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New articles... NEWS CCIF: CALGARY FOCUSES ON THE HUMAN FACTOR There was a definite focus on human resources issues at the last meeting of the year for the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF). It was also the final meeting chaired by Larry Jefferies. The fir ... Read More >>   NEWS csn and enterprise enter strategic partnership Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Collision Solutions Network (CSN) have formed a strategic partnership enabling CSN customers to benefit from Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s wide range of replacement car rental op ... Read More >>   NEWS Dupont converts 100 shops to waterborne DuPont Performance Coatings has converted 100 Canadian collision repair shops to waterborne basecoat. The conversions ranged from smaller family-owned facilities to large production-oriented facilitie ... Read More >> Volume 6 Issue 6

New articles... PUBLISHERS PAGE InnovationRule - If it ain’t broke...break it! It’s the start of another year. What better time could there be to implement an innovation in your business? Innovation is the key to all advancement. If it weren’t for innovative thinkers and techniques, we’d still be squatting outside caves, bashing at one another with antelope thighbones and picking (and eating) fleas off of one another. The way you approach innovation makes all the difference in the world. A low-VOC conversion is a perfect example, and one that many repairers have alre ... Read More >> POINT BLANK NumbersGame - Know your numbers and win. Every day our industry brings us bigger challenges. Years ago it was pretty simple to repair cars. All you needed was a tree, a come-a-long, a hammer and dolly, and a paint gun and compressor. Today you need to make a lot of major investments such as computers, electronic measuring systems, updated paint systems and continuous training. Not to mention regularly updating and revising daily practices, and of course you need to be environmentally correct, within the limits of the law and on and on. ... Read More >> HEALTH AND SAFETY DueDiligence - It protects your employees and yourself. Convergence, sustainability, “the big picture” and  “going green.”  Buzzwords and catch-phrases – our language is full of them and the world of collision repair is no exception. Their primary use is to conveniently represent and efficiently convey a complex set of thoughts and ideas that are generally understood by a large group of people. I’d like to introduce you to a new catch phrase. I believe it should be part of every shop owner’s lexicon and at the forefront of every thoug ... Read More >> WHO IS DRIVING LeadGoals - It starts with defining your plan. Lately the subject of leadership has been raised a lot.  You see a lot of business books, magazine articles, even TV stories on leadership.  Many of the writings seem to focus more on management techniques proclaiming them as leadership tools. Nothing could be further from the truth. Leadership is leadership. Manage-ment is management. I came across a great definition that helps differentiate between management and leadership. Managers tell people what to do; leaders inspire people to do what n ... Read More >> WATERBORNE Clean Up - Grease is not the word when it comes to waterborne. Last issue we started a new series of articles designed to give specific answers to the questions surrounding waterborne application. Every article in the series will feature an interview with a representative of one of the major paint companies on a specific area of waterborne application. In this issue, Collision Repair magazine’s Editor, Mike Davey, speaks with Gerry Grenier, Akzo Nobel’s National Technical Manager, to find out why waterborne colour coats make cleaning and degreasing more ... Read More >> RECYCLING GoBIG - Consolidation will change the face of recycling. The very nature of the auto recycling industry as we know it is changing.  For some time now, corporate America has seen value and opportunity in our industry and many progressive recycling businesses have been “consumed,” forever changing the traditional landscape of our industry. Until recently Canada has been relatively sheltered from the effects of consolidation in the auto recycling industry. The key players that are involved in the consolidation process are LKQ Corp-oration and Greenle ... Read More >> VIEW FROM THE WEST NotEnough - Technicians need more than recognition. Have you ever heard someone mention that money is not the most important thing to keep employees happy and content with their job? They say recognition is more important. I say bull! Without a decent paycheque you can’t even get them interested in applying for your job, much less keep them around for long. At the most recent CCIF meeting a young apprentice by the name of Nick Penner told everyone how great it was to win the Gold Medal in the 2005 Canadian Skills competition, but later added tha ... Read More >> LEGENDS Total Commitment - Our salute to Larry Carter, a true legend of the industry. Larry Carter, former President and CEO of Car-O-Liner North American Operations, is no stranger to hard work. For more than 45 years he has dedicated his life to the collision repair industry. That dedication was recently honoured at a lavish party in Las Vegas, NV that was hosted by Car-O-Liner. First introduced to the trade in his father’s repair shop, it was there that Larry made the decision to pursue collision repair as a career. The journey from repair shop employee to CEO has been a roa ... Read More >> TRAINING Partners Paint - The Co-Operators and BASF team up for waterborne training. The modern relationship between repairer and insurer may be fraught with ambiguity, but, at its most basic level, the common understanding of the division of responsibilities remains intact. The insurer okays the estimate and cuts the cheque; the repairer does the work that needs to be done. Beyond that, it’s never been clear how much one side actually knows (or cares to know) about what the other does. As a result, vague suspicions, long-standing preconceptions and unanswered questions abound ... Read More >>