industry is changing faster than many ever thought it would, there have been numerous shops closing for good with others changing hands as disillusioned owners move on. We feel there is a positive future for those committed to the industry, by working with our work providers not against them.

The Paihia conference had a really good vibe to it, with repairers and insurer representatives interacting very positively. We understand the playing field we are in (although may not always like it) and strive to do our best within those constraints.

Modern car conveniences such as park assist and more recently on TV driverless cars look to becoming a way of the future. All of these technologies are there to prevent vehicle damage and thus will affect our industry.

Finding qualified staff and the perception (particularly at school leaving level) about the panel and paint industry are both areas of concern for the future, and seem to be getting worse. We, like many others, feel that our industry needs to be positively promoted to attract a new generation of school leavers. Perhaps Insurance companies could work in with the CRA to help promote the repair industry as a go ahead career path that is keeping up to date with technology and training?

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards Environmental Awareness Porirua Autocrash Repairs Ltd, Wellington

Like it or not, we operate in an industry which doesn’t enjoy the best reputation in terms of environmental protection. We want to reward the business that best demonstrates that they have significant regard for the environment. This will extend further than the segregation of waste products and include engaging with local authorities to ensure environmental compliance and best practices.

What did winning this award mean to yourselves and your business?

It is rewarding that we have been recognised by our peers for the hard work we have put in to becoming an environmentally sustainable business.

In your opinion what is the most challenging area of compliance as far as a collision repair facility in New Zealand goes?

The most challenging area of compliance is getting and keeping all the team on board with changes to how we do things. Compliance issues change all the time; for example WorkSafe NZ will change how we comply with Health and Safety Legislation. Changes are an on-going process and as business owners we need to be vigilant and understand what these changes mean for our workplace.

What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

As technology involved in manufacturing new vehicles gains pace, those in the collision repair industry will be required on an on-going basis, to up-skill and buy new equipment to repair vehicles back to manufacturer’s specifications. Insurers will demand more training and audit trails to prove that repairs have been finished to a high standard. This to me means that they will want to deal with less repairers, who have the equipment and staff trained to do the job right, if they can. All this adds up to increased pressure on the repairer to wear blue tights and wear a red cape.

Finalists Bodyworks Panelbeaters, Auckland City Collision Repairs, Napier Colin Waite Ltd, Auckland Hesson & Bowry Collision Centre, Christchurch Onekawa Collision Repair Centre, Napier Porirua Autocrash Repairs Ltd, Wellington

PanelTalk 29

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards Outstanding Achievement (QA) Eurotech Auto Repair Centre, Auckland

More and more members are discovering the benefits of the QA programme. Being web based has both demystified and simplified the whole QA process. Many newcomers have been surprised at the head start they have in existing systems.

The CRA would like to encourage you all to think seriously about the benefits that this QA system will deliver to your business. Talk to any of tonight’s finalists for an unbiased view.

What did winning this award mean to yourself and your business?

We are proud to have received this award, after four successive finalist nominations was nice to finally achieve it. It is a prestigious award and we recognize that, pushing this fact on our Facebook page and will include it in our Website update.

You have been involved in systems for a long time, culminating in your Quality Assured status. What do you see as the main advantage of having this programme in your business?

As we have been taking on board subsequent Manufacturers Approved Aluminium repairer contracts, the Q/A has been instrumental in helping us to attain this, as various auditors both from the UK and Australia can see that the company has a structured policy and procedures manual in place and are happy to deal with our company due to this. It has also been invaluable in attaining Work Safe safety programmes as well.

Another huge benefit is the staff have a clear and 30 PanelTalk

concise approach to the tasks in hand by following procedures put in place to simplify the processes.

What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

Our predictions for the future of the industry are that hopefully the main insurance companies are now taking on board that our trade is not the trade it was 20 years ago and are starting to get the hourly rates to a point where the possibility of real time and money are getting closer to what they need to be; no more Mickey Mouse times to achieve a figure we need.

Also that due to more regulations and systems such as Q/A programmes, I-CAR training and compliance procedures, the genuine quality shops out there will maintain their work with the main providers and be treated accordingly, as they weed out some of the shops that really should not be allowed to undertake structural repair work to the modern vehicles on our roads today.

Finalists City Collision Repairs, Napier Dittmer Collision Repairs, Palmerston North Eurotech Auto Repair Centre, Auckland GM Panelbeaters Ltd, Waipukurau Queenstown Collision Centre (2000), Queenstown

2015 CRA

ANNUAL Awards Outstanding Achievement (Shop Upgrade)

Precision Panel & Paint, Invercargill

This award goes to the business that has shown commitment to the industry and to their business by investing in a significant upgrade. This will be more than an office refurbishment or a lick of paint and will involve building, equipment and overall appearance improvements.

What did winning this award mean to yourself and your business?

Winning this award was a real confirmation to us that we are heading in the right direction for the future of the collision repair industry.

What prompted your decision to carry out the upgrade, and what benefits do you feet you have achieved from it?

To put it simply, our reception area was a dive and in desperate need of some TLC! While that was the initial reason we looked at the upgrade, we have come to realise just what an important part to the success of the business an inviting reception area is. Not only are our current customers delighted with the area, new customers feel welcome and tell their friends. We also believe it was key in getting the IAG contract and so it's been a win-win situation.

What is your prediction for the future of the collision repair industry in New Zealand?

I think that the collision repair industry has already been forced into the 21st century where quality, streamlined and efficient services are the call of the day for any repairer wanting to do well. As a result of this in Invercargill, smaller shops that don't have the resources to be able to upgrade are slowly falling off the radar and I foresee this continuing at a faster rate. Â I think the training aspect will also come under more scrutiny with the change in the structural materials that vehicles are being made of. I can foresee that there will be certain training courses that will be mandatory for qualified panelbeaters to do to keep their qualification current (similar to what doctors and nurses do now). Â

Finalists Autobody (2001) Panel & Paint Services Ltd, Tauranga Boss Panelbeaters 2000 Ltd, Auckland Brian Holgate Panelbeaters (1994) Ltd, Auckland Carpro Howick Ltd, Auckland Grant Crossan Panelbeating, New Plymouth Precision Panel & Paint Ltd, Invercargill

PanelTalk 31

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From the chair CRA CHAIRMAN - Alan Le Noel I guess IAG take centre stage once again with the announcement of their labour and paint rate increases.

I was especially surprised to see an increase for those nonaligned repairers. The move up in rate has to be commended as they could have waited for the next round of contract negotiations before implementing any increase. The other news that most of you would have heard by now is the appointment of Ruth Colenso as the new General Manager DI Customer Claims. This role encompasses State, AMI and NAC and is for an initial six month term. Ruth was instrumental in the setup of the IAG Contracts and had a hand in increase we have just seen. So, thanks Ruth for your part in the increase and I wish you well in your new roll.

Vero are about to make some changes as well. By now, those of you that have been chosen will have had your offer to complete the self-audit booklet that was sent to you. This booklet appears to follow the one Suncorp released to the Australian market a couple of years back.

While it follows the model across the ditch there are some changes that have been made to suit our market.

One that stands out to me is the section on paint, as in Australia it was mandatory that by the start of 2015 all shops that carried out repairs for Suncorp were to use waterborne paint, and this is not the case here.

The model of selecting shops is a significant shift for Vero who have always been all inclusive with repairers. We are told this shift is one of alignment with those it feels it can build a successful relationship with. AA, the other Suncorp owned insurer in New Zealand will be implementing the same self-audit but their repair network will not change. I understand that anything that helps to lift the standards and the levels of compliance in our industry is a good thing, but I can’t help but feel the gap developing between the haves and the have not’s may be about to get a little wider.

At the recent CRA conference I managed to get around to most of the bar room chat sessions. The hottest topic discussed was that of staff shortages. To a degree we only have ourselves to blame, as when times have toughened we have not taken on the number of apprentices needed to create a sustainable industry workforce.

Some repairers in the South Island have taken it upon themselves, with the help of their paint distributor, to bring staff in from overseas. The repairers I have spoken to

all say this has been good for their businesses. They say that these new people to their workforce need some help and guidance to transition into our way of repairing vehicles, but once this is done there is little difference, if any in their ability to carry out top quality repairs. I have been told that if you make contact with an immigration agent they may be able to help with this process for a small fee and my understanding is that there is a process you can follow that allows you to skip some of the immigration processes.

Neil is also working on this issue by putting a joint submission along with the MTA to the Immigration Department to get Panelbeating and Spraypainting onto the skills shortages list. These are not overnight fixes, but may be part of the solution in the short term to help out with the shortages. We must still continue to do our bit and train good local talent.

My quote this issue may have no relevance to my report but it comes from a person who started with nothing but who created a lot.

“It’s a matter of when you get there, how long can you stay there”.

– Jerry Collins

CRA MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION NEW MEMBERs Guthries Collision Repair Specialists 2011 Ltd – Canterbury / Westland Allan Wakeling Panelbeaters & Spraypainters – Auckland

NEW associate Bolland Panelbeating Ltd

PanelTalk 33

34 PanelTalk

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PanelTalk 35

R R O O W M ’ S O T

Business-building strategies for collision repair shops Philadelphia USA May 18th - 20th

Jim Keller Presenting at Fenderbecder Management Conference

cOnnecTeD caR

By Dr Ian Pearson, BSc DSc(hc), Futurist, Futurizon

Dr Ian Pearson is a full time futurologist, tracking and predicting developments across a wide range of technology, FenderBender hosted first of ever business, society, politics, and the environment. He is a Maths and Physicsmagazine graduate, with atheir Doctor Science The 2015 FenderBender Management Conference conference at the Radisson Hotel, Valley Forge, degree. He has worked in numerous branches of engineering, from aeronautics to cybernetics, sustainable transport was held on May 18–20, at theinclude Radisson Philadelphia and they certainly a nervous and to electronic cosmetics.

His 2015 inventions text messaging and the active contact lens.were He was BT’s full-time Hotel Valley Forge just outside of Philadelphia. futurologist from 1991 to 2007 excited lot the day before the actual conference began. and works forwas Futurizon, a small futurescollision institute. He writes, lectures and consults globally on all aspects of Thenow conference designed to provide the shop technology-driven future.

