The Aftermarket Parts War
Don’t surrender in defeat. If your business has suffered because of imitation-parts usage, consider these strategies to help heal your battle wounds.
How Much Training Is Enough?
Too much is never enough. The key is to not waste your time. Just because your techs return from a class with a certificate and a smile doesn’t mean they learned anything.
Purchasing Profile
Some shop owners felt pressured by insurers to make purchases, while others felt competitive pressure to keep up.
No Bonding Allowed
It wasn’t long ago that the only choice a repair technician had to replace a quarter panel, roof or door skin was to cut it off and weld it back on.
Breaking the Bottleneck
The collision industry has gone through a gamut of changes in
the last 20 years – most of them due to the constantly changing
automobile industry and the technology required to repair those
vehicles to preaccident condition. Others have been due to EPA
guidelines and the concern for the environment. Along with these
changes, new equipment, materials and procedures have been introduced.
The Necessary Equipment
If your shop were simply painting used cars,
you could do an adequate job with a bare minimum of equipment.
A paint gun, a random orbit sander and a masking machine would
get most of the work done. If you intend to do productive collision
repair, however, much more equipment is necessary.
What Regulations Do Body Shops Mostly Break?
Both the EPA and OSHA respond.
Advanced Measuring: Part Two
3-D measuring systems can provide the accuracy
necessary to repair today’s vehicles – provided that techs are
trained to accurately operate them.
S-TRSW Comes of Age
Modern body shop repair techniques have come a long way from straightening a frame with floor pots and pullers and banging away on dented fenders. These days, it’s a matter
of pulling substructures to exacting measurements with the use of high-tech frame machines and of attaching new body parts to
the straightened substructure.
The Two Faces of Japan
From ancient Shinto temples to modern-day skyscrapers, the Japanese relish technology, yet revere tradition. But with Japan’s collision repair industry changing with the times,
will the Japanese people also deviate from tradition to fight for their industry’s autonomy?