CCIF Mississauga

I just received the CCIF Mississauga meeting report. Even though I was not at the meeting the report I received outlined key discussion topics. Attracting and retaining techs is one of thee most important areas of concern in the auto collision industry and for that topic not to be at the top of the industry’s communication agendas and not talked about raise concerns for me.

I continue to ask this question, “What is the auto collision industry doing to address the short and long term viability of auto collision techs?”

Read on to hear what the Canadian collision industry has to say at the-

CCIF Mississauga Meeting Report

“With the theme of this meeting being about leadership”, began CCIF Chairman, Tony Canade, “what better way to start than with an opening address from the Mayor of Mississauga, Hazel McCallion. Indeed Mayor McCallion demonstrated her own leadership qualities as she spoke about treating her city’s tax payers as customers, promoting fairness and welcoming foreign investment in her debt-free city during her 30 years as mayor. She congratulated CCIF for showing leadership in bringing together stakeholders from the fragmented collision repair industry to find new and better ways of doing things. “Since your industry provides an essential service, it is good to know that you are showing leadership by discussing how improve your businesses and customer satisfaction,” concluded the mayor.

Myths, Lies and Leadership…The Simple Truth About How to Lead Your Market, Your Business and Your Life

“Every industry thinks theirs is the toughest and their challenges the greatest,” said Donald Cooper. “Running a business is certainly tough, but if you truly love it, you’ll find ways to satisfy increasingly demanding customers and cope with stronger competition, shrinking margins, increasing complexity and finding/keeping great staff.” Donald explained the problem of overcapacity and how it affects margins; a market may be able to support three competitors, but there may be five in business. The top company will achieve an ROI of 15-20%, the second will achieve 10-12% ROI, the third will break even and the other two will lose money. What is interesting is that when the two money losing companies go out of business, someone will perceive a gap in the market and promptly fill it, thus perpetuating the overcapacity and the pressure on margins for all five competitors. Donald suggested following the strategies of successful large corporations that will only enter or remain in a market if they can reach the number one or two position in it.

Donald drove home the point that mediocrity in business is no longer an option. Once the customer has experienced “Disney World”, they expect nothing less. So the challenge is how to create an extraordinary customer experience, whether it be through creative, visible features or simple “go the extra mile” services that “wow” your customers. The first task of leaders and managers, though, is to create clear commitments – commitments to the future of the business, to customers, to staff, to the community and to family. Commitments should be derived from a vision of the desired future and should be expressed in a one page clear and measurable vision statement, devoid of the usual “aims, goals and targets”, but with clear and compelling commitments to the business, customers, staff and community.

Instead of defining themselves by the business they are in, companies should restate their role by describing how they help their customers. They need to ask more questions to understand their customers better, building and maintaining information on their purchase history, their interests, their lifestyle, their concerns and needs. To grow a business by gaining new customers and retaining existing ones, it is not enough to be extraordinary through uniqueness; the customer experience must provide compelling value. A sure sign of failing to provide or communicate that value is when customers see nothing else to focus on except price.

Addressing another major issue of the collision repair industry, Donald spoke about the need to create a business where people want to work and to be committed to its success. Companies must understand what staff want from their work, but also communicate to them the vision for the business, seeking their feedback and their commitment to the vision. It is essential that the whole team be on the same page with the same sense of commitment to the business and to their role in achieving the vision.

IBIS Global Collision Repair Conference Report

Fresh back from attending the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) in Montreux, Switzerland, Tony Canade shared key discussion points from this conference. He observed that participants were mainly from the corporate sector, rather than collision repair industry itself, but that the topics were indeed critical to all industry stakeholders. For example, new vehicle technology is moving rapidly to develop accident avoidance features. Clearly, the cost savings to insurers in reducing the number of accidents are potentially huge, so it would not be surprising to see this technology spread quickly into the mass market. The other aspect of adding costly technology that reduces accidents and personal injury, is that when a collision does occur, the cost of repair increases, often to the point of making the vehicle a total loss. It was recommended that the collision repair industry work more closely with vehicle manufacturers to influence vehicle design and repairability.

While on one hand the trend towards corporate consolidation continues, the diversity of OEMs, brands and vehicle models is growing. There may be limited export potential for some of the new vehicle manufacturers developing in emerging markets, but they will bring innovations in cost and technology that may influence manufacturers in mature markets. With the increase in vehicle brands fighting for market share, competition will drive new model/variant introductions over shorter time scales, thus increasing the number of parts and the complexity of repair.

An IBIS survey of CEOs revealed that the issues of greatest concern were technical skill levels and environmental legislation. Vehicle technology is moving ahead of the industry’s ability to repair some models. In order to meet customer needs, vehicle manufacturers must work more closely with the industry to ensure the availability of trained technicians and equipment in order to carry out repairs correctly and safely. Further waves of environmental legislation were expected to keep impacting the industry, putting more pressure on costs and the ability to operate profitably.

Other presentations at IBIS focused on lean production and the need to develop new strategic relationships in order to find new creative solutions. Tony expressed some pride in the fact that many of the issues discussed at IBIS were already being addressed at CCIF meetings. Good examples are best practice recommendations on lean production techniques presented at CCIF and CCIF’s strategic partnership with Skills Canada to raise awareness of collision repair as a career choice.

Government Regulations Affecting the Collision Repair Industry

“The purpose of government regulations is to provide Canadians with a safe and healthy environment in their home and workplace,” said Bruce Henderson of DuPont Performance Coatings, as he began an overview of current and future regulations affecting the supply of materials to the industry. These include the chemical content of products, labelling, shipping and emissions. Bruce cited the main components of the regulatory areas administered federally, provincially and regionally – Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), Precursor B Regulation, the Canadian Environmental Act (CEPA), the Chemical Management Plan and Toxic Substance regulations.

CEPA gathers information on chemicals and tracks their use, raising concerns if necessary and requiring CEPA compliance for all chemical components of a product before it can be imported into Canada. Under the Chemical Management Plan there is an aggressive project to reassess 11,000 chemicals that were grandfathered by CEPA in 1984. Only four of five of them are used in products used by the collision repair industry, but manufacturers will be ready to face the issue if the reassessment calls for their elimination.

Provinces and in some cases, local “regions” such as Greater Vancouver, the cities of Toronto and Montreal, are responsible for regulations on emissions into the air and water. Ontario introduces 7-10 changes each year in its air permitting and is also developing new toxics regulations. Quebec is introducing new VOC regulations for air permits and British Columbia is working on new greenhouse gas initiatives.

Sarah Paul of the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MoE) described a new streamlined process for the Certificate of Approval that all Ontario collision repair shops must have in order to operate legally. Any changes, such as switching to low VOC coatings, installing new fans or spray booths, would trigger the need for a new C of A application. Usually, this would require the involvement of an environmental engineering consultant, but MoE has developed a streamlined screening tool that enables collision repairers to enter information on an MoE web site to assess whether they may apply via the streamlined process or the more traditional way with an environmental engineer’s help. The process is still at the pilot stage, but anyone interested in participating or finding out more about it should contact MoE’s Zafar Bhatti at 1800 314 8001 or zafar.bhatti@ontario.ca .

