FROM FERROUS TO FIBRES
FROM FERROUS TO FIBRES AUTOMATED TOOLING, WORKING WITH NEW MATERIALS AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR WELDING Times change, and so does technology. Thankfully, the fundamentals of superheating solids into liquids to bond separate components has been relatively unchanged in the past few decades, give or take a few new guidelines and materials. In last year’s Buyer’s […]
GREENER, MEANER, CLEANER
GREENER, MEANER, CLEANER YOU’RE LOOKING AT A FRESHLY REFURBISHED RECYCLING INDUSTRY The automotive recycling industry is thriving, don’t you know? The days of “scrapyards” or “car junkyards” are long behind us. Any modern auto recycler or member of the Automotive Recyclers of Canada (ARC) will know the ins and outs of the Environmental Activity and […]
MASSAGING YOUR DENTS
MASSAGING YOUR DENTS GONE ARE THE DAYS WHERE YOU’D ‘BANG ‘EM OUT’ The collision repair industry’s former best kept secret—paintless dent repair, or PDR. Does your shop understand the concept? Are you losing business to someone who does? For customers, the prospect of a noninvasive, same-day job that pulls all those small, pesky dents from […]
FROM PAPERS TO IPADS
FROM PAPERS TO IPADS THE INDUSTRY’S WORDS ON WEB-BASED PLATFORMS Those with their toes in the industry for a few decades will know how tedious writing estimates used to be. Heck, some of you might have carpal tunnel to prove it. Today’s estimating systems, contrary to the pen-and-paper methods of the past, are almost entirely […]
MODERN TIMES, MODERN TOOLS
MODERN TIMES, MODERN TOOLS HANDTOOLS ARE MORE THAN EASILY LOST BITS AND BOBS Getting your start in the collision repair industry can be tough, no matter what path you take. The initial investment in tools alone is enough to send an incoming apprentice’s head for a spin. In the age of automatic welders and artificial […]
FUNCTION AND FLOW
FUNCTION AND FLOW WHAT’S YOUR TRACK RECORD? YOU WON’T KNOW WITHOUT SOFTWARE MANAGEMENT Robots are here—are you taking advantage of their services? Perhaps software management programs and computer/cloud-based tools are yet a far cry from robots, but the technology can surely aid in smoothing out a collision centre’s operations. There are many different softwares that […]
PAINT BY ROBOTS
PAINT BY ROBOTS THE NEVER-ENDING JOURNEY TOWARD FASTER OPERATIONS The industry has seen some forays into automatic car painting processes in recent years, with automotive giants even trying their hand at the technology. In autumn 2021, BMW released a video of its car-painting robot. In the clip, an autonomous arm covers the vehicle with no […]
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS
PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS A SAFE WORKPLACE IS A BASIC REQUIREMENT Some recent high-profile cases surrounding the auto industry have pushed workplace safety to the forefront. Combine greater health awareness with the workplace fluidity of the gig economy, and you have a generation of workers who are acutely aware of the presence or absence of measures taken […]
SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT
SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT HOW STREAMLINED ARE YOUR ALIGNMENT PROCESSES? As the collision industry develops and the repairs become increasingly complex, customers have come to expect their auto repair experience to be limited to a one-stopshop— the days of outsourcing alignment and measuring services are gone, and life moves too fast for your clients to […]
SOLVING STICKY SITUATIONS
SOLVING STICKY SITUATIONS ADHESIVES THAT HELP KEEP IT TOGETHER Our industry functions at its best when all its parts are sticking together—a frame doesn’t mean much if there aren’t panels welded onto it, nor does a paint job without a proper sanding done beforehand. The glass and plastic components on our vehicles are no different, […]
