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 […]

INNOVATION NEVER STALLS

INNOVATION NEVER STALLS IN THIS INDUSTRY, IT CAN’T AFFORD TO BY ALLISON ROGERS I recently attended my first-ever SEMA Show, despite being a member of the aftermarket space for well over three years. While I was plenty warned about the sheer size and spectacle of the event, I was wowed nonetheless. I spent most of […]

THE SYNTHESIS OF OUR INDUSTRY

THE SYNTHESIS OF OUR INDUSTRY COMBINING TWO OR MORE DISTINCT ENTITIES—A.K.A., JUST WELD’ER UP Column by Stefano Liessi If I had $6.72 for every time I heard “my guy has been doing this for thirty years—this welding certification is a waste of time,” I would be independently wealthy. There are a lot of managers and […]

GUESSING GAMES

TODAY’S ESTIMATING PROCESSES—MORE STREAMLINED OR CONTINUOUSLY CUMBERSOME? No matter how long you’ve been in the industry, you’ve likely witnessed a bevy of different ways to process an estimate—whether it be via the pen-and-paper methods of yesteryear or finagling with the web- and cloud-based technology of today. We asked Collision Repair readers for their feedback on […]

STAY OR GO

KNOWING YOUR WORTH IS KEY IN EITHER SCENARIO Column by Nancy Rolland The pandemic has caused many business owners to reconsider their long-term goals of owning and operating their businesses. Shutdowns and personnel shortages have clearly been a drain on many, while severely impacting financial performance and their ability to effectively service customers. If you […]

IN FOR A SHOCK

ELECTRIC VEHICLES WILL CHANGE THE WAY WE WORK By Max Reid Talk of electric vehicles is abuzz lately— but what do collision centres really need to prepare for in the interim as EVs gain popularity? “It is really a very different process, not only in terms of writing an estimate for an electric vehicle but […]

MORE TECH, MORE TROUBLES

CUSTOMERS DON’T ‘GET’ VEHICLE TECH By Max Reid “It was found that rear seat reminder technology has a range of total problems spanning from 1.9 PP100 to 26.2 PP100, demonstrating that the tech can be developed with minimal owner complaints. On the other end of the spectrum, fingerprint reading technology has been identified as the […]