Waterborne Survey Results

Cindy Macdonald reported the results of Bodyshop Professional’s benchmark survey on the conversion to waterborne products. On a scale of one to ten, collision repairers reported their satisfaction with the conversion experience as an eight. While just under 10% of respondents had spent less than $1,000 on the conversion, over 20% had spent more than $20,000. If they had to do it again, some shops commented that they would do more research into paint brands and equipment and that they would seek more financing. With regard to post-conversion costs, 40% stated that operating costs were higher and over 50% said that material costs were higher. While 46% of respondents claimed that productivity was about the same, nearly 40% said that it had improved. Overall, satisfaction levels with the conversion were high, as was the satisfaction with paint supplier support.

The Journey of a Recycled Part

Steve Fletcher of the Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association spoke about a recent tour by industry stakeholders who had followed each step of the process for locating and receiving a recycled part. Over fifty collision repairers and insurers began their journey at State Farm’s Aurora head office and then on to CSN Bayview & Steeles Auto Collision shop where they identified a need that could be met with a certain recycled part. The group moved on to Carcone’s Auto Recycling in Aurora, where they saw how the part could be located from stock or anywhere in North America, priced, ordered and shipped to the collision repairer. The tour ended at Oaktown Collision in Richmond Hill, where the high energy and level of questions suggested that the tour had opened some eyes on a segment of the industry that everyone had thought they understood before, but were more enlightened now. “CCIF talks about the value of bringing people together to improve understanding, to learn from each other and find solutions together,” concluded Steve. “Comments on our tour seem to confirm the value of this communication exercise.”

CCIF Skills Program

The increasing need to attract young people into careers in collision repair has always been a focus of CCIF, but the existence of Canada-wide skills competitions has provided a tremendous opportunity to expose the industry to thousands of students and influencers. Leanne Blackborow explained the unique partnership that had been created in April between CCIF and Skills Canada, the body that organizes the trade and technology skills competitions at regional, provincial and national level. Thanks to funding from a wide range industry stakeholders, Leanne has taken on the role of industry representative and is acting as the link between the industry and Skills Canada. True to CCIF’s role, Leanne will identify issues, gaps, problems and opportunities to influence others to take actions that meet the goals of the CCIF Skills Program. Program goals include:-

• Ensuring that there is a national car painting champion in 2008 and a coach to prepare him or her for the 2009 WorldSkills Competition in Calgary. The achievement of this goal has already been reached, as a direct result of Leanne’s intervention.

• Identify what can be done to maximise the number of regional and provincial car painting and auto body competitions.

• Involve the industry in providing materials, facilities, equipment and people to design and judge the competitions and to meet, greet and promote the industry to visitors at the Skills Competitions.

• Create the linkage between the industry and Skills Canada to ensure that industry support is available to the competition organizers across the country.

Reporting on the 2008 National Skills competition that took place in Calgary, Leanne said that there had been 550 competitors competing in 40 skilled trades. In auto body repair students from every province except PEI competed in projects including welding and frame measurement. In car painting, students using waterborne paints for the first time, represented Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Yukon. The importance of establishing national champions in these two skill areas can be appreciated when one considers the size of the opportunity for exposure provided by the WorldSkills Competition – 150,000 visitors watching 50 skilled trades in action. As well as the need for more funding to sustain the industry’s support through the CCIF Skills Program, a big challenge will be how to install one or more spray booths at the main competition sites. Currently, exposure of car painting at all levels of the Skills Competitions is limited by holding them at off-site facilities.

Leanne thanked CCIF Skills Program sponsors individually, without whose support there would have been no 2008 national car painting champion to compete at next year’s WorldSkills Competition. She encouraged others to make contributions to sustain the program and help it achieve its goals for the industry.

The Y Factor: Engaging the Younger Generation

“It’s one thing attracting young people,” began Laura Cole of the Dale Carnegie Business Group. “But it’s another thing to understand their needs, keep them motivated and retain them as long term staff.” The Y or Millenial generation represents those born between 1977 and 1998 and, like every generation before them, has been shaped by its time. “Gen Ys” are confident, optimistic and believe they have the power to change things. They may appear to have short attention spans, but this may be because they can multi-task and because they simply get things done quickly. They believe in the wisdom of the group more than authority, and they influence by talking rather than rebelling. They may not complain, but just do something differently or rewrite the rules based on their perspective.

The Y generation grew up in a safe environment, transported by minivan, in safety seats, to facilities that met all their needs. In sports and competitions there were trophies for everyone – just for showing up.

So what does all this mean in the workplace. First, more than 50% of Gen Ys have had three of more jobs in the last five years. Employers often recognize that this generation is different, but simply don’t know how to deal with it. What the Gen Ys are seeking is good pay (many of them have large school debts), respect, fun, responsibility, frequent feedback, mentoring, benefits and security. They want to feel secure, appreciated and allowed to be creative. Work is important to them, but as part of a balanced life which includes family, friends and many activities. They are willing to work hard, but want to enjoy it, making friends and socializing with their co-workers, too.

It’s important to recognize that trying to change Gen Ys won’t work. You can keep trying, but you’ll keep losing them. So if your

goal is to keep them, the key to success is to work with them. Make sure they understand your vision and goals for the business and that they are truly aligned with them and on board. Provide structure by organizing schedules, setting deadlines, seeking commitments, defining tasks and success factors. Encourage their “can do” attitude and support their personal self-image, while taking advantage of their team spirit and getting them involved in company social events. Listen to them and ask for their opinions and ideas. Respond to their need for change and new challenges so that they don’t get bored or feel that their contribution has no value. Respect their life balance needs and provide fun opportunities in an employee-centered workplace. By adopting the attitude that your job is to accommodate them, rather than change them, you’ll keep the brightest and the best for years to come.

Mentors at Work

In concert with the ideas expressed about the Y generation, Mark Claypool of VeriFacts Automotive, showed some alarming statistics about the looming skilled labour shortage, emphasizing the critical importance of running a business in such a way that it not only attracts, but also retains the young people it will need to survive. The industry has not done a good job of attracting and developing apprentices, but studies have identified the key elements of apprenticeship programs that have proved to be successful. The key elements include strategies and processes for recruiting entry-level staff, apprentice orientation, mentoring, pay plans, accountability, tools and equipment. All of this provides structure and consistency that will certainly be appreciated by the apprentice, but most important is the mentor principle, i.e. a designated experienced employee who will support and develop the apprentice.

A mentor should be chosen, not because he is the best or fastest technician, but because he has respect for others, technical expertise, the desire to mentor, company loyalty and above all, good communication skills. Just as teachers are trained to teach, mentors at work benefit from being coached in how to mentor apprentices.

Mark explained that his company’s Mentors at Work program can help with the selection criteria for apprentices and with strategies for reaching out into schools and colleges to identify and attract young people with the potential to become skilled technicians. To create the best first impression, an apprentice orientation program should be in place to share the company’s vision and goals, discuss what’s expected of them and excite them about their roles. From that point on, regular reviews between the mentor, apprentice and the program co-ordinator, will keep the focus on developing the apprentice’s skills, dealing with issues before they become problems and keeping the young person motivated to make his or her career at your shop.

