Message from the Publisher - Collision Repair Magazine

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Volume 6

Issue 1

Message from the Publisher

Written by Administrator

Saturday, 17 March 2007

We’ve Only Just Begun
Five full years of celebrating champions.

Anniversaries are more than periodic milestones; they are passages to a future full of possibilities.

During our five years of publishing, we have been committed to making a significant contribution to the industry: a magazine celebrating and showcasing talent, expertise and intelligence.

Our goal was and is to be more than a service magazine. Our longevity reflects an industry in transition from bodyshops to collision repair facilities, from a trade to a profession.
These are much more than name changes, illustrating a fundamental paradigm shift as repairers meet increasing demands and challenges needed to survive in today’s Auto Claims Economy.

Since we couldn’t throw a party for all 10,000 of you, we decided to do the next best thing: revisit the magazine and see how we could better serve you—our readers—as we enter our next five years.

But we didn’t want to make these decisions in a vacuum. Instead, we invited over forty industry leaders previously featured on the cover to speak their minds -- to see how they viewed the past five years, and to see what they think the future holds.

Looking back to look forward, we can glean from them the true state of the industry today. This is their story, and that makes it your story too.

This edition is a celebration of an industry of survivors and champions. They represent a cross-section of what it takes to succeed. Though there is no scientific proof to defend this claim, I feel safe in saying this group “has the goods” or what was fittingly called in our first ever cover story – Secrets of Success.

Over the past five years we’ve all met some wonderful people through the pages of Collision Repair magazine. Under the guiding hand of Editor Mike Davey, their stories were told, in a manner that allowed their personalities to shine through. Every reader, hopefully, knows how to fix cars. But this is an industry of people. And   by reading these profiles, we now know them as people.

The only reason we stand tall as a leading magazine is because we stand on the shoulders of so many who believed in us -- our advertisers who have supported our mission, our interview subjects and columnists. But most importantly you, our reader. All of you have paved the way for our survival, and now enable us to stand firm as we   celebrate five full years.

This special edition is a nostalgia trip; it puts us in the crotchety-old-man role of saying, “Yep, Sonny, I remember when the waterborne conversion was the biggest challenge we thought we’d ever face.” Five years from now we’ll be reflecting yet again, remembering the “old solvent days” with a peculiar fondness.

We’re hurtling towards a future where computers are integral to all strata of business and external legislation is dictating rapid changes in non-negotiable timelines. All this as our workforce enters retirement with no replacement strategy in place, and profitability is no longer a low-hanging fruit.

As extraordinary events take place throughout the Auto Claims Economy, the need for shared information becomes stronger. Collision Repair magazine will continue to be vigilant in reporting the stories that matter by putting people first.

Like the progressive repairers we celebrate, and those who partner with them, we’re moving ahead with passion and optimism. We’ve only just begun!

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