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