Tony Canade commented that several of the day’s presentations had fitted well together in providing important insight on ways to beat the challenge of maintaining a skilled workforce. The changes that are needed to ensure successful, profitable businesses and a healthy industry will be made one at a time by individuals ready to accept new ideas and motivated to act on new knowledge. Tony hoped that every CCIF participant would leave with at least one “take-away” on which they would act. He also hoped to see a large contingent of industry stakeholders from across the country at CCIF Montreal on October 18^th, where the focus will be on sales and marketing.

CCIF thanks the following sponsors for their support in making CCIF and this meeting possible. Sponsor contributions also enable meeting fees to be kept at a level that makes CCIF accessible to all.

AkzoNobel Coatings Ltd. Assured Automotive

Audatex BASF Automotive Refinish

Bodyshop Professional Magazine Canadian Underwriter Magazine

Canavans Central Appraisal Limited Car-Part.com

CARSTAR Automotive Canada C.K. Collision Centres Inc.

Claims Canada Magazine Co-Auto Co-Operative Inc.

Cross Canada Auto Body Supply Ltd. Discount Car & Truck Rentals Ltd.

DuPont Performance Coatings Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Fillon Technologies Fix Auto

Impact Auto Auctions Ltd. Keystone Automotive Industries

Mitchell International NAPA-CMAX

Ontario Automotive Recyclers Association PPG Canada Inc.

Pro Color Prestige Publications Rousseau & Associés

R.S. Finishing Systems Inc. Rockwood Learning Solutions Inc.

Sherwin-Williams Automotive Finishes The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company

Uni-ram 3M Canada Company

For more information about CCIF visit www.ccif.net or contact Mike Bryan at administrator@ccif.net or 905 726 9027

Enrolling

I think I’ve mentioned this before; I belong to a human educational group called the Landmark (LM) Forum. They challenge and provide you with distinctions and techniques to accomplish your life desires. I recommend LM to anyone that crosses my path looking to hurdle obstacles, obtain goals and confront fears.

It was the lead up to one of my LM group calls that aloud me to draw upon a very significant human obstacle distraction. The access to your goals, desires and dreams is the ability to authentically share and enroll others in them. It’s not that I didn’t know this powerful distinction of enrollment - it’s more along the line of not recognizing the purpose of enrollment.

I get it; I picked up the phone and called a fellow tech that I haven’t spoken to in years. His passion for a better auto collision working environment was one of the reason we exchange telephone numbers and his enthusiasm has not changed. He shared a lot of stories about confused apprentices to entrepreneurial repairers that mirrored my life as an auto collision tech.

I let him know it’s this authentic and open sharing of stories that will empower techs to feel like they’re not alone and my blog, web site and forum is designed for that purpose.

We intend to get together next week and my intention at our meeting is to create solutions to have one thousand (1,000) registered tech users communicating and sharing stories on my forum http://dontek.forumer.com in one year.

Looking for HR

The Canadian auto collision industry relies largely on human labour and activity in order to provide a satisfactory end product. When these bodies of human activity become unstable “without structure” the whole industry starts to crumble from the bottom of the foundation to the top of the penthouse.

The question that lingers in my mind is, witnessing the acknowledgment and implementation for a strategic human resource plan from a wide assortment of other industries, why has the auto collision industry failed to act on its HR studies (Prep for the Future) they conducted in the year 2000?

Substance

I’m active in two forums collisionrepairmag.com/forums and refinishnetwork.info/index.php/Discussion-Forum that talks about general activities and happenings going on in the auto collision industry.

These well administered, round about and general forums have day to day discussions on subjects such as what’s the best sandpaper to use, polishing tips, and good auto paint guns to purchase or they get a little more in-depth with topics like insurance relationships and other surface non substance topics. I‘ve been getting non-substance conversation every day for the last twenty years of my work life, from industry magazines and now on online web sites and forums.

That’s fine if you have no real agenda or purpose with concerns to the direction and internal structure of the Canadian auto collision industry. Listen to any industry discussion or read an article you might start to realize the issues are many and the solutions exist in denial.

It is this denial what I’m looking for genuine, real and no holds bard industry forum discussions on. Where the discussion headlines have some general over tones but lead into more formable industry dialog. You might say triple xxx rated dissuasions because the content will be so humbling, it will forgo industry commerce barriers.

It might have been naive of me to think just because I signed up as a member on an online industry forum that the replies to my post would have a little more internal substance that affects techs and other industry participants. It goes to show that the concerns and daily lives of techs are not the true concerns of the industry in less it relates to cash flow. This in part is one of the reasons why I’ve been unable to garner any kind of substance response to my posts on commercially run avenues.

Insurance, repairers, suppliers all have separate mission agendas and representation but are part of one industry; the same industry techs are committing to daily. I believe that the time has come to showcase collision techs creative abilities as well as their challenges they face in a changing society.

I’ve decided to create a forum http://dontek.forumer.com that’s structured around techs and their professional world. The purpose of this forum is to empower techs to build a more unified auto collision industry. A forum created by a tech for techs.

I welcome all participants and browsers interested in the concerns, issues and well fare of the auto collision industry to visit http://dontek.forumer.com and have your say... good, bad or ugly.

CCIF Mississauga

I received an email from the www.ccif.net they will be having their next industry meeting in Mississauga, Ontario

Canadian Collision Industry Forum
Delta Meadowvale Hotel, Mississauga
Saturday, June 21

If you haven’t yet signed up for CCIF Mississauga, please register now. You can’t afford to miss CCIF if you want to keep informed about industry issues that affect you, your customers and suppliers.

It’s a day of presentations from industry experts and professional presenters who will share their wisdom, entertain you and motivate you to grow yourself and your business. Yes, lots of presentations and lots of breaks, too – time to talk with others facing the same issues as you, supplier managers and representatives, insurance company executives and all those people you can never reach on the phone.

All this, plus breakfast, coffee breaks, lunch and reception for such a low admission fee, thanks to CCIF’s many sponsors who subsidize your cost of being there.

So don’t delay, register now with the attached form or on-line at www.ccif.net for CCIF Mississauga and join for “Leading Your Team to Success”.

You’ve got to be there to profit from it.

Mike Bryan

Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF)
128 Cranberry Lane Aurora, ON L4G 5Z3
Tel: 905 726 9027
Fax: 905 726 9038
Skype: mikeb1281
www.ccif.net

I attended my first CCIF meeting in February and I suggest if you have never attended one, go it will be a very interesting experience. The majority of the meeting I attended was about repairer’s challenges and industry issues; in my view techs concerns had no part in their meeting agenda and with all the problems facing the auto collision industry - attracting and retaining techs should be one of their main focuses.

As a tech if you do intend to go to a CCIF meeting feel free to contact me by Phone @ 416 788-1920 or email don@travelpapers.com.

Thoughts Re: 1

In reply to Jimmo from www.refinishnetwork.info forum, I agree that there is a communication breakdown between insurers and repairers concerning labour rates as wells a slue of other issues. Insurers and repairers turf battles have been going on for years, it’s like “if I don’t get you, you will get me”. The battles and the pointing of fingers has been documented and overly stated (it’s a distraction) I read this article today - Fed Up – Excuse me, but your foot is on my neck by Tom Bissonnette in the Collision Repair magazine online site. http://issuu.com/mediamatters/docs/crm722v2?mode=embed&documentId=080516191433-aea16e5c00344530a98a4ed5b9403945&pageNumber=15&layout=grey

You’re not the first person that has mentioned to me the lack of unity when it comes to repairs standing together to confront the big bad insurance wolf. If it is not two shops trying to under cut the competition it would be one shop, if its not one it would be a banner network, if not them it’s a DRP, if not them it’s an independent. Do you see what is going on here?

