Pfaff Autoworks open house shines a spotlight on technological advances
By Jeff Sanford Vaughan, Ontario — September 27, 2015 — A crowd gathered at Pfaff Autoworks in Vaughan for the company’s annual insurance industry open house. For some on the insurance side of the business the event seemed to be an eye-opener in terms of some rapidly advancing changes about to hit the collision repair […]
Move over aluminum: Carbon fibre steps up its game
By Jeff Sanford Toronto, Ontario — September 9, 2015 — On the materials side, the big news in the industry of late has been the move to the use of more aluminum in vehicles, especially in the case of the latest Ford-150. But some are already looking beyond aluminum to carbon fibre, an advanced, lightweight […]
Painting, but not as we know it
By Andrew Marsh Engineering Director, Auto Industry Consulting Ltd Once upon a time a highly respected UK shop owner stated that “if one can pass water, one can paint.” The original phrase is even more offensive, but there are some important themes behind this. From the damage scoping phase through panel repair/prep and via […]
Live@NACE: Dr. Jody Hall on steel’s future and its ‘green’ capabilities
By Jeff Sanford Detroit, Michigan — July 23, 2015 — Collision repair professionals from around North America have gathered in Detroit. The booths are up. The cars have been rolled out on the convention floor. The drink tickets have been distributed. NACE 2015 is underway. The Volt lounge at the base of the Renaissance Center […]
Graphene may herald the next auto material revolution
By Jeff Sanford Toronto, Ontario — July 23, 2015 — Much has been written about the current battle between high-strength steel and aluminum in the auto body mix. But looking deeper into the future there is another material being mentioned more frequently, graphene, that has strong advantages over either. Graphene is nothing more than carbon. […]