He has writtenstrategies several books in several languages, ‘You operators with business-building The nervousness was including around the factTomorrow’, that almost and all of made over TV and radio appearances.

He thought is a Charteredtheir Fellow of the British Computer Society and aand Fellow from the500 industry’s foremost experts and 22 presenters were actually shop owners, whileof the leaders.

World Academy of Art and Science, Innovation Foundation, and the Royal Society of Arts.

With a keynote address on the howWorld to profit in they were certainly leaders in their fields, their presenting

a consolidating CONNECTED CaRSindustry, 14 educational sessions, two do workshops andfora the total of more than 20 hours What we envisage Connected Car over the nextworth ten years?

I see this space developing into a fully of unparalleled content, the conference personalised, environment intelligent automation, provided virtual essential materialwith for any collision repair creating a totally new relationship between the vehicle, the leader wanting to grow their shop and thrive into driver, and the passenger. the future.

Cars used to be solitary machines. Not so anymore - some can now detect other vehicles around them and even “talk”

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to them.

When carsanare able to connect to each other in skills were largely unknown.

They need not have this way,though, things can get truly exciting - they can coordinate worried for delegates seemed to be enthusing braking andpresentation acceleration,athence distancing over every the mid sessionthemselves breaks. automatically with lightning- fast reaction times. We could see athere singlewas stretch of road accommodating morewith cars safely, And certainly plenty to enthuse over, automatic management of lane changes, and even more seventeen sessions in all held over the three days. The efficient use of roundabouts. sessions were broken into two tracks, although delegates In fact, fully self-driving cars will increase road capacity five-

Business-building strategies for collision repair shops Philadelphia USA May 18th - 20th

were encouraged to mix sessions as it suited them.

To give some idea of the content, the agenda was as follows: On the Monday there were two four-hour workshops running concurrently. One session was titled Transition Your Shop: Everything you need to know to prepare your business for new ownership, and the other was Know Where You Stand: Using Key Performance Indicators to Grow your Business.

The Tuesday began with the Conference Kick Off and Welcome, followed by the keynote address titled: How to Profit in a Consolidating industry: Presented by Jim Keller of 1Collision Network.

Jim has more than three decades of experience in the collision repair industry. During that time he has been a multi shop operator, franchise operator, consolidator and now oversees a network of independent and dealer shops in the Midwest, supporting the performance, marketing, and insurance relationship building areas of their businesses.

He gave an insightful overview of the collision repair industry, but did seem to be somewhat consumed with the MSO (Multi Site Operator) situation, making that sound like the only answer. It was only at the end of his presentation that he gave some encouragement to the independent operators. Overall though, it was a good presentation to get the conference under way.

Over the next two days delegates had the opportunity to attend the following one-hour presentations: •Marketing in the Modern Age •Close More Sales •Develop More Profitable Insurance Relationships

•Win Customers for Life •Delegate with Confidence •Develop a “Winning” Culture •Get Paid for Paint and Materials •The Key First Steps to a Lean Operation •Breaking Bottlenecks •Adding a Lightning-fast Light Repair Segment •Hire and Retain Top Talent •Slash Cycle Time through Flawless Repair Planning •Profiting from Aluminum - A panel discussion moderated by I-CAR’s Jason Bartenan •Leading Change - The closing session I managed to attend ten of the sessions and found them all very worthwhile. Even the ones I had initially planned on skipping surprised me with their content and I learned a lot from every session.

It is fair to say attending this conference was a challenge.

It took me three flights, 19 hours in the air, and around 29 hours door-to-door from home to the conference venue where I arrived at the ungodly hour of 12.45am.

Despite all of that and a sizeable case of jetlag, it was certainly worth it. I have attended many conferences around the world but this one was unique in that all of the 140 delegates were collision repair facility owners or managers, representing businesses that ranged from a five-man shop through to a 50 location Multi Site Operator.

Every session covered some aspect of operating a collision repair facility, presented by people who were living the industry and therefore had so much credibility.

I would have no reservations at all in saying that repairers from this part of the world would have learned a tremendous amount over the three days and that it is doubtful that they would learn as much in any other forum that I know of.

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Business-building strategies for collision repair shops Philadelphia USA May 18th - 20th

In this and the next issue of PanelTalk I will cover some of the sessions that I attended, but here are some observations of the collision repair industry in the US today.

All of the delegates at the conference seemed very positive, although they all face many challenges to maintain a viable business. Like most of the rest of the world, the insurance industry has a great deal of power and one has to make many concessions to be part of a major insurer Direct Repair Programme (DRP). The industry is certainly split over this issue, with the non-DRP shops being very vocal about not selling their soul to an insurance company. Many of the non-DRP facilities have taken themselves off the programmes, as they do not believe it was viable for their business to belong.

The biggest issue though, certainly for the independents, is the rapid growth of the massive MSOs, with several of these having upwards of 200 facilities. One Florida repairer I spoke to has just had two of the largest MSOs open, one on each side of him. This will certainly impact severely on his business, as these MSOs are all into direct repair programmes with the major insurers and the insurers like to deal with them, as they only have to have one point of contact for many facilities.

The impact of these MSOs cannot be underestimated, as they are into serious growth phase, and require volume to succeed and seem to be prepared to do anything to achieve it. There is now Wall Street money involved, and from the outside looking in, it seems that they are growing these businesses in the hope that some other operator will buy them out.

PartsTrader, another big issue in the States with their deal with State Farm Insurance, chose Chicago as the area for their first major rollout in the US. Possibly comes as no surprise then to learn that the Chicago area is saturated with MSOs. Another issue is that like most countries there is an oversupply of collision repair facilities. MSO growth means that the number of collision repair facilities is not declining fast enough, as instead of closing their doors, repairers can sell out to an MSO who are happy to add the volume to their network.

There are also a large number of smaller MSOs ranging from dual shop operators up to those with 20 - 40 locations. This 20 - 40 facility sector seems to be the one riding the middle ground, big enough to be of interest to the insurance sector and to gain from economies of scale, but still a manageable business. It is these groups that the larger MSOs seem to target to grow, meaning that as an owner of a middle size MSO there are many more options open to you.

Despite these challenges, I did not hear one delegate at the conference complaining about their lot, they just all seemed focused on their own success and how to achieve it. Productivity is the buzz word over there, cycle time management is huge and is a key KPI used by the insurers. I heard Work in Progress (WIP) referred to often, the challenge being to keep the WIP number as low as possible at all times. There is no doubt that they are far ahead of us in this area, and by focusing on what they can control, such as their own efficiency and productivity, they feel that are retaining some control over their future rather than focusing on the negatives.

They also seem to spend a lot more on marketing than in this part of the world, with a figure of 6% of sales seeming to be the benchmark. This is another area where the MSOs have a huge advantage, as their per store marketing budget is combined to give them a much larger spend as opposed to the independents.

Another interesting fact is that despite the vast size of the US, most shops operate in smallish communities and so a lot of their marketing is community based, such as into schools and clubs etc. It almost seems like the local community is everything and one rarely ventures out of their community for any services.

All in all, this was a fantastic conference, the American people are extremely polite and friendly and all seemed willing to share information with everyone around them. I would recommend that anyone who is serious about their future in the collision repair industry should consider attending any future FenderBender Management conference should they have one.

PanelTalk 39

Slash Cycle Time through Flawless Repair Planning

By Rich Altieri

Rich Altieri speaking at the Fenderbender Management Conference Rich Altieri has earned the title of expert having worked in and on the auto body business for over 40 years. He is a highly respected consultant and trusted advisor to leading autobody and collision repair businesses across North America.

Altieri started out in the late 1960s washing cars and cleaning up his dad’s shop after school. He went on to become a technician, general manager and eventually co-owner of the family business.

By the late 1970s he began experimenting with computers and using the new technology to improve his business processes and performance.

This led him to launch one of the industry’s first computerised estimating and management systems, KIS Software, in 1980.

According to Rich Altieri there are three areas that will impact on the success of a collision repair facility today and in the future, and they are quality, speed and cost.

Quality = Workmanship - Customer Experience - Work place Environment - Documentation - People and Culture Speed = Production Efficiency - Cycle Time - Length of Rental - Value Added (Touch Time) Cost = Gross Profit - Net Profit There are a number of challenges facing the industry in the US that are driving the need for quality, speed and cost performance:

• There are 30% more shops than

needed to meet demand

• Tougher competition

• Shrinking demand

• Declining profit potential

• Vehicle technology

• Shortage of qualified people

• Insurance influence

40 PanelTalk

There are however, a number of factors that are providing opportunities for the best performing business organisations:

• The economy is improving

• The unemployment rate is down

• Gas prices are down meaning the

miles driven are up

• Claims frequency is rising

• Insurance growth So the opportunities are there for those that that want to change their business process in order to maximise their efficiency and so their productivity. But he warns, every improvement requires change, but up to 70 percent of organisational change efforts fail, so to change demands dedication and perseverance to succeed.

For shops to succeed in today’s environment, they must put more effort into the repair planning stage. It all starts at the front office and the opportunity to eliminate waste is there at the very start. Flawless repair planning will enable a vehicle to go through the repair process without delay, but poor planning means that the workflow is constantly disrupted. Repair planning begins with the vehicle check in, and follows through to the identification of the correct repair procedure, disassembly, damaged parts discovery, correct parts being ordered and received as being correct and of good quality. The last step of the the

planning process is communication with the workshop floor.

Rich believes that 20 percent of the total effort going into a repair is spent in this planning stage and if it is done correctly repairers may be able to improve on the industry average touch time of around two hours per day.

A common belief is that all holdups occur in the paint department, but Rich challenges that assumption.

While he concedes that there are many areas where holdups or choke points occur in the repair process, most delays, occur in the panelshop through poor repair planning. This poor planning results in the following problems occurring and are the main causes as to why it takes seven days to complete 13 hours of panel labour: • Technicians discover non-included

operations, missed damage, missed labour,

and missed parts during production • Waiting for supplement authorisation • Technician discovers missing parts and

hardware • Technician discovers wrong parts • Technician discovers parts quality not acceptable • Technician discovers non-included operations • Too many jobs in process - assigned to

technician • Technician discovers parts do not fit upon

final assembly • Technician has to rework job to achieve

proper quality • Technician waiting for bay, tools or

equipment All of these can be minimised with flawless repair planning.