Insurance companies no, ENTERPRISES are very wealthy, smart and register to the art of “divide and conquer”. Actually insurers don’t care about the internal fighting in the auto collision industry, they see it more as a joke. They are able to see our industry from the out side looking in and manipulate it with an estimate here and there. And, what the big joke is we fall for it.

Insurance companies are not the problem with the auto collision industry’s issues nor, are the door rates they pay out. Insurance companies have adapted better and created a beneficial advantage in a fractional auto collision infrastructure that lacks foresight.

We as participants in the auto collision industry allow insurers to feel like they are powerful and control the industry. We continually reinforce this thought by complaining about their actions and its effect on present and future industry directions. This complaining, justifying or laying blame is insurers’ barometer to the impact of their control…if we are complaining they must be profiting.

Okay, insurers don’t control the industry consumers do!

They is no use in complaining, pointing fingers or trying to change insures profitable stance unless what you have to say to them is compelling and can change the auto collision industry’s landscape as we know it. I believe, we need to look at the industry from a different angle to create new solutions. Dontek Proposal Manuel (DPM) is that solution looking at the industry from an angle of implementing human resource procedures.

Support Dontek Proposal Manual as a start to positive change in the auto collision industry by visiting www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html

After visiting www.tektalk.net/d_p_m_overview.html post your comments on either one of these locations.

http://dontek.tektalk.net
http://www.refinishnetwork.info/index.php/Articles/892-ReThoughts.html#892
http://collisionrepairmag.com/forums/760.html#497

Thoughts

I know how important it is to voice my opinion and take action if I’m not satisfied or would like to improve a situation. I learned the hard way a long time ago how true an old saying is “a promise is a comfort to a fool”. I could wait for someone or association to step up and echo my concerns with the Auto collision industry lack of direction or resolve …however that has not happened since the twenty plus years I’ve been working in the industry.

Being a person of strong conviction I decide at the beginning of 2008 to launch a simple web site www.tektalk.net that introduces DPM Dontek Proposal Manual and create this blog http://dontek.tektalk.net journaling my daily activities as I drill down into participants’ point of view concerning the auto collision industry.


















As a participant in the auto collision industry, what are you doing or your thoughts on to improve one of the oldest and economically strongest industry’s future direction?

Fact or Fiction

I’ve been dormant to the issues and concerns of the auto collision industry for a few months now and it feels good but, this morning I got this email notification:

A new post has been made to a topic to which you have subscribed on the
Collision Repair Magazine Forum Forum
Subject: 'cnowedxd'  in Forum:  'Industry Issues'
Posted by: cnowedxd

It stirs up all kinds of emotions and unfulfilled commitments so,
I follow the link, registered as user because that’s the only way I could post on
Refinshnetwork.info this site.

I posed this question to my self a few months ago, is the auto collision industry operating in fact or fiction? My conclusion was fiction – I came up with my conclusion not just from listening to insiders tell me their opinions or stories but from actual talking with industry lobbyists, associations, government representatives, universities, Insurance companies, repairers, suppliers, technicians, magazines and yes… consumers. In ward fitting, lack of direction and problem resolutions, confronting change and the inability to foster universal support are particles of a fictional industry. With all this going on in the auto collision industry its no wonder forums, magazines and articles are lacking real substance and support that it should be receiving - actually its called “PARANOIA”

The best way to live or work in a fictional auto collision environment is to remain ignorant to the facts. The good thing for me is I’ve been able to take a few months off, away from the auto collision industry to reestablish my thoughts and direction. The bad thing is, how am I going to come back and function in an industry that I’ve had so much insight in, care for and then listen to participants trying to enroll me in their corporate mission if I feel it lacks integrity?

I'm hopping that the next conversations I have with participants in the auto collision industry has a direction of unification and empowerment!

On The Sideline

My integrity behind spending time on push for a unified auto collision industry has be lackluster. The numerous conversations I’ve had with industry participants such as repair owners, techs, insurance and suppliers is draining my positive energy- leaving me in a state of bewilderness asking the question. Why doesn’t the auto collision industry see that real and powerful change can only come through addressing the human resource issues affecting techs? Any thing shore of creating solutions that strengthen techs environmental work conditions is exterior comforting. Being a forward thinker a visionary of some sort with an eye on creating a brighter future. I only see the same of the same for the Canadian auto collision industry in a drastic changing society.

I’ve decide not to take on the human resource issue or push Dontek Proposal Manual (DPM) even through they would change the direction of the auto collision industry for the good. What I’m going to do is focus my efforts on developing Travelpapers.com and seeing that it becomes a value to its market. This in it self is a challenge however I have full creative control of a company that has an incredible concept hook that positioned in multibillion dollar travel and hospitality industry.

Back from L.A.

I’m back from my Los Angeles vacation and WFG (World Financial Group) business convention. The weather was a good change of pace with an average of 25 degrees each day. Being an active client of WFG I was extended the opportunity to go to Los Angeles and listen in on internal corporate visions, future product launches, meet and mingle with global representatives focused on pushing their business dreams forward.

I also had the privilege of being in the presence of some of the most inspirational personalities the world has to offer like the likes of,

Cal Ripken Jr speaking on “Get In The Game – Why the Right Values Make the Difference”

Mary Lou Retton talking about “Ode to Joy – How to Enjoy a More Peaceful, Prosperous and satisfying Life”

Chris Gardner touch on “The Pursuit of happyness – Perseverance and a belief in what is possible”

Zach Johnson had words about “A Champion’s Mindset – How I Won The Masters”

Tom Mathews deliberated on “The Great Wealth Transfer – The Biggest Economic Story of our Times”

There was a slue of insurance, finance, wealth and other speakers - Inspiration, team building, focus and dedication were the basic theme of the WFG conference dubbed “The Convention of Champions”. A special Thank you should be sent out to Daniel Akong and Bonnie Chan for extending me the opportunity to attend the convention as part of their WFG team group.

A small note: In my view on WFG financial concept and direction - WFG has created a solid foundation in a changing financial global industry, emerging as one of the worlds wealth-building trendsetters that are making a significant difference in middle class families live. I find that WFG and participation partners recognize their vision and embrace their mission of “Leaving no Family Behind”.

You might be thinking what does this have to do with the auto collision industry, directly nothing, indirectly everything. There is a lot you can learn from other industries, business models and successful minds that’s making a positive impact in the world and people around them.

I was totally inspired and moved by the emphasis that was directed towards establishing a clear vision that has structure and can be worked through team unity. Like the auto collision industry, the financial industry is going through turmoil and internal changes of restructuring. New Enterprises with mission critical concepts that extend out side of their internal goals to harmonize and embrace all industry participants through unification has a greater chance of seeing their vision openly adopted.

Being a dreamer all my life and not having my dreams dissolve the way I would prefer has aloud me the opportunity to see what is truly possible in my life and the industry I represent. The question is how important is it to the auto collision industry that we work in that we are inspired not only for work, but also for life in it self?

