Detroit, Michigan — July 26, 2015 — For the second time, NACE has played host to an event presented by the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF).
Fittingly for a Canadian event in an American city, the event was “Global Trends: Changing the Course of the Collision Repair Business in Canada,” and looked at the Canadian collision industry from the viewpoint of the rest of the world.
David Lingham of IBIS opened the discussion by summing up what he sees as the Canadian industry’s strengths and weaknesses. Regarding strengths, Lingham spoke on Canada’s relatively high level of consolidation and the amount of cooperation between repairers and insurers. However, he also noted that there’s still not much trust between partners, and there’s enormous pressure on margins.
Lingham also served as moderator for the first panel discussion. Panelists included Dave Smith of AkzoNobel, Rick Orser of 3M Canada, Patrice Marcil of Axalta and Roland Taube of LKQ Canada. The panel discussed Lingham’s presentation on the Canadian landscape and also looked at how to build a sustainable future based on shared end goals.
The CCIF event also featured a second panel discussion focused on the customer service aspect. The panel moderated by outgoing CCIF Chairman Larry Jefferies. Panelists included incoming CCIF President Joe Carvalho of Economical, Paul Stella of Toyota Canada, Paul Prochilo of Prochilo Brothers Auto Collision and Dennis Carlini of Windsor CARSTAR Collision. In essence, discussion revolved around the idea that providing value to the client should be the central focus of all business activities.
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