Rich encourages people to investigate having their estimators actually stripping the vehicle down for repair.

This allows them to identify all of the relevant damage as well as all of the damaged parts such as clips and retainers etc, things that are not obvious until there is a complete strip down.

It is up to the estimator to then submit supplements for approval and order all items identified as damaged during the strip down. Only when everything is on site, and positively identified as correct and fit for purpose, should the job be allocated to a technician.

This way, once the technician has actually started the job there should be no delays, he should be able to process it efficiently and completely without any interruption.

That means that the touch time can be increased simply by remaining on the job, without distractions. An average job may only have around ten hours in the panel repair section and so the industry average means that the vehicle may be in the panel section for as long as five days. By doubling the touch time, you are halving the number of days with obvious benefits.

A key measure by work providers in the US is cycle time, the time it takes from when a repairer receives the keys until he hands them back to the customer when the job is completed. While cycle time is not really measured in New Zealand, faster processing of repairs is the quickest way to increased profitability, as it means more volume through your facility.

PanelTalk 41

Profiting from Aluminum A panel discussion moderated by I-CAR’s Jason Bartenan

Panel Ron Reichman, Owner of Precision Paint & Body Tommy Suggs, Owner of European Collision Repair Randy Yockey, Owner of Friendly Ford/CARSTAR Friendly

Randy Yockey, Ron Reichman, Tommy Suggs and Jason Bartenan Boosted by the launch of the new all aluminium 2015 Ford F-150, traditionally the largest selling single vehicle in the country, aluminium is about to hit the collision repair industry in the US in an unprecedented way this year. The increase in the material’s use presents a big opportunity for shops with the right training and equipment to prosper through proper repairs.

The panel explored four areas to give the delegates some insight to this growing segment of the industry.

1. How to determine when/whether to equip your shop for aluminium: A repairer first needs to assess their own market to check whether the investment will be worthwhile. The panel offered an interesting mix of operations, and how they themselves got into aluminium repairs was varied, and so to the delegates, insightful.

42 PanelTalk

The first on the panel operates two facilities in Oregan and is certified or authorised by 20 manufacturers.

Founded in 1975 they have been Porsche, Mercedes and Audi repairers for a long time, so the transition to aluminium was a logical step.

The second on the panel had a number of manufacturer certifications, having set up his business, European Collision Repair in Jonesboro, Georgia in 2006, as a shop that would build its business solely off referrals from OEM certification programmes. He built his first clean room in 2008, and in 2013, he built a 10,000 sq ft aluminium only facility across the street from his shop. He has since opened a second, 15000 sq ft all-aluminium repair centre in Nashville, Tennessee.

The third panel member owned a large Ford dealership, and so was only interested in Ford repairs at this stage with the arrival of the new F-150. He stated that if any

other all-aluminium vehicle came into his premises, even though he is equipped and trained in aluminium repair, he would not hesitate to send it to a manufacturer authorised repair facility, such was the specialisation between different manufacturers.

2. The key differences between aluminium versus steel: The panel were unanimous that aluminium repairs were far more exacting than steel and that cleanliness was absolutely imperative. They spoke of the training required and the enthusiasm of their technicians to make the transition. Although the cost of training meant that at least one of the three businesses had their technicians sign a five-year employment contract prior to their training commencing.

3. The essential tools, equipment and training: The panel felt that eventually, in order to fully commit to aluminium repairs, a facility will require a dedicated aluminium repair only building, similar to the facility one of the panelists had already invested in. The equipment investment required was significant, with one mentioning

an investment of some $700,000 to fit out three facilities.

A big issue was every manufacturer specifying a different welder, which meant duplication for the repairer with no apparent advantage. The training is a given and expensive, whether it be by the manufacturer, or in the case of several including Ford, by I-CAR. 4. The return on investment and how to make aluminium repair a profitable part of your business: The panel felt that there is no real return on investment yet, but all are confident that the return will come with the growth in the use of aluminium by manufacturers.

Aluminium is certainly a significant part of the future and all felt that they had, without a doubt, made the right decision to go down this path. They all believe that getting involved with aluminium has had many other benefits to their business in areas away from aluminium repair.

All in all this was a very insightful session by three people who were happy to share their experiences in a very open way. I certainly came away much more informed of the complexities involved, and by my discussions with others, it seems everyone felt the same.

PanelTalk 43

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MEMBERSHIP LIAISON

- Walter Zuber

Hi everyone After several weeks in the lovely South Island and then attending the Conference in the Far North it was time to catch up with a few chores around home before hitting the big smoke, Auckland.

I would like to thank the South Island members for their hospitality and making my job so much more enjoyable and hope I was able to supply some useful information.

The conference was like every year, very well run, and a special thanks has to go to all the sponsors. I’m sure you all support them strongly in this industry as we rely heavily on their contribution. It was great to see so many shop owners, especially the thirty odd first time attendees to this conference – wow!

Congratulations not just to the award winners but to all of you who have made so many changes to your shop improvements and to the Golden Gun and Golden Hammer participants - well done! I’m sure deep down you all got something out of it, especially satisfaction and you can all be proud of it - unfortunately only one can win each of the awards.

Probably most of you have seen the tragic fire in Dunedin after just recently losing a shop in Auckland. This is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone. Imagine the hardship to the owner, staff and customers - I really

feel for them and at the end there is not much we can do to help. So forgive me when I’m always pushing compliance issues like Location Test and Stationery Container Certificates on my visits, as this is so crucial in this situation.

In the meantime I’m well on the way in Auckland trying to find my way through the cluttered traffic, god knows why the people love this place, don’t even ask about parking spaces! So far the visits are going well up here - work is a bit up and down like always in our industry. As we all know leaving staff are hard to replace and it is no different up here to the rest of the country, where the shop owner is back on the floor helping out and sorting the office work out early or late at night till such time as staff is replaced.

I really loved to hear about the shop rate increase by one insurance company. This makes life a bit easier and I would like to thank them from me and on behalf of all the members - well done, keep it up. This is certainly better news than what the poor farmers are getting, so keep up the good work.

Happy Hammer and Dolly Spray and Dry MLO Boy Walter Zuber Does your office look like this? Makes life a lot easier!

PanelTalk 45

PanelTalk is proud to be the New Zealand media partner of IBIS worldwide. Unfortunately we were unable to attend last month’s conference in Athens but we will be running a report on the event in our next issue of the magazine.

Through its media partners around the globe, IBIS compiles an annual report on conditions for the repair industry in countries such as South Africa, North America, Russia and the big European markets. The IBIS global focus report is a fascinating insight into market conditions faced by repairers around the globe. It’s a daunting task to sum up an entire industry and its key driving factors in a few hundred words. Here is Paint & Panel Magazines submission for Australia.

The Australian Repair Market Insurers continue to call the shots in the Australian repair market, with the two dominant insurance groups, who cover around 80% of motorists, exerting the most sway.

Approved insurer networks During 2013 and 2014 major insurers IAG and Suncorp restructured and radically reduced their approved repairer networks which led to huge cull of shops who had previously depended on vehicles from these work providers.

Other insurers such as Queensland’s RACQ have followed suit. This has led to a large number of anecdotal collision repair shop closures, possibly as much as 15 percent of the market (these reports are from industry suppliers as these figures aren't monitored nationally). It is an increasingly hostile and difficult landscape for single site family repair businesses to navigate successfully.

While some shops are undoubtedly thriving under the new contracts, there are reports that many of those who won the contracts had not fully understood their business costs and are struggling to make any profit out of the increased volume they are receiving.

MSOs Consolidation is speeding up with an increasing number of business owners choosing to sell or shut their doors in the face of fast-paced technology changes, capital investment costs to keep up with technology, slimmer profit margins, falling accident rates and skilled staff recruitment issues.

The Suncorp joint venture Capital S.M.A.R.T rapid repair

46 PanelTalk

chain has 24 shops in high population, urban areas, the S.M.A.R.T team recently took over another Suncorp joint venture, a supershop in Sydney former called Q-Plus, specialising in heavy hit repairs. Now called S.M.A.R.T Plus there is industry expectation that further heavy hit facilities will follow in other cities.

The Gemini Group has been following an aggressive growth strategy with owner Andy Hopkins making no secret of plans to reach as least 50 shops. There are currently 32 shops in the network with the finishing touches to a 'game changing' shop in Queensland taking place at the time of writing.

A merger has resulted in a publicly listed company called AMA which currently has 12 shops in two states and is planning a national footprint and fast growth. Latest acquisitions have been prestige shops which may suggest a strategy of aiming for strong national prestige offering to bridge the gap with Gemini which soaks up a substantial part of the volume model market.

In response to this consolidation, affiliation groups consisting of independent repairers such as the Australian Accident Repair Network and Car Craft are stepping up recruitment activity to offer independents some of the bulk buying and other advantages that multi-site operators enjoy.

Manufacturer approved networks Car manufacturers in Australia are experiencing growing competition from 'parallel parts' or grey imports.

This is combined with a preference by insurance

companies to use alternative OEM parts, repaired or recycled parts to reduce repair costs. Suncorp Insurance has set up its own parts company called ACM parts which has begun selling parts with an NSF-A Certified mark, indicating the product is tested and approved by NSF International for the Australian market. In response to these conditions vehicle manufacturers have been putting increased emphasis on their approved repairer network with Peugeot and Volkswagen setting up theirs recently and luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW encouraging dealer-owned repair facilities.

Skills shortages While skills shortages continue, these are less severe than in previous years given that there are less shops and that many shops are running lean operations using less tradesman than they have traditionally. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many tradespeople are leaving the industry because the shop owners can't afford to the pay wages that are attractive enough to retain staff.

Meanwhile the numbers of young people enrolling in vocational training in the motor industry is in decline which also means that the number of courses and institutions offering vocational training is shrinking. A large number of bodyshop owners are using the 457 skilled migrant visa to bring in qualified staff predominately from the UK or the Phillipines.