Los Angeles

I had a very interesting conversation with one of the parents at my daughter’s soccer practice; I’m not saying it’s the first conversation of such for me, but this conversation made me weigh into the conscious reality of my economical future situation as a tech in the auto collision industry. At the same time I also realized that my economical perspective is not isolated - it’s actually shared by many of people in different professions, trades and careers I’ve spoken with.

As I was engaged in the conversation listening, I herd a repetitive statement “I’m living from pay cheque to pay cheque” is this the reality in today’s economy? I think so, especially for those people who are responsible for balancing family, mortgage and car payments.

I have been watching the American presidential race and the their economical woes on CNN closely for the last couple of weeks, “making for great reality T.V.” The conclusion I have drawn on is “the American people of today and tomorrow are saying” “we need a fresh, new direction that utilizes our strengths in a changing global society.”

Has it been a coincident that I’ve acknowledged the conversation with the soccer parent and my sudden interest in American’s social and economical discord? No.

I realized a long time ago it doesn’t matter how hard you work, without strengthening future possibilities you can fall instant victim to internal and external economical change.

This is why; there are two important economical responsibilities for me to focus on. The first is, to have a strong and unified Canadian auto collision industry and the second is connected to associating my self with collective industry trendsetters.

The beginning of March –2008 I will be spending one week in Los Angeles, California at a WFG conference – an up and coming wealth building enterprise that’s making esteem headway in the new financial economy.

I will be taking time out and visiting local area businesses (auto collision and travel) of direct interest to me – you see I look at it like this…the auto collision industry is where I’m at right now and the travel industry is where I will be in the future. When I’m conducting business and research in the travel industry I see a lot of similarities to the auto collision industry’s infrastructure layout.

I will go into this more in a future blogs and this might be a good question for those that are familiar with the auto collision industry procedures. Do you see any industry that has a local infrastructure demand that spans globally like the collision industry?

Obsticles

Its times like this where I feel like shouting from the top of my lounges for joy. I decide around the time of my last blog on Feb 14 2008 to make changes to my blog URL address so it would showcase my blog and web site profile at the same time.

When I signed up for Blogger.com free blog service I didn’t know how profoundly blogging resources or even the community of blogging would impact me on providing my mission for a “unified auto collision industry” exposure.

The information my web service provider Sitebuildit.com and the provider of my CNAME blog blogger.com gave me seem so simple and straightforward that even a novice of internet technology like me could make changes to a URL and blend two separate services provider together with ease. Things are not all ways, as they seem, it was a pain and gut wrenching experience – even now thinking about the last few weeks of tying to get dontek.blogspot.com redirected and renamed dontek.tektalk.net was overwhelming.

I recognized at the onset of the process it wasn’t going to be a walk-in-the-park from the information I received and both service providers posted on their web sites in order to perform this “simple task” (from their point of view when relaying technical information).

So, I made up my mind with a realistic and achievable goal in hand. No matter what obstacle or issues I had to endure and assistance I required, I know my goal was possible.

The feeling of accomplishing something you set out to accomplish and being able to over come big or small obstacles to accomplish that thing (of positive meaning to community and you) is always a feeling of self-satisfaction, because you know from this point on fruitful growth is possible.

I guess there could be a negative spin on accomplishing something and being able to over come big or small obstacles, if that thing happens to be of selfish gains and no meaning to community. In this case there is always a diminishing feeling and an uphill battle of justification.

In the assessment to this whole task of redirecting my blog URL and the comparison I’ve made in relationship to my mission on creating a “unified auto collision industry”.

Working with two services parties that have separate polices and procedures (in the case of the auto collision industry lots of parties) to achieve a common goal is attainable –but the question is…is the auto collision industry ready to establish new goals for the better of the community?

Old Saying

“If you want to know your past life, look into your present condition; if you want to know your future, look into your present action”.

The auto collision industry of old is no different than the one of today, except for society evolutionary changes and advancements in technology.

Even though I’m seeing new initiatives and joint ventures emerging such as the newly PPG Accredited Training Program and the lean collision repair production system by DCR Systems. But, programs such as these can only make a sub par slash if the auto industry continues to ignore the demand for an industry wide human resource program infrastructure.

The hundreds and thousands of dollars that is spent on augmenting the managerial process of repair shops and their equipment flow would be better of allocated towards internal retention of production workers (Techs). The sort and long-term benefits of a thriving and joyous work force strengthens the industry’s total efforts. Initiatives that have true industry value and require the mental and physical presence of techs in order for their initiative to reach full blossom should invest in employment programs that reinforces techs enrollment.

I will continue to say this “we need to address the retention dilemma in the auto collision industry before launching side bar initiatives”.

Internal Unification

As I talked to more industry participants, I started to realize the industry is more fragmented than I had initially imagined. I always new the industry had issues of unification, profile and synergy through out all levels but what I didn’t know was how vulnerable it was.

Now I understand why me being an auto tech talking and taking a stance for my industries direction has created such a hoopla…

What I’m hearing from industry pundits and this is in no direct quote - “Its impossible for a tech to be interested in the well far of its own auto collision industry, Techs don’t have vision, they don’t understand the business challenges we face on a daily basses. All they want to do is create additional issues complain and whine about their circumstance.

Yes, I’m a tech and I understand the industry’s circumstances from a techs point of view, that doesn’t mean I don’t have the capabilities to take myself, “away from the trees to see the whole forest”.

I also understand that we as an auto collision industry have created the majority of our issues. Every industry must adjust and alter their stance in reaction to external forces, it’s their internal unification and structure that determines how powerful an industry can over come issues.

Okay, at this time water born (VOC environmental compliance) will partly captured the attention of the industry for a few years and the premature implementation of accreditation, now” I didn’t say I didn’t like accreditation but, how can you have accreditation without internal unification”?

I’m here as a tech to find solutions to the old issues of integrity, unification and retention for the better of my industry’s direction and most importantly for the industry that I depend on as an income stream.

The question is, “why are you here and how are you willing to stand for (others) as a participant in the auto collision industry?”

Told You

Every participant in the auto collision industry has one or two ideas that they feel is the main issues that is affecting the industry. I’ve decided to compile and gather quotes from magazines, web site, news groups, forums and blogs to capture their thoughts.

Canadian Underwriter.ca
In a period when auto claims frequencies appear to be moving back up from record lows, a lack of licensed technicians in a collision repair facility could mean increased costs for insurance companies. Perry (ABC Consulting) said, “the collision repair industry now has some numbers quantifying the extent of the loss and the industry now has to do something about retention”.

Collision Repair Magazine (Vol 6 No 6)
Not Enough - written by Tom Bissonnette

Technicians need more than recognition

He states “ have your 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 for long”.

BodyShop Professional (December 2007 Issue)

Andew Ross says “ Attracting and retaining has become a clique, most people focus their discussion on attracting young people to the industry, glossing over the difficulty that the industry suffers from in retention”.

“It’s critical to address the difficulty in retaining those young people who made the decision to enter the industry, then left”.


To me the writing is on the wall, the industry is staring to whisper sound words of advise and that is, “its better first to focus on retaining techs than attracting them”.

I have my suggestion on how we could retain techs, thus attract apprentices. Do you have a suggestion?

Tool Time Response

What I’ve decided to do with my blogging is post some of my responses I’ve sent to authors of articles of interest to me concerning the auto collision industry.

