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Bodyshop - April 2003

Features

Taking Stock: Bodyshop Magazine's 2003 Canadian Autobody Survey
In late 2002, Bodyshop Magazine commissioned market research consultant G.V. Bramm & Associates to survey the collision repair landscape across Canada. The statistics featured over the following pages -- and in part two of the report that'll be featured in our June edition -- represent tabulated responses from 201 shops.

Bodyshop Initiative Awards: The Power Of A Party
How do you account for an initiative that rewards employees both past and present, that builds a bridge between customers both old and new, and that otherwise strengthens the bond between community and shop? We cannot even categorize the Bodyshop Initiative Award deserved by Parr Auto Body, which has managed to combine all of these elements into one initiative. And would you believe that this ambitious customer and employee program happened all in the span of merely a few hours?

Shop Profile: From The Gridiron To The Golden Triangle
"Frank Pavan, my dad, started this business in 1970 when he realized there were more rewarding challenges and flexibility in being an owner, rather than working for someone else," explains Rob Pavan, co-owner of Golden Triangle Collision in Guelph, Ontario.

Body Tech: 2004 Toyota Sienna
Toyota Sienna's new attitude is immediately apparent in its streamlined contours. A subtle sculpting at the corners combined with sweeping roof and character lines create a refined, aerodynamic effect that separates it from traditional "boxy" minivans. The smoothly integrated lines of the new front end are continued in the arched headlamp cluster, adding a touch of aggression to the stance.

No HVLP -- No Problem?
The drive to reduce paint particles that end up airborne resulted in the rise of High Volume Low Pressure (HVLP) spray gun standards in the mid-80s. Mandatory in jurisdictions across Canada and the United States, the code calls for equipment to meet transfer efficiencies of over 65% through better technology and a sub-10 psi air cap pressure. Today, a handful of spray guns are reaching the transfer efficiency threshold without being "true HVLP". And with strict environmental watchdogs in Vancouver and California approving these devices, one wonders whether the HVLP standard itself could soon be dead and buried.

PEI's Watching Its Waste
Prince Edward Island's Waste Watch Program calls for provincial residents and businesses to separate all garbage and waste to increase recyclables and incinerables, ease landfill pressure and otherwise turn the island province into one of the country's most environmentally responsible jurisdictions. It's also forced collision repair operators to take a more active role in their own waste diversion.

Paint Companies Deliver Environmental Education
When Ontario's Ministry of Environment mandated that shops in the province take environmental compliance training in order to qualify for a spraybooth Certificate of Approval, major paint companies such as Akzo Nobel, BASF, DuPont, Sherwin-Williams and PPG stepped forward to help deliver.

The Solvent Recycling Option
Stiffening regulations governing environmental waste, not to mention better education, is turning more and more collision repairers onto the possibilities surrounding solvent recycling.

Commentary: As I See It ... With Reg Wightwick

Visions Of Green
The vision is clear. Green. A clean environment. A well-managed facility. Organized floors translating into bottom-line savings. Environmental compliance need not be a scary proposition. Current "green" processes can provide shops with all sorts of profitability possibilities. Equipment manufacturers have developed technology that is safe and cost-efficient -- and can generate shops more profits. The tools are there, it's now simply a matter of opening our eyes to what's available.

Departments

In My Estimation

News Briefs

Fix & Finish