Repair standards A national shop grading program created by the Australian Motorbody Repairers Association for the industry has been slowly rolling out over the course of the year. This divides jobs carried out by shops into three categories from light to structural repair and assesses on training, equipment levels and environmental compliance.

Suncorp Insurance has its own published standards for the repairers in its repair network.

Repair methods An historic Heads of Agreement between participants in the automotive supply and service industry was announced at the end of 2014. The agreement is primarily about technical data sharing so that consumers can choose who maintains or repairers their vehicle.

The agreement states that technicians must be able to access technical data at a fair and reasonable rate.

Meanwhile repairers also have access to Thatcham's Escribe and EZI-methods repair methods.

Senate inquiry The cessation of motor vehicle manufacturing in Australia in 2017 announced by Ford, Holden and Toyota last year has prompted a government inquiry into the future of the motor industry in Australia. This is a generational chance for all sections of the motor industry, including body repair, to tell the government about the challenges businesses face in terms of regulatory and taxation

burdens and future skills shortages. There is concern that unless something is done now to attract young people into the industry and to understand what skills they will need, that there won't be enough technicians with the skills necessary to keep cars on the road in a country that is more dependent on motoring than most.

On the brighter side On a more positive note there are some smart, second or third generation shop owners coming through with a positive 'can do' attitude bringing fresh thinking and keen to adapt to a changing market place. There is still optimism for the future of the industry from those who are investing in the business strategies which will mean they will be part of the elite guard which survives and thrives through current and future market consolidation.

While accident rates are falling in Australia and the headlines are dominated by accident avoidance technology and driverless cars, this continent has some local conditions as individual as its native animals. Firstly 'biblical' weather such as hail and cyclones drum up plenty of repair work for the areas that experience these conditions. Australia's current 10 year vehicle park age means that repairers have plenty of older technology vehicles to work on that don't need up to the minute training on repairs which will enable them to hang in for another couple of years before there are a larger number of newer vehicles in the car parc. Finally, the vast geographical distances in Australia mean that the infrastructure for driverless cars will be a long time coming outside of urban areas. So, while accident rates will continue to fall it's unlikely they will fall as sharply as they will in more densely populated areas in Europe, for instance.

Australia Population of Australia: 23.1million

GDP: $1.560trillion (US dollars)

Number of passenger vehicles 13 297 260 million

Total number of motor vehicles 17 633 493

Average age of vehicle fleet is 10 years

No of motor insurance brands: around 50

Number of vehicle brands on sale 67

Number of bodyshops: Vigorously debated, average of estimates yields about 3200 nationally

PanelTalk 47

Collision Repair Apprentice Heads To Brazil The 22 year old is proving to be highly skilled at collision repair. In 2012 he came second in the Autobody Repair section at the WorldSkills national competition – WorldSkills is a global event that brings young people together to compete in their respective trade. He went one step better at last year’s nationals, taking home the gold medal, and followed that up with gold at the Oceania round.

In May, he was named as one of 15 tradespeople in the New Zealand team, the “Tool Blacks”, and in August will travel to Sao Paolo, Brazil to compete in the WorldSkills International competition.

David Fox For Hamilton’s David Fox a career in the automotive industry was always a very likely scenario.

Both his father and step father have an interest in restoring old cars, and David joined them whenever he could - so a love of cars was forged.

After leaving Morrinsville College as a 16 year old, David did a pre-trade course at Wintec with work experience, and was offered an apprenticeship through MITO at Wade Collision Repairs in Hamilton. Five years on, David, a Collision Repair Technician, has one final practical assessment to do, and he’ll have completed the National Certificate in Motor Industry (Automotive Body) (Levels 3 and 4).

David thoroughly enjoys his role and the challenges of collision repair, particularly as no two repairs are the same. “I love that every job is different, I have to think about what I’m doing so there’s always a challenge, which means I’m always learning, it’s great!” said David.

48 PanelTalk

“I’m really looking forward to the competition. It’s amazing to be in the team and representing New Zealand in Brazil,” said David. He’s taking his selection very seriously, working with a skills expert and to a specific training programme that involves a combination of practical work and study each day. “I’m focused on my training and my goal is to be on the podium in Brazil,” said David.

“It’s fantastic that David is in this team, not just for him and our company, but for the industry too.

It shows there are people in the industry who are focused and doing well at their jobs,” said Paul Beale, Operations Manager at Wade Collision Repair. “David is definitely a role model for other young people looking at apprenticeships,” he added.

David is very happy with his chosen career and the opportunities it has given him. As for the future, apart from a medal in Brazil, he’d like to gain more qualifications and eventually be able to undertake workshop estimating and management.

In his spare time you’ll find him fishing, riding motorbikes or restoring his Datsun. But for now the trusty Datsun will have to wait, as he spends all his spare time preparing to compete against the world’s best in autobody repair, in Brazil.

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$565.00

Valid until September 2015 or while stocks last. All prices exclude GST. Available from leading paint and panel supply outlets.

OR to find a dealer go to the Hindin Marquip website www.hml.co.nz.

PanelTalk 49

PEOPLE

PRODUCTS

EVENTS

BLOODHOUND Announces World Debut - November 2015 BLOODHOUND SSC (Supersonic Car) will make its world debut on November 17th 2015 with a 200 mph trial at Newquay Aerohub, Cornwall.

The car will then be fitted with airbrakes and winglets ready to commence high-speed testing in Hakskeen Pan, South Africa, in Summer 2016, when weather conditions will be optimal. A forward party will deploy in April/May next year to prepare the team’s desert base.

The results from the Summer 2016 tests will inform the Project’s ultimate speed goal of setting a new World Land Speed Record of 1,000 mph.

Further details on the configuration of the car will be announced in August, when BLOODHOUND SSC will be shown in highly assembled form at the Team’s Technical Centre, Avonmouth.

Construction of the car is well advanced with its titanium floor fitted, two metre high tail fin nearly finished and carbon-fibre front monocoque painted to aerospace standards. Daily updates can be seen at www.bloodhoundssc.com and @bloodhound_ssc.

The BLOODHOUND Project is now one of the world’s biggest STEM engagement programmes (Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics), with over 5,700 UK primary and secondary schools having signed up to use the free BLOODHOUND Education resources in their classrooms, and the Project is being followed in over 220 countries worldwide.

Over 280 global companies, 200 of them SMEs, are involved in the Project, which has become a showcase

140409_SAL_NZ_Panel Talk Ad_1-3 Pg_Jul14_FINAL.indd 1

50 PanelTalk

for science and engineering capability.

The educational outreach programme also runs in South Africa with more than 800 schools already participating and more than 100 BLOODHOUND Ambassadors signed up to help use the project to inspire young people about studying maths and science. The programme reaches out to schools across the country, but particularly in the Northern Cape Province, home to the track where the BLOODHOUND SSC will run.

The world land speed record of 763 mph is held by Thrust SSC, a UK team led by BLOODHOUND’s Project Director Richard Noble and driven by Andy Green.

The BLOODHOUND team scoured the globe to find the perfect desert to run the car on; it needed to be at least 19km long, 3km wide and perfectly flat.

The Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa was selected. At full speed BLOODHOUND SSC will cover a mile (1.6km) in 3.6seconds, that’s 4.5 football pitches laid end to end per second.

BLOODHOUND has three power plants, a Rolls-Royce EJ200 jet from a Eurofighter Typhoon, a cluster of Nammo hybrid rockets and a 550 bhp Supercharged Jaguar V8 engine that drives the rocket oxidiser pump.

Between them they generate 135,000-thrust hp, equivalent to 180 F1 cars.

7/07/14 1:46 PM

PEOPLE

PRODUCTS

EVENTS

Axalta Coating Systems Rebrands Axalta Coating Systems Rebrands its Customer Support Programme as Refinish Performance Management in Australia and New Zealand Sydney, Australia – May 2015 – Axalta Coatings Systems, one of the leading global suppliers of liquid and powder coatings, has rebranded its Business Services support consultancy Refinish Performance Management (RPM), effective immediately, in Australia and New Zealand.

The rebrand follows an extensive review of the consultancy programme, which is designed to ensure Axalta’s relationship with its customers extends beyond products and colour technology to value-added services.

These services are specifically aimed to help Australian and New Zealand bodyshops operate to their fullest potential.

“The rebrand is more than just a name change. We are also relaunching the programme itself. Axalta has delivered this customer support programme for many years after identifying that refinishers were often too busy working in the business to spend time working on the business. We focus on our refinishers. And we leverage the depth and breadth of our experience to implement solutions that drive productivity and profitability in their bodyshops, while optimising processes and procedures,” said Ken Catford-Potter, Manager, Refinish Performance Management for Axalta in Australia and New Zealand.

The components of the programme remain unchanged, and nothing will change for existing customers other than the name. The program’s services will still include personalised consulting and Wayne Houghton - NZ coaching, training courses on best practice procedures using performance consultant LEAN and pre-LEAN concepts, industry networking opportunities, and access to tools that can help to improve the way in which Axalta customers can market and manage their businesses.

“The timing couldn’t be better for the rebrand, with our National Business Council meeting planned for November. That event is a great opportunity for bodyshop owners and managers to talk to and to network with like-minded professionals,” he concludes.

For more information on the Refinish Performance Management consultancy service, the 2015 National Business Council meeting or to register interest in attending that event, please contact Axalta at axalta-information@axaltacs.com.

THE SIMPLE, EFFECTIVE WAY TO RESTORE HEADLIGHT CLARITY!

Driving with scratched, foggy headlights is simply NOT SAFE and your nighttime visibility is impaired. Get your lights right! It’s your responsibility to make sure your vehicle lights are kept clean and in good condition at all times, keep them looking like new with Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Headlight Restoration kit.

This easy do it yourself kit contains everything you need to restore clarity back to your headlights, ensuring maximum night driving visibility and a year’s resistance to re-oxidation. Simply clean then coat to restore and protect headlight clarity.

The kit contains two new solutions to the Meguiar’s range - Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Cleaning Solution and Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Headlight Coating, plus two cleaning pads which can be used by hand or with the Meguiar’s DA Power System.