My response was to an article written by, Sam Piercey Thursday, 11 October 2007

Titled: Tool Time

Hi Sam, It’s nice to here a person talking and even taking the time out of their busy schedule to write about future techs and their finical plight entering the auto collision industry.

Your comments and before I say what I’m about to say …I’ll let you know I’m a tech that has worked for 25yrs in the collision industry. Okay, your First comment, “offer them (apprentice) a deal”. “Tell the apprentice that you will provide them with basic tools. When they ask what the catch is, whip out a contract that basically says that they will work for you for at least five years. If they serve out their hitch, the tools are theirs to keep.

It’s a good suggestion but there is a lot of litigation concerns that pop up for me and if an apprentice was to ask me on my opinion of this deal I would tell them “ let your boss know you appreciate their offer and you would like to take them up on it but, maybe we can structure the contract differently. For example, we go to a tool suppler such as Mac or Snap On etc and sign a contract with them as you as my co-signer.

This way if the apprentice and repair fall out of contention (the real world) the supplier can settle a fair tool buyout agreement with the apprentice, while the repair takes him self off the contract. This makes it a win, win, win for all parties involved.

Power of the Universe

It’s very interesting to stop and think about the universe, on how it affects you and the way you affect it, by the choices you make and why you make those choices. I might sound confusing but its very interesting.

There are lots of books, CD’s, tapes, and articles out on the market tapping into the power of the universe. We all have some form of limited awareness of this power or energy. We possess an energy field around use that can be felt and recognized by negative and positive energy or good and bad energy. These energy fields can only coexist around each other for a limited time before there is a reaction of some sort.

How real are these energy fields? Well I’ve always had an altered state of mind when my energy field is off kilt. Call it paranoia or intuition, I do now realize something is going to happen or needs to be done when the energy around me is less than powerful.

Couple of years ago a DVD called the SECRET was circulating the globe and I came about it through a friend. I must say it’s very interesting that I happened to come across this DVD because it’s around the same time my interest was starting to peak on universal energy.

I watch the DVD with an open mind and what I got from it was, no matter what you desire out of life by being authentic and channeling your energy towards your desire, dream or passion it will become a reality.

As I was writing this blog I started to search the Internet for content on universal energy and came across this information that mirrored my thoughts.

Connecting with Universal Energy.

This hidden power is available to those who recognize and accept that there is a higher realm of knowing and communication beyond their own physical bodies. The universe is full of this unlimited energy that can be tapped by almost anyone who will make the effort to focus and tune themselves to its subtle vibrations.

These vibrations are not just for the so called 'gifted' persons, but for everyone who makes the effort to learn its secrets. Most all psychic people are that because they recognized the signs of this energy and focused their attention on its workings which is the very thing that is required in order to develop it. If they hadn't focused their attention on it, then they wouldn't be what they are.

Not to say I’m psychic or have psychic powers or anything – but what I am saying is “if you feel the energy around you is off there a good chance it is”.

For instance, going back one week. I had walked out – really more or less forced out of my job one week from last Thursday (January 24, 2008). I don’t think I explained what went down to the point of bringing closer to it. So, I’m going to vent for a minute, I new for a long time the energy at Oaktown - Maingate wasn’t right for me – but I never used it as an excuse not to get along with everyone.

Anyways around 12:000pm that Thursday my manager (Domanic) asked me to come to the office were we met our boss (Tony). They went on to explain they needed two painters at this location and my service as a Prepper would no longer be required but they do have an opening in Richmond Hill that requires a Prepper. To make a long story short, I told my boss by him asking me to work in Richmond Hill lacked integrity considering he never stopped to ask me if I had any experience as a painting.

He then asked me “if that was his fault” I waited then answered yes, because when you needed some light bodywork competed you were impressed to see the extent of my experience so, you could of found out the extent of my paint experience before bringing in a new painter.

He replied by saying “that is the REALITY OF BUSINESS. When he said that I felt very emotional those words is like “the get out of jail card in the game of Monopoly, it allows you to by pass a situation of unduly circumstances or integrity with out feeling guilty”. I replied by saying no, that is your reality of business because you’re the boss and you could of created a different reality.

I went on to say, “It is this, reality of business that is hurting our industry and why kids don’t what to come in it”.

“The reality of business in the auto collision industry needs to be deeply studied. The impact it has had on its participants and its future outlook would make for a good article or blog session”.

I new right there and then my days working for Assured Automotive was finished and my boss new that too, even through he asked me to give it some consideration. I also felt something ells was stopping me from giving the offer in Richmond Hill a go…anyways the energy at work was off so within half hour of realizing my fate I was packing my tools and saying my good byes.

The following week it all came to light, the Tuesday the extension pipe and muffler on my vehicle fell off and on Friday there was a snow storm – both events would of prevented me from going to Richmond Hill to work.

So, I went with my instincts and didn’t continue to operate in a negative environment, escaped a big headache of trekking to work in Richmond Hill and the real up side to the week before was having the free time to plan my vision of a unified auto collision industry.

CCIF Conclusion

1:00 Low VOC Conversion Update Facing Reality and Being Proactive is introduced by Jim Quick (Canadian Paint and Coating Association) starting of the evening talking about The Industries Campaign for a Orderly Conversion.

CPCA-Canadian Paint and Coating Association is the national trade association for the paint and coatings industry - founded in 1913
The council is comprised of the five global paint players

Akzo Nobel, BASF, DuPont, PPG, Sherwin-Williams

The VOC - Volatile Organic Chemicals environment reduction compliance is a big task for industry, fueled by public demand and mandated by government.

1:45 the presentation switched to The Future of DRP, with 5 participants going on the podium two representing the insurance industry and three representing the repairers. The topic of main discussion was Simplifying and Standardizing DRPs.

I got a much better insight on the relationship between repairer and insurer. They appear to have a tentative respect for each other with a very gray area of understanding that they have a mutual incentive (consumers vehicles).

The repairers require more standardization and clarity when it comes to several insurers’ estimate manual guidelines. It makes it a confusing and daunting day-to-day task when repairer must refer to different program guidelines for identical collision situations.

OEM - Original Equipment Manufacture and LKQ – Like Kind Quality Parts

OEM Parts Example

The Economical Insurance Group
When a damaged part is beyond repair original equipment manufactured parts must be used on vehicles within 24 months from the date of purchase.

The Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company
If required, OEM parts must be used on vehicles that are two model years or newer, or if purchased new by the policyholder/claimant, vehicles that are within 24 months of the date of purchase.

Drafted Combined Version
When parts are damaged beyond economical repair and must be replaced, Original Equipment Manufactured (OEM) must be used on vehicles that are within 24 months of the date of manufactured or with less that 40,000km.

It seems to me that repairers need to be litigation lawyers to comprehend the different underwriting styles insurance companies prioritize. Its very simple, insurance companies need to unify and standardize their program guidelines, allowing for a more comprehensive and streamlined collision operation, thus increase overall productivity for all involved.

2:30 they announced a half hour Coffee Break and after the break 3:00 they were supposed to introduce Mark Claypool (Verifacts Automotive), who was presenting Attracting, Training and Retaining the workforce of Tomorrow. This presentation was supposed to be the highlight of my afternoon; it probably was the only reason I was still at the meeting. But nothing, no mention of a cancellation or rearranged agenda, nothing!!!!!

Instead Larry Jefferies (Executive VP of Carstar Automotive Canada) and former chair of CCIF, addressed the remaining hundred plus guest on a very important and dear to him initiative. The WorldSkills Competition that will be held in Calgary, Alberta Canada.

The World is coming to Calgary!

Calgary will host the 40th WorldSkills Competition, marking its second time in Canada (1999, Montreal) and third time only in North America (1981, Atlanta). The Calgary Competition is proposed for September 1st to 14th, 2009, with competition dates scheduled from September 1st to 6th, 2009.

There will be three (3) scheduled competition events coming from the auto collision industry:

· Autobody Repair
· Automobile Technology
· Car Painting

Jefferies feels very passionate about having Ontario represented at all levels of auto repair competition heading towards the WorldSkills and stands firm in seeing this imitative come to light.

I remain very cynical, “it does matter who speaking” when I here “we need or this is a great opportunity to attract apprentices” at the most part kids, students, not yet started out in the real world of working, without first providing them (apprentice) with an industry of destination and cultivation for their future growth is shattering to me.

I believe all participants, tech, repairer, insurance, government and supplier must take responsibility to retain and foster workers (Apprentice and Techs) before inviting them into an industry without internal human resources.

The issue in this auto collision industry (local or global) isn’t the inability to attract new comers; it’s the inability to preserve them…thus creating an unfavorable profile.

If participants in this industry have the capabilities to plan and implement Worldskills, Watrerborn, IBIS and CCIF industry initiatives, then a human resource program is a matter of will and foresight.

In conclusion to my first CCIF and industry Meeting…

Even though the last two weeks as “I have blogged” has been a test of my fortitude, it opened my eyes up to a world of creative and dedicated possibilities. The courage to know I can express a vision of unification throughout my industry and push forth my mission for a human resource program that will take this auto collision industry beyond its charted barriers.

CCIF Meeting P3

11:00 - Just after getting back to our seats from the first morning coffee break – they introduced Michel Guerette (Akzo Noble) to the podium. His topic Process & Innovation (How to recognize change and take advantage of it.)

Teams in Collision Repair
Lets move away from a static working environment that is predictable and implement a team system that rewards growth.

Collision repair is a traditional business:

Body
Prep
Paint
Detail

With traditional compensation

Flat Rate
Commission
Hourly
Salary

and predictable Profits, Hours and Sales.

This is an alternative lets change the Game

Vehicles are built by teams - Ford, Toyota, Mercedes Benz etc. In a team, only those committed to excellent are hired and remain part of the team.

Meaning Of Team

“A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, performance, goal and approach for which they are mutually accountable” by (Katzanbach and Smith)

In Teams individuals don’t work alone

Obstacles to Production Teams

· Misunderstanding
· Fear of change
· Loss of income
· Attitude
· Not a team player

The Success of a Production Team depends on COMMUNICATION!

Synergy
“The working together of two or more parties when the result is greater than the sum of their individual efforts or capabilities”.

The Benefits of a Production Team is: an increase in Productivity, Sales and Profits.

A panel of three repairers… I can’t quite remember the panelist names that went on the podium but I do remember one gentleman by the name of Tom Bissonnette (Per Auto Body –Saskatoon) very flamboyant and cheerful individual from what I could see, he actually sat in front of my row of tables. If I wasn’t so intimidated by being at CCIF I probably would of said hi. Bissonnette has an interesting article – Technicians need more than recognition in the January 2008 Collision Repair Magazine (Issue 6 No. 6). The panelists talked about their experience when implementing production teams into their companies, all three panelists had different experiences but the final result was ideal.

This presentation to the introduction of Production Teams by (Michel Guerette) has got too be the most practicable and workable solution addressing repairs overall business goal (Profit) that I have heard since the twenty five years I have be in the auto collision industry.

The inability for repairs to recognize the fortitude of production teams will come at the cost of their profitability. I have been playing sports all my life and completely understand the philosophy behind a team administration and production repair environment. I also have a strong belief that all collision industry participants should adopt this TEAM philosophy to capture market opportunities not yet ventured.

11:30 Rocco Niglia (The Economical Insurance Group) took the podium speaking about – Leadership…or lack of it in a Multi-Generational Workforce. His presentation touched on the differences between yesterdays and today’s generation. The kids of today are more informative, smarter and multitasking they want things done now not tomorrow and if you can’t address their needs they are not wasting their time and moving on.

In order for repairs to survive in the long run they must forget about how you used to do things back in the day “leave that for dinner conversation or stories for the grandchildren” repairers have to adopt new ways on attracting apprentices and retaining techs.

12:30 the first part of the CCIF meeting is now over and lunch is called. They have set up two rooms for guest to have launch that’s sponsored by “Rockwood Learning Solutions Inc. Before I head of to launch I make my way over to Michel Guerette and commend him on his innovative and insightful requirements for the auto collision industry. We talked for a good 10 minutes very optimistic conversation… before we could conclude our conversation Mike Bryan (CCIF administrator) came over and shook hands with Michel and at that time I introduced my self. I obviously had already made an impression on Mike because he new my name saying… “Oh your Don Bailey”, I let him know “my interest for coming here today was primarily to find out for my self what direction this industry is heading in, listening to other people about what’s going on in the industry is Okay, but there comes a time when you have to take responsibility and interest for your own direction” and come see for your self, he nodded with approval and I left for lunch.


It was a buffet style lunch serving mildly warm lasagna, salad and your choice of coffee or water for refreshments. There were two eating areas one to the right and one to the near left... that’s the one I chose, I made my way over to the closest table to the door. I asked the gentleman at the table if this seat was taken; he gestated no and pulled the chair out for me. A little while after that a lady who used to be a repairer and now is marketing management software in the collision industry came and sat down next to my left. We had a nice lunch conversation on the various styles of production teams repairers can intermix.

After eating my lunch I found my self-wondering around looking for some conversation, so I stopped a very modest gentleman working by and said hi, he asked me if I new him, I said no and introduced my self, he introduced him self as Mike the editor of Collision Repair Magazine. I then said, that’s interesting I just got an email from Darryl

On 1/22/08, Collision Repair Magazine wrote:
Hi Don,

I came across your blog this morning and am impressed with your desire
to help the industry.

Collision Repair magazine is committed to helping as well and I was
wondering if you were interested in writing a column in our magazine
from the Tech's perspective.

Please let me know.

Darryl

www.collisionrepairmag.com





RE: Blog post‏
From: don bailey (travelpapers@hotmail.com)
Sent: January 22, 2008 10:50:53 PM
To: Collision Repair Magazine (publisher@collisionrepairmag.com)
Security scan upon download
Auto Body...doc (25.1 KB)



Hi Darrell, I would be pleased to write a column from my prospective as a tech in the Canadian Auto Collision Industry.

It’s very interesting that you contact me, because I was extended the opportunity in 2005 by Rosanna Armata of Collision Industry Action Group (CIAG) to submit an article to you that I wrote in 2000.

The article “The Auto Body Trend” was written for Lowell Conn of Body Shop magazine at his request but it never got published. My Intension in the coming months was to publish the article and the drama be hide it not getting published on my web site or blog.