Meguiar’s Perfect Clarity Cleaning Solution gently polishes away oxidation, yellowing and dullness quickly and easily, without sanding! Simply apply a small finger nail sized amount to the cleaning pad, then using a back and forth motion, thoroughly clean the entire headlight surface and wipe clean with a damp cloth to reveal perfectly clear, restored headlights.

Meguiar’s Headlight Coating is a revolutionary coating that provides superior resistance to re-oxidation and only requires a medium wet coat application to the entire headlight surface to ensure all your restoration work is well protected.

For more information on the above products freephone 0800 227 422 or visit www.meguiars.co.nz PanelTalk 51

PEOPLE

PRODUCTS

EVENTS

Panelbeater in pink boots means business Gracie at Sandford Panelbeaters in New Plymouth easily draws attention with designer painted fingernails and hair colour that transitions from pinky lavender hues through to muted wine. She is a girl proud of her pink workboots and highlights to match but you soon discover she is prouder of her work on cars and that there is nothing girly about Gracie’s panelbeating skills.

Madly passionate about cars, Gracie found herself working for Garry Sandford and Wendy Thompson in March 2015 when they needed another staff member due to the extra work coming in.

“We were that busy,” says Garry. “Wendy suggested we try you guys?” (Work and Income’s recruitment services).

Work Broker Sally Broadhurst organised some candidates from the jobseeker register and shortlisted and screened the most appropriate people for the position. Sally was aware of Gracie’s huge interest in cars and as it’s turned out, Gracie has proved an ideal match for the panelbeating business.

With a Transition to Work Grant approved, Gracie was able to purchase her workboots, a couple of pairs of pants and shorts and tops and even some contact lenses to replace her spectacles.

“My glasses were quite thick and I’m blind as a bat without them,” explains Gracie. “But when you are having to look upside-down sometimes working on cars, contact lenses are the better option.”

Garry, who has been panelbeating for about forty years, bought his business in 1998. It deals mainly with insurance claims. People usually go to their insurance company first when they have a car accident. “Then they come in for quotes,” says Gracie. “We also take photos, save them on computer, circling the damaged area and email them to the insurance company.”

Sandford Panelbeating operates with a team of five - three panel beaters on the floor supported by Garry and Wendy.

Wendy has also taught Gracie the office side of things including use of the computer system, which means Gracie offers the business versatility and can turn her hand to most things. Gracie’s background in retail and hairdressing has been a distinct advantage to the business especially on some days when the office is a real hive of activity with people popping in and out to settle their accounts and dropping off or picking up vehicles.

Gracie completed a year at Western Institute of Technology Taranaki (WITT) in hair dressing but decided she had had enough of studying, taking a gap year giving herself twelve months to find another opportunity 52 PanelTalk

or an apprenticeship.

Her WITT referee actually confirmed Grace would be perfect in the panelbeating position noting she was always talking about cars.

Her friends were not surprised to hear she had landed a panelbeating job either. Gracie currently has two project cars on the go.

“Dad says I should have done it three years ago when his car was needing work,” Gracie jokes. “Dad was always into cars, he was a motorbike mechanic. When he got a BMW, I was head over heels and I cried when he sold it.”

Garry believes that in Gracie he has the right person for his business and he has not found the gender mix in the panelbeating business to be an issue. “It’s going pretty good,” he says. “I’ve employed a few people over the years and some have been stirrers or don’t want to know.

But this team’s pretty good. And Gracie can stick up for herself. It’s a nice mix of gender and age here.

The dynamics have changed but it’s good.”

“It’s kind of normal for me now,” says Gracie. “They’ve probably had to make the biggest adjustment.”

Gracie acknowledges how important it is about finding the right fit in a workplace saying some of her past work experiences weren’t that great. “I didn’t realise how good it is to have good employers,” she says.

“It’s changed my life having Gracie here,” says Wendy.

“It’s also toned the language down which really isn’t appropriate in the workplace.” For Wendy, swearing equates to anger so less of it is a good thing in her books.

Garry agrees that it’s been nice for Wendy to have a girl on board. “They can chat and it’s not all about rugby in the tearoom.”

Grace and Wendy have bonded with Wendy becoming like a second mum to Grace. By Garry’s account of the situation, Grace has also taught Wendy a few things.

“They went to the dump the other day and turned up with a brand new wardrobe!” he explains with a wry expression.

When Sally was looking for someone for the Sandford Panelbeating position, she knew that Garry wanted someone who would use their initiative but would also ask for help when needed.

PEOPLE

PRODUCTS

EVENTS

Sika winner

from the CRA conference At the CRA Conference, Sika took the opportunity to run a short survey on what sealants and adhesives New Zealand panelbeaters use and why. It was a great opportunity for them to get a bit of expert feedback from the coalface.

Steve Bell's name was drawn from the many who completed the survey.

Steve Bell chief panelbeater at Colin Davis Panelbeaters, with his prize from Sika at the CRA Conference, a new Sika Jet Flow Gun plus a box of Sikaflex 529 sausages. That’s Steve on the right and company owner and boss Graham Logan in the firing line.

KEEP YOUR CAR’S INTERIOR SMELLING FRESH ANDLOOKING GREAT WITH MEGUIAR’S CARPET & UPHOLSTERY CLEANER. Car washes, compounds and polishes can enhance the exterior appearance of any car, but what about its interior?

Nothing is worse than losing that ‘new car smell’ due to the inevitable spills, stains, and odors that every car faces.

Meguiar’s Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner is your solution. This powerful cleaner has best in class stain removing capabilities for automotive carpets, upholstery and floor mats.

This advanced formula is easy to use and quickly removes common stains such as coffee, grease, ketchup and lipstick. Its fast acting foam penetration ensures fast stain fighting qualities that will treat the affected area before letting the stain set in.

+

GST & Freight

Whether it’s a tiny ketchup stain or a giant coffee spill, the Meguiar’s Carpet and Upholstery Cleaner can erase traces of messy drive through experiences with its dual-mode trigger. The trigger allows both spot cleaning with a narrow stream and general cleaning with a wide mist spray, which means that it can accurately treat the affected area with the right amount of solution or cover a wider area depending on the spray pattern used.

Featuring a fast drying solution it is perfect for busy enthusiasts who are always on the go making it a fantastic multi-tasking tool for interior maintenance.

Cleaning and maintaining the interior of a car no longer has to be a long and difficult experience!

For more information on the above products freephone: or visit:

0800 227 422 www.meguiars.co.nz PanelTalk 53

REGIONAL ROUNDUP Auckland Branch Half the year is now gone, but at least we have just had the shortest day so we are now heading towards summer again… sweet! Although tell that to the poor buggers that have been hit by the floods etc this winter, I hope that you have all been able to recover well and the disruption and costs have not been too great.

There certainly seems to be plenty of work around in the Auckland region at the moment which is really good to see, so Iong may it continue.

The new look Auckland committee have had a couple of meetings together now and we are all very keen to try and do as much as we can to benefit the Auckland membership, but, in order for us to do this we need to try and get as many as possible of you Auckland members involved! We need your feedback on any of the current issues that are effecting you/your business or your work collegues so that we can try and focus on these topics.

We are going to be running a series of bar room chats later in the year and we would love to see as many of you and your managers as possible along to these.

Keep an eye out for the email confirming the dates on this one. At this stage the plan is to have four of them in

different areas in Auckland so that we can make it as easy as possible for you all to attend.

We are also bringing back the boat cruise later in the year with a Halloween theme this time. Numbers will be limited and it has always been a popular night out so don’t miss out this time folks!! Make sure you get in early and maybe even shout your hard working managers or staff to a bit of a night out, I’m sure they deserve it!

I have said it before and I will say it again, I know that we are all very busy trying to run our businesses, and this is exactly the same for all of the committee as well, but we still want to try and do something to help improve the Auckland membership, so please remember to take the time to have your say and also get involved with your membership. The more we do this the stronger we will get, but this cannot be done with a handful of regular people.

Thanks everyone and I wish you all the very best over the next few months.

Brent Mackay

Wellington Branch Hi All

I hope this finds you all well and not suffering from the effects of the recent weather bombs that have been happening up and down the country.

We in this neck of the woods were certainly treated to a huge amount of rain in a small period of time causing all sorts of water related problems, road closures, flooding and traffic disruption. My shop is situated just over the stop bank of the Hutt River and it was a scary sight only a meter or so from the top. Both ends of our street were blocked off with flooding. We had to use a four-wheel drive to ferry neighbours and staff out, all good fun and no damage done.

Interesting, I’ve been here for 17 years now and this is the second once in a 100 year flood. Go figure.

Of course, closely following the flood was another flood, this time a flood of vehicles with water related damage, 54 PanelTalk

Ye Ha, no money in that work, never mind, all good customer service.

The Bay of Islands conference has been and gone in a flash. I went along with my wife Lynn and we had a great time, caught up with some of the good people we have in our industry. These conferences are always difficult to organise especially when they are out of the way to most of us, so well done. A special thanks to the major sponsors, I think sometimes is the madness of all the activity we sometimes forget to say thanks to those who put the money up for all the fun things that happen at the conference.

A special thank from me to Julian from Nexus and Evan and the crew from Otbury, thanks heaps.

All the Best

Tony Straugheir

people • productsBranch • events Manawatu/Wanganui/Taranaki JTAPE Customising Tape12mm X 10m

By the time you read the floods would have passed Customising tape hasthis, eight us by, fortunately, I have only heard of one shop in trouble lengths of pre-cut fine line and that was Larsen’s of Wanganui.

I spoke with Aaron tape which can allow and he had water all around the shop as you can see by curved patterns to be created when customising the photo.

The water had only come in to the office by a vehicles. couple of centimeters but they could not get to work as Forcouncil more product the had closed the road because there was so information much mud phone left from the flooding.

0800 227 422 or visit www.tradesaver.co.nz There have been a lot of cars caught in the flood but this has not translated into work, as most of them have been total loss. Otherwise workflows seem to be steady at the moment.

The last branch meeting was held at Ben Thomas’s shop, to have a look at his new paint shop, which is very smart.