I know time has lapsed since I wrote the article, I can certainly say my views of the industry has changed but the industry over all remains the same actually as much as it can after eight years.

The fact that you have contacted me tells me the universe has spoken so now I’m allowing you the opportunity to publish the article first.

Now keep in mind that Lowell Conn asked me to write this article and he could not get it published due to the fact “ the article was not in line with their advertisers”.

I believe the article can seem a little edgy… however it is, what it is.

Find article attached

Sincerely,

Don


I replied to his email and I’m waiting to here from him…is he here today because I’ve never met him. As we were talking about Darryl, he turns the corner and pops up in front of us (the universe of probability) so Mike introduces him to me. Darryl was in rush so we didn’t have enough time to really talk but he let me know we should keep in contact.

Mike and I continued our conversation, he gives me his business card and he talks about Bodyworx a new magazine that will be coming out soon for them, its hush hush but from what he did say it sounded very tomorrow. The bell chimes and its time to start the second half of the CCIF meeting.

CCIF Meeting P2

The main meeting room was divided into four large sections – I would say each section held one hundred people and they were all just about full. I found a seat in the far left section close to the front – sitting to my left were two PPG representatives and to my right an insurance executive.

Note: The time each floor presenter took on the podium is documented only to the best of my recollection.

8:30- Tony Canade (Assured Automotive) is the newly appointed President of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF) taking over from Larry Jefferies (Carstar). Canade delivered the opening message with ease, confidence and professionalism considering it was his first time at the helm. His message was one of fully understanding of the changing environment affecting the Canadian auto collision industry, along with internal challenges to streamline business procedures.

Canade talks about techs… acknowledging “he has a lot of respect for them and has never tried to pretend too know how to fix cars him self.

9:00- the floor was turned over to Mike Bryan administrator of CCIF. He provided a broader picture to the issues and trends facing the collision industry, covering the concept of accreditation, water born regulations, insurance streamlining and the demand for qualified techs.

9:40- Jay Perry (ABC Consulting) took the floor covering National Accreditation and The 2008 Technician’s Survey though a power point presentation.

National Accreditation – (For the industry by the industry.) The question you might be asking your self is, what is accreditation? From CCIF Presentation -

Canada’s Standard for Professional Collision Repair
The Industry has a desire for a level playing field,

You may click the link National Accreditation above to obtain the CCIF concept direction in this matter of interest.

I have also provided the link for the wikipedia.org meaning of accreditation.

Perry then goes on to talk about The Toronto January 2008 Technician’s Survey
The actual numbers of repairers that received the survey and responded back was not provide, however the feed back percentage of 4.5% was provided. This respondent number was considered a success.



Respondents to survey: 50% Independent, 17% Franchise or Banner & 20% Dealership

Of these repairers 15% of techs surveyed offered comments.

This survey offered some very interesting insight into the views of what techs and repairs on average are considering important opposed to what the industry perceives as important. I will defiantly have to take an in-depth look and blog about some of the survey question responses.

10:10 – Greg Horn (Mitchell International) made his presentation, “The 5 Key Trends that will Change the Industry”. Horn provide a concerning overview of the reality that will effect the collision industry’s production rate.

Impact Factors:

In 2000 there was just fewer than 17,500,000 cars on the road and the injury collision count was around 225,000. In 2006 the number of vehicles on the road went up to 19,700,000 and the injury collision rate dropped to 210,000. This simply means more cars fewer accidents.

Transport Canada continues to make progress with Road Safety Vision 2010
Canadian insurers will see a Cdn$1-billion drop in net income between 2007 results from 2006
Insurance carriers are increasingly focusing on customer satisfaction to adjust to revenue losses.

Net Promoter Score, are being adopted by carriers to determine the best avenue to become more efficient and satisfy their customers.
Subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters derives the NPS
NPS = % Promoters -% of Detractors Technology trends that will affect the collision industry

Electronic Stability Control
Telematics
Driver alertness technology
Advanced ‘no key’ technology
Pursuit avoidance technology
External Airbags

Waterborne Paints

The adoption of waterborne paints has been called the biggest technology change to this industry since the uni-body vehicle.
Waterborne - advantages over solvent-based materials:

- Do not require thinners, hardeners or other additives.
- Less material same coverage as solvent-based materials
- Reduce in cost clean-up

Waterborne – disadvantages - the 3 T’s- Time, Tools, Training

- Increased drying time required
- Investments of heating and curing equipment Training because the viscosity of the materials will differ, therefore yielding new application techniqueClick here to access the full: The Five Key Trends that will Change the Industry Presentation

10:45 Coffee Break

I’m feeling a little bit more relaxed but I don’t really feel like getting up and getting a coffee…there’s a lot of mingling going on it seams to me everyone knows each other. I decide to make my way over to the coffee area while I over there I saw some familiar faces of repair owners, managers I’ve worked for, they seam to be keeping their distance and I’m not going over to them and say hi. I started to think, “maybe its just me creating this uncomfortable environment for my self”.

I did have an interesting conversation with a small parts supplier, whom I recognized from previous companies I’ve worked for. We had some small talk, and then I asked him “where dose he see his company now in this new emerging corporate based collision industry?”

Before he could give me his answer Tony Canade (Chair of the CCIF meeting) walked by and shook the small suppliers hand. During that time Canade didn’t look towards me to acknowledge my presents. “I’m not saying he has too, but it’s the polite thing to do. Its not like Canade doesn’t know me because we shook hands at Christmas”.

Anyways back to my question…He didn’t have a pacific answer but he did realize that the big companies such as Cross Canada and Key Stone are rapidly controlling a lager percentages of the after market parts industry.

My reply to him was he should take this time, as an opportunity to utilize his knowledge and experience is an asset in the aftermarket industry and carve out a niche that has not been considered. I then went on and talked to him about an Auto Recycling concept that I had that allowed repairers to leverage their existing resources and generate additional revenue. At that time a bell is chimed identifying the break is over and everyone starts heading back into the meeting room.

To be continued

CCIF Meeting P1

Just got back from the CCIF meeting in Toronto. I don’t know how I could feel so out of place especially when this meeting is for industry participants and that is what I have been for twenty-five years. Even before I got to the meeting I didn’t feel like I was welcomed…”somewhat like I was invading a secrete temple”. I usually feel that way if I’m being inauthentic or there is an inauthentic situation happening around me.

It would be very nice to have an industry meeting just like this on the production end of the industry or for techs, then there’s a good chance I wouldn’t feel so out of place.

Either way I new I was only going to the meeting for the best interest of the industry like everyone else so, in order not to cause any uncomfortable moments with the brass of our industry I decide to act like a fly on the wall while in attendance. As I was walking up to the front door of the Marriott Hotel my eyes caught my former boss, standing adjacent to the door. We acknowledged each other with a nod of our heads and I proceeded to obtain my badge for the day.

Except for the sponsors all other badges had their name on it along with their affiliated company, mine said Oaktown causing some confusion all day for attendance and me considering I was no longer with Oaktown as of Thursday. “Only I and the former new that and what was I supposed to say? I felt pressure to quit. No, I said nothing all day.

I have a full day tomorrow obtaining my level 2 Ontario Soccer Community Coaching Certificate. Therefore it might take me a few days to blog all the information I found to be interesting at the CCIF meeting.