Speaking to Ben he said it was a big move but well worth the effort. We all had dinner at a local cafĂŠ first and then went back to his shop where Ben showed us all some ideas he has implemented that could be useful to others.

The meeting was held in Bens boardroom, a la smoko Ashwhere and the boys atbrought T A Panelbeaters in Te Aroha room, everyone along a concept or test-driving their replacement courtesy car after the procedure that they use which could be helpful to others. recent storm passed through.

PanelTalk’s sympathies go to all repairers who This was really helpful becauseinitthe hasrecent given storms. everyone a suffered damage or flooding few ideas to implement in their own shop. Overall it was one of the better meetings we have had in a while, as it was more of a discussion/chat and less of a formal meeting as such.

Conference was short and sweet and it rained for the majority of the time except for on the Sunday, which was brilliant sunshine, right in time for us to leave for home.

Congratulations to all the award winners, especially to Ben for winning the Best Promotion of the CRA Brand.

TRAINING PROGRAM

Motor Trade Association (MTA)

By the time this goes to print we will be halfway through announces appointment of new Chief the year! Roll on summer and the approaching Rugby Executive World Cup! The Motor Trade Association (MTA) National President David Storey has announced the appointment of Warwick Quinn to Stephen Perrin the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for MTA. Mr Storey said he was delighted to secure the services of such a seasoned business professional. “We’re delighted Warwick has accepted this role. He brings to MTA a wealth of business experience and a proven track record of developing and positioning a membership organisation as an industry leader. Warwick’s extensive experience will assist MTA to deliver its vision to ‘Create Sustainable Business Advantage’ for its members,� Mr Storey says.

Mr Quinn joins MTA with an impressive management career having held positions as CEO of Registered Master Builders Association and Master Build Services Ltd, General Manager Regulatory – Land Information New Zealand, Chief Crown Property Officer – Land Information New Zealand, Valuations Manager – Auckland City Council, and Regional Manager – Landcorp Property Limited. “I am delighted to have the opportunity to lead such a strong membership organisation,� Mr Quinn says. “MTA is a highly respected brand with a powerful voice in the motor industry of New Zealand and I believe the future for MTA and its members is very exciting.�

Mr Quinn will commence in his new role with MTA in August 2014.

PDR TRAINING For more information visit

www.dentman.co.nz or call Brent 027 240 6530

PanelTalk 45

PanelTalk 55

Otago/Southland Branch Well, hello from the Deep South.

Winter has arrived and we are having plenty of snow and lots of ice creating an upsurge of major accidents. All shops appear to be very busy with most saying workflows are steady.

This is the time of year our heating bills go through the roof and add yet another cost to our increasing compliance and running of a panel and paint shop.

Congratulations to our local couple Dave and Ruth from Precision Panel and Paint, being awarded the Best Shop Upgrade, presented at the Paihia Conference. They certainly have achieved a lot in a short space of time, keep up the good work. In another positive for the South, a few of our shops being GWD Russells, Simon from

Beatties, and Gordon Officer's all adding to their equipment levels, having installed Car O Tronic 3D measuring systems - good effort guys.

I drove through to Dunedin on very icy roads on Tuesday to meet up with Neil and Adrienne for a conference get together. Planning is well under way for the 2016 Conference so pencil in the dates on your calendar, 7th - 9th April 2016.

Some very hardy people went to our local beach on Sunday for the mid-winter swim, brrrrr - total madness, and I definitely was not one of them!!

But we are now past the shortest day - roll on the sunshine!!

Cheers, Warren Burns

Northland Branch Hi from Northland

Even in the winterless North it’s been bloody cold at times – good time to talk to Erin about those CRA Beanies.

No results from our Fishing Competition as it was delayed until Saturday 4th July (after we wrote our Northland Report) from the original date of 23rd May due to that terrible windy weather that came from the South. Fishing results plus any highlights will be in the next PanelTalk as will some feedback on our annual Stan Gurnell Memorial Dinner, which was on Wednesday 8th July.

Most shops are reporting good work volumes, pleased (and relieved) to see a few extra dollars from IAG on our paint allowance – much needed to assist towards the ever-increasing operating and product costs.

Talking about paint it’s good to see most shops in the North have made the decision to go Water Based, with some great feedback regarding colours, turnaround and staff satisfaction.

It is always positive to see commitment towards training, here are the latest Northland repairers achieving their Bronze and Silver accreditations, well done guys.

Bronze Les Gibbons - Gibbon's Panel & Paint Dean Weber - John Neal Panelbeaters & Spraypainters Graeme Young - Kerikeri Panelbeaters Karl Watson - Watson's Panel & Paint 56 PanelTalk

Silver Les Gibbons - Gibbon's Panel & Paint Ben Sheffield - Warkworth Collision Repairs David Mortensen - Louie Berkers Collision Repair Centre Congratulations!

However Rick from RTC has reported that overall apprentice numbers are down. We all have a responsibility to keep those good young guys and girls trained and motivated to secure our future with panelbeaters and painters by providing apprenticeships.

Enjoy this quote – a bit of truth?

Best wishes from CRA Northland Committee

Canterbury/Westland Branch Hi all It’s been a few issues since I have put a report in to PanelTalk, so it’s about time I caught up!

It’s June and half the year has gone already, the days are about to get longer and there seems so much to do!

Workflows for our region seem steady to strong, which is fantastic. It’s a lot easier to get through these colder months when you have a shop full of busy staff.

On a personal note I can report that we are now finally settled into our new premises post earthquake, and we have no more moving to do!!

On a regional level, in an effort to re-engage the members, the branch executive is on a mission to get out and visit the region. A small but enthusiastic delegation of members went on a tour to see the good folks of Westland in mid May. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip but well worth the effort. What a great bunch of chaps we met, we even got offered whitebait patties for afternoon smoko on the Friday. I love the coast!! We were made to feel very welcome by all that we spoke to which I suppose is a reflection of the great people of Westland.

We very much hope to return later this year to catch up once more over a beer in a bar room chat style format.

Hopefully we can get a few more guys from the east to join us and I’m pretty sure we will get a good-sized crew to go.

We also have a delegation from Christchurch travelling south to Timaru for an evening catch-up, collecting some

of the Ashburton guys on the way. Everybody involved is really keen for this kind of event and it is something we will try to make happen much more often. We are also planning a trip north to Nelson in mid August, which I’m really looking forward to.

The executive organised a trail ride that was held on the 7th June in Cheviot (a beautiful part of the world), which is in North Canterbury. The weather for the day was clear, calm and crisp…it warmed up about midday to give us a stunning winters day. We had about 50 riders turn up.

With the general trail plus the motocross track and a barrel race too, there was plenty for the riders to partake in and everyone had a fantastic day. We ran a raffle, for which we are most thankful for our sponsors, RJP Panelbeating Supplies, Ultra Paints, Otbury, ABE, 3M, Automotive Colours and DR Britten. There are photos of the day uploaded onto the CRA facebook page if anyone is keen to see. I really need to thank the committee for a sterling effort to make this event happen, they have done a tremendous job.

So to wrap up, there has been a bit happening at the branch. We are also in the early planning stages for an outdoor bowls event in North Canterbury, if we can line up all our ducks and get it off the ground. Potentially though, I think it could be a winner!

Keep warm and safe Bryan Easton

Hawkes Bay Branch Hello again

Firstly, apologies for not writing a report in the last issue of PanelTalk, I was snowed under at work and missed the cut-off date. I attended the 2015 CRA conference in Paihia and would like to thank all the organisers and the girls at the office for making such an event possible. It all went great and was well attended, I managed to catch up with two Hawkes Bay members while there, Tony Carson from Greenmeadows Panel and Paint and Peter Hurring from Onekawa Collision Repair, its great to see our members making the effort to attend and learn new things.

Work wise in our area the workload appears to have dropped off recently which is a little unusual in a normally busy time of the year. Most shops have enough work to carry on with but are not setting any records.

We have our local roadshow coming up on Monday 6th July and WorkSafe NZ will be presenting so make sure you bring any questions you may have to the meeting and be sure to voice any concerns. Also to the Hawkes Bay members, we need to decide as a group where our branch sits, as it stands I believe our branch is in trouble.

We have no one willing to step up and not a lot is happening, one person does not make a local branch and we need to be interacting with each other more and working to make all of our businesses better.

Anyway, that is all for now and I hope to see a great turnout at our next roadshow

Cheers, Chris Greaney PanelTalk 57

Technical REPORT

Interpreting the Body Repair Manual Following on from the technical report featured in the last edition of PanelTalk, we will examine our second place getter in the number of requests received for technical information and body replacement procedures - that place goes to Toyota.

look to specifying that STRSW (inverter) welding processes will be suitable for panel replacements on their vehicles - subject to identifying the capability/specification of the welding equipment. In other parts of the world this is already specified, BUT is not yet recognised in this country.

This probably comes as no surprise, as the Toyota brand, across both the passenger and commercial variants, represents a good proportion of New Zealand's fleet.

So, at present, the general recommendations that I-CAR disseminates to the industry, are to follow the O.E.M. procedures - any deviations will require the repairer to be confident in the suitability of the changed method and have the formal data to back up the processes.

There are numerous, distinct anomalies that regularly require explanation and understanding when completing many repairs and panel replacements on Toyota vehicles.

Secondly is being aware of, and understanding Toyota's welding, cutting and fitting symbols that appear in the First, and arguably foremost, is the fact that many panel replacement procedures - many of these documents Waterbourne Air Distribution System replacement procedures specify that O.E.M. spot welds include symbol identification, but there are those that do Infrared arches for booths and prep bays are replaced with GMA, MIG plug system welds. Thisfor typically - the and technician be able to refer back to Toyota's Fire suppressing booth,not prep tintmust rooms determines that a typical rear quarter procedure,for for exhaust general recommendations and symbol identification Odour Blaster stacks example, will require a combination of both STRSW (Spot information to ensure that the procedure is completed Welds) and MIG plug welds in the replacement method correctly, in accordance with the repair manual. (See this is often in addition to adhesive bonding processes. figs1 & 2) All of Toyota's body repair information is accessed through their "Global Service Information Centre" (GSIC).

The key word in this name is GLOBAL - the information that is produced is supplied for the world market - and that repair market is very diverse, when we examine the skill levels / technical capability / equipment levels of all the countries where Toyota vehicles are sold.

With this in mind, the most practical approach, from Toyota's point of view, is to specify MIG welding as the most appropriate welding method - because this is consistently more effective in producing a suitably strong weld - it must be remembered that many countries do not have the necessary welding equipment to perform STRSW effectively.

It is hoped that in the not too distant future, Toyota will

fig. 1

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www.rali.co.nz 0800 108 008 58 PanelTalk

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www.cromax.co.nz www.cromaxpro.co.nz

Technical REPORT area of the chassis and does not extend further back into the full frame structure. (See fig 3)

fig. 2 The third point to note is the fact that many of the Toyota vehicles sold in New Zealand are Japanese domestic market vehicles that, while looking the same or similar to our own models, have a bewildering array of different badge identities - The common Corolla is a good example of this :- often badged as Auris/Blade/Runx.

Always check that you have the correct procedure documents that pertain to the vehicle being repaired, as there may be differences in the methods.

Almost all of Toyota's commercial fleet of vehicles that have a separate full frame chassis (Hi-Lux, Landcruiser, Prado etc) do not allow any sectioning of the chassis frame - this is in addition to the prohibition of heat. This should not be confused with chassis frame damaged parts replacement, such as X members, brackets and cab mounts -often these components are available as service parts and can be replaced at the factory joints, following appropriate welding techniques, completed by suitably qualified technicians.

fig. 3 Note; this illustration is only an example showing the cut locations and should not be used without having the full procedure.

The last point to note is the fact that, while the "side aperture" structure on most Toyota vehicles (the A and B pillars, sill and rear quarter) is a single stamping at the factory, they are not supplied in this way - the "service condition" will determine that these parts are always cut at a common location. Some anomalies have arisen in recent times, when replacing multiple parts, where the body cuts at the factory do not match up and create a gap between the panels. This will require the body shop to look to carry out additional welds to bridge the distance between the replacement parts.

The only exception to the no sectioning dictum by Toyota is for the Hi Lux - there is a very detailed and practical sectioning procedure that offers 3 options for sectioning locations on the front chassis rail ends, dependent on the extent of the damage. Note that this in the crush zone PanelTalk 59

APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR REFINISHING CRA Golden Gun Award

Nominations are being sought for eligible apprentices in the collision repair industry for this prestigious award.

The presentation will take place at the CRA Annual Conference to be held in Dunedin during April 2016.

The winner receives $1,000 very generously donated by MITO together with the opportunity for a further MITO study scholarship and tools which are kindly donated by RJP Panel & Paint Supplies Limited, Christchurch.

Nominations from employers close on Friday 30 October 2015. Please post all nominations to CRA National Office, PO Box 9208, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240, Attention Adrienne Richardson or fax to (07) 8470217 or email adrienne@collisionrepair.co.nz.

Apprentice Name (nominee):

_______________________________________________________

Employer’s Name (nominator):

_______________________________________________________

Date Employed:

_______________________________________________________

Start Date of Training:

_______________________________________________________

Company Name:

_______________________________________________________

Address:

_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

Phone number:

(0 ) _________________

Email: __________________________

Signature of Nominator:

_____________________

Date: __________________________

Entry criteria are outlined below:

   

The employer must be a member of the Collision Repair Association.

The MITO Annual Training fee must be paid.

Completed a minimum of 12 months in their MITO Training Agreement.

MITO apprentices that complete their Level 4 qualification in 2015 are eligible to enter for this award OR where they are still undertaking training need to have completed at least 75% of the credits required to achieve their Level 4 qualification.

All applications must include the following additional information:

 

The employer is to supply a 300 word written statement with the application, outlining the reasons the nominee should be considered for this award. This is to be printed on company letterhead.

A handwritten personal statement from the apprentice, outlining why they chose a career in the collision repair industry, their career aspirations and how, as an award winner, they would contribute to encouraging others into the industry. Any other achievements or training, either work or non-work related, should also be highlighted.

Finalists may have the opportunity to compete in the WorldSkills NZ Finals Competition where certain eligibility criteria are met.

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APPRENTICE OF THE YEAR COLLISION REPAIR CRA Golden Hammer Award

Nominations are being sought for eligible apprentices in the collision repair industry for this prestigious award.

The presentation will take place at the CRA Annual Conference to be held in Dunedin during April 2016.

The winner receives $1,000 very generously donated by MITO together with the opportunity for a further MITO study scholarship and tools which are kindly donated by RJP Panel & Paint Supplies Limited, Christchurch.

Nominations from employers close on Friday 30 October 2015. Please post all nominations to CRA National Office, PO Box 9208, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240, Attention Adrienne Richardson or fax to (07) 8470217 or email adrienne@collisionrepair.co.nz.

Apprentice Name (nominee):

_______________________________________________________

Employer’s Name (nominator):

_______________________________________________________

Date Employed:

_______________________________________________________

Start Date of Training:

_______________________________________________________

Company Name:

_______________________________________________________

Address:

_______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

Phone number:

(0 ) _________________

Email: __________________________

Signature of Nominator:

_____________________

Date: __________________________

Entry criteria are outlined below:

   

The employer must be a member of the Collision Repair Association.

The MITO Annual Training fee must be paid.

Completed a minimum of 12 months in their MITO Training Agreement.

MITO apprentices that complete their Level 4 qualification in 2015 are eligible to enter for this award OR where they are still undertaking training need to have completed at least 75% of the credits required to achieve their Level 4 qualification.

All applications must include the following additional information:

 

The employer is to supply a 300 word written statement with the application, outlining the reasons the nominee should be considered for this award. This is to be printed on company letterhead.

A handwritten personal statement from the apprentice, outlining why they chose a career in the collision repair industry, their career aspirations and how, as an award winner, they would contribute to encouraging others into the industry. Any other achievements or training, either work or non-work related, should also be highlighted.

Finalists may have the opportunity to compete in the WorldSkills NZ Finals Competition where certain eligibility criteria are met.

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NEW ZEALAND

COURSES

2015

TO ENSURE YOUR PLACE IN THESE COURSES PLEASE REGISTER EARLY (ADH01) ADHESIVE BONDING – ½ day Identify adhesive bonding material Different equipment used for application Attachment processors, adhesive only One & Two part adhesive bonding (ALT03) ALTERNATIVE FUEL VEHICLE DAMAGE ANALYSIS AND SAFETY – ½ day Safety measures - hybrid and alt.fuel vehicles High voltage issues with electric A/C systems Identify new applications for hybrid technology Explain alternative fuel applications and concepts Electric battery care during the repair process (APR01) ALUMINIUM EXTERIOR PANEL REPAIR AND REPLACEMENT – ½ day Where Aluminium is used and its characteristics.

Techniques and differences between repairing aluminium and steel. Panel straightening, PDR, and corrosion prevention. Techniques to remove damage and demonstrations and explanations of several panel attachment and removal methods, aluminium welding and dressing, surface prep and refinishing.

(CFR01) CARBON FIBRE REPAIR AND NVH FOAMS – ½ day An awareness of carbon fibre commonly used for the automotive industry. Different types of carbon fibre and a detailed look at the manufacturing process. The the damage inspection required and basic vacuum bagging repair of carbon fibre. The different NVH (noise vibration and harshness) foam materials used by motor manufacturers and the importance of identifying and replacing these correctly.

(CRA01) CUSTOMER SERVICE, FINANCIALS & PRODUCTIVITY IN COLLISION REPAIR – ½ day These topics will be addressing many issues that only this industry understands: *Customer Service – front office best practice *Estimating - how to make sure your estimate measures up *Financials – Shop rate calculation and simple monthly performance analysis *Productivity – Shop layout, work flow and efficiency (CYC01) OVERVIEW OF CYCLE TIME IMPROVEMENTS FOR THE COLLISION REPAIR PROCESS – ½ day Advantages of improving cycle times and how to make this happen Achieving increased efficiency in a collision repair facility 62 PanelTalk

(DAM05) ALUMINIUM PANELS AND STRUCTURES DAMAGE ANALYSIS – ½ day Aluminium properties/characteristics Assessing aluminium exterior panel damage Assessing aluminium structural damage Discussing aluminium vehicle repair facilities (DAM06) STEERING AND SUSPENSION DAMAGE ANALYSIS – ½ day Identifying steering and suspension system types Steering and suspension system terminology, alignment angles and diagnosis (DAM11) RESTRAINTS SYSTEM DAMAGE ANALYSIS – ½ day The different types and identifying damage in restraint systems. Considerations during a collision repair ensure the vehicle will perform correctly again. The many mechanical and electronic restraint systems now used by motor manufacturers and how these should be inspected following a collision.

(FCR01) FUNDAMENTALS OF COLLISION REPAIR – ½ day Gain a good understanding of vehicle and part design, construction materials and manufacturing processes that affect collision repair. These critical issues impact how a vehicle routes collision energy and what the resulting damage is, apparent or hidden.

(FFR01) FULL-FRAME PARTIAL REPLACEMENT – ½ day Understanding OEM repair procedures Full-frame designs, construction methods and repair considerations Understand partial replacement at factory seams and sectioning options Differentiate welding requirements for full-frames vs. unibody parts (HOLDEN) HOLDEN COLLISION REPAIR COURSE – 2 hours This course is a New Zealand Model Specific Tech Update and will overview many of the repair recommendations, including sectioning and weld methods for Holden’s current models.

NEW ZEALAND

COURSES

2015

TO ENSURE YOUR PLACE IN THESE COURSES PLEASE REGISTER EARLY (REF03) COLOUR THEORY, APPLICATION, TINTING AND BLENDING – 6 hours Lighting and the effect on colour matching Effects of metallics and micas in refinish Applying topcoats / Blending Understanding colour movement and tinting (REF07) WATERBORNE PRODUCTS, SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS – ½ day Identify the various types of waterborne refinishing materials, safety considerations, environmental concerns, and EPA regulations. Take a closer look at preparation, mixing, and application, spray gun considerations along with techniques and air movement requirements and recommendations. Proper storage and freeze-prevention for waterborne materials.

(RTI01) RESEARCHING TECHNICAL INFORMATION – ½ day I-CAR New Zealand has created a course to help you navigate around vehicle manufacturers' websites. It looks at the importance of using the correct vehicle information, terminology used by motor companies and the different options available for finding this information.

(SPS05) STRUCTURAL PARTS STEEL QUALIFICATION TEST – Hands on full day workshop This course offers students the opportunity to demonstrate their measuring, cutting, fit-up, and MIG welding skills on steel structural parts. The Steel Sectioning Qualification Test measures a participant’s skill in cutting, removing spot welds and making offset repair joints, using plug, open butt joint, and butt joint with backing welds on steel structural parts. Working with two thicknesses of automotive grade steel – both 16-gauge and 22-gauge – students will need to measure and cut the rail at the locations specified in the course-specific body repair manual. The structural part must fit in a specially designed I-CAR fixture in order to pass the qualification test.

Requirements: Students who register for the Steel Sectioning Qualification Test are required to hold a current Automotive Steel MIG Welding Qualification.

(SPS07) STEEL UNITISED STRUCTURES TECHNOLOGIES AND REPAIR – ½ day Understand unibody design technologies/construction Identifying advanced high strength steel Understand structural repair considerations Replacing structural parts using weld bonding and MIG brazing Identifying partial replacement considerations (SPS09) BEST PRACTICES FOR HIGH-STRENGTH STEEL REPAIRS – ½ day Learn how I-CAR identified the best practice for understanding, locating and repairing HSS (High Strength Steel) and UHSS (Ultra High Strength Steel).

Understanding how UHSS parts can be removed and the implications of heating these types of steels. The different methods for replacing both HSS and UHSS panels when repairing collision damage. These include:MIG brazing for making a strong weld Self-piercing rivets video demonstration STRSW (squeeze type resistance spot welding) Weld bonding The cautions with using MIG steel welding.

(WCS01) STEEL GMA (MIG) WELDING – ½ day Proper use of GMA (MIG) welding equipment Techniques for making butt joint with backing welds Techniques for making open butt joint welds Techniques for making fillet welds Techniques for making plug welds (WCS04) SQUEEZE-TYPE RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING – ½ day Squeeze-type resistance spot welding (STRSW) process Using STRSW equipment How resistance spot welds are made, visually inspected and destructively tested Weld bonding process (WKR01) HAZARDOUS, MATERIALS, PERSONNEL SAFETY AND REFINISH SAFETY – ½ day Workplace labelling requirements Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) Liability and responsibility for employers, employees, and suppliers Precautionary measures / personal protection Identify critical situations and how to handle them

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BRONZE RECOGNITION ACHIEVERS Congratulations to the following people who have achieved Bronze Recognition recently: Tim McDougal Mark Cates Allan Smith Colin Edwards

Gyaneshwar Gounder Robert Hunt Alex Cameron Chris Bennetts Nigel Constable Lars Seidenfaden Damon Hamilton David Van Der Poll Andrew Ridgway

A & M Panel Repairs 2004 Airport Oaks Collision Repairs Allianz Insurance Auckland Panel & Paint Group – Onehunga Bernie Fama Panel & Paint Blenheim Toyota Panel & Paint Brian Roberts Collision Repair Centre Bridgman Street Panelbeaters Castle Street Panelbeaters Eurotech Auto Repair Centre Haul Plus Smart Repair Centre Hugh Munro Panelbeaters Lee & McMillan Panelbeaters

Scott Coker Marcel Hendriks Richard Rosewarne Daniel Molan Todd Hawthorn Graeme Sullivan Grant Palmer John Dobson Mike Carey Steve Kilmartin Andrè Prinsloo Michael Stanton

Otorohanga Collision & Repair Peter Hendriks Panel & Paint Rod Wood Ross Francis Panel & Paint Shepherd & Kime 2008 South Suburban Motor Bodies Tower New Zealand Tower New Zealand Tower New Zealand Tower New Zealand Turners Panelbeating & Carpainting Tustins Panel & Paint

SILVER RECOGNITION ACHIEVERS Congratulations to the following people who have achieved Silver Recognition recently: Travis Drummond Ross Cochran Troy Cochran Peter Flintoff Les Gibbons Wayne Babbington Wade McArtney

Advanced Panel & Paint Chartwell Panel & Paint Chartwell Panel & Paint Flintoff Carpainters & Panelbeaters Gibbon's Panel & Paint Golden Gun Lumley General Insurance (N.Z.)

Craig White Vernon Bennett Nick Hanrahan Kevin Brown Leigh Hopkins

Napier Collision Repair Centre Napier Collision Repair Centre Tandem Smash Repairs 1996 Vero Insurance New Zealand Vero Insurance New Zealand

AUTOMOTIVE STEEL MIG WELDING QUALIFICATION: This validated qualification assessment allows participants to demonstrate their welding skills by measuring a technician’s ability to perform ten welds in both the vertical and overhead positions using 0.75mm and 1.6mm thickness steel coupons. The steel thickness and weld configurations reflect the joints most commonly used on today’s vehicles.

To register for this qualification please contact I-CAR NZ for a registration form.

The cost per person is $403.00 (+GST).

For a 5 year renewal – the cost per person is $403.00 (+GST).

Two or more people registering at the same time brings the cost for the second and subsequent people down to $342.00 (+GST) each.

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COURSE DATES BY REGION TO ENSURE YOUR PLACE IN THESE COURSES PLEASE REGISTER EARLY Northland APR01 24 September DAM11 24 September Auckland – North WCS04 12 August WCS01 12 August

Auckland – South DAM06 4 August DAM11 4 August FFR01 1 September ADH01 1 September DAM05 2 September SPS07 2 September CFR01 8 September SPS09 8 September FCR01 10 September WKR01 10 September

Hamilton CFR01 5 August

Palmerston North DAM05 19 August SPS07 19 August CRA01 7 September REF03 7 October

Balclutha DAM05 16 September DAM11 16 September REF03 14 October

Havelock – between Nelson & Blenheim TOY01/TOY02 18 August Christchurch DAM06 13 August DAM11 13 August DAM05 9 September SPS07 9 September CYC01 15 September

PLEASE NOTE: Finalisation of these courses is still subject to sufficient numbers registering so travel and venues can be arranged.

The above courses provide a wide variety of topics and locations however with the increasing development of I-CAR model specific courses being generated; additional courses may be added to this schedule. If you require a specific course not detailed above please contact I-CAR NZ as if numbers dictate these can be provided.

For all course details please refer to the I-CAR NZ website www.i-car.co.nz

To register and pay by credit card online go to www.i-car.co.nz or call I-CAR NZ on 07 8470218 To pay by Direct Credit - I-CAR NZ Trust, ASB Bank 12 3152 0180972 00 Pay by Credit Card: Phone I-CAR NZ on 07-8470218 Post your cheque to: I-CAR NZ, PO Box 9208, Waikato Mail Centre, Hamilton 3240.

COSTINGS PER COURSE: Non CRA members CRA members 1⁄2 day courses - $325 (+ GST) 1⁄2 day courses - $273 (+ GST) Full day courses - $520 (+ GST) Full day courses - $473 (+ GST) SPS05 - $655 (+ GST) SPS05 - $595 (+ GST) 2015 SUPPORTER PACKAGE Three redemption vouchers, valid for any of the half-day courses from the 2015 programme.

Only $699.00 (+ GST) for a member - $829.00 (+ GST) for a non-member.

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FINN’S FUDGE TREATS

Collision Repair Association Mid Year Promotion Finns Fudge in conjunction with the Collision Repair Association would like to offer the following deal for all members: Purchase 5 x 1kg bags of loose Finn’s Fudge Treats and receive a sixth 1kg bag of Treats for FREE! To keep for yourself or your staff or to giveaway!

Flavours: Russian, Choc Mint, Chocolate, Ginger, Kahlua, Caramel Sea Salt, Irish Crème, Vanilla, Choc Coconut Contains no gluten

Address: Finn’s Fudge Ltd 39 G Waterman Place P: (03) 376-4455 Ferrymead P (0800) 346- 673 Christchurch info@finnsfudge.co.nz www.finnsfudge.co.nz

Price (ex GST) $18.85 per 1kg bag

Treat size bags approx. 86 treat size per bag

This promotion will be available until the 31 August 2015 and is open to all members and is by cash on delivery on the first order. Please make sure you mention you are a member of the Collision Repair Association to receive the free 1kg bag of Treats.

CRA Membership Group Scheme for Compliance (2015) In order to assist CRA members to comply with legislation Terry Blake (TB) and Dangerous Goods Compliance (DGC) offer a Nationwide Inspection schedule, Inspection visits are coordinated and scheduled on a yearly basis.

Services offered by Terry Blake (TB) Hazardous Area Compliance Consultant, Testing and Certification Includes airflow and air quality testing, compressed air testing.

Combustion certification, IQP certification and Electrical reinspections Services offered by Dangerous Goods Compliance (DGC) Location Test Certificates, Approved Handler Certificates, Stationary Container Certificates and HSNO Compliance training CONTACT:

Terry Blake

Ph: 0274 473382

Fax: 09 2763504

Email: terryblake@xtra.co.nz

Dangerous Goods Compliance Ph: 09 2575790 Fax: 09 257 5791 Email: aaron@dgcompliance.co.nz

Annual Schedule for both TB & DGC March/April Northland, North Shore, Northland Wellington, Horowhenua, Taranaki, May/June South Auckland, Pukekohe, Manukau, Nelson Marlborough, West Coast, Canterbury July/August West Auckland, Onehunga, Poverty Bay, Hawkes Bay, Wairarapa, Manuwatu. Central North Island Sept/Oct Coromandle, Bay of Plenty, Rotorua, Waikato, Otago, Southland, East & Auckland City

PLEASE BOOK AN ANNUAL INSPECTION FOR: Company Name Site Address Contact Person Phone 66 PanelTalk

Fax

Terry Blake - 027 4473 382 or Aaron - 09 257 5791

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