AkzoNobel confirms constructive discussions with Axalta

In response to market speculation, AkzoNobel confirms today it is currently in constructive discussions regarding a merger of the AkzoNobel Paints & Coatings business with Axalta.

This will create a leading global paints & coatings company through a merger of equals.

AkzoNobel confirms that its separation of Specialty Chemicals, including the return of the vast majority of net proceeds to shareholders, remains on track for April 2018 and is unaffected by these discussions.

Glasurit EDUCATE students

Continuing to prove its success as a world class provider of refinishing training, the Glasurit EDUCATE program recently had three of its apprentices receive gold, silver and bronze medals for the car painting challenge at the Sydney West Regional WorldSkills competition held last month.

Maxine from Gemini Campbelltown won gold the car painting challenge and will now go on to compete at the National final in Sydney at the new International Convention Centre in June 2018.

Coming a close second with a silver medal was Callum from Fix Auto in Wollongong and Elizabeth from RPM Peakhurst was awarded a bronze medal.

In the car painting challenge, competitors matched the colour, shade and texture of adjoining panels and applied the correct colour formulation. Under timed conditions vehicles must be refinished to a high standard as the apprentices had to complete a complex design on a panel to exact measurements, using water based paint and HVLP spray painting technology as well as a colour match,” explained Carl Tinsley Teacher, Autobody Repair & Surface Coatings at TAFE NSW.

This panel then had to be de-nibbed, buffed have a decal applied in a specific location on the panel then presented to the judges for marking. All three students train at Glasurit’s World Class Refinish Competency Centre in Wetherill Park and said the hands-on training has been invaluable to fast tracking their skills. “We are incredibly proud to have three of our students recognised for their exceptional skills,” said James Green, Glasurit Trainer at BASF. “It also sends a powerful message to have two very dedicated and passionate young women competing and this sets a great example for people coming into our industry,” he added.

Glasurit was an official sponsor of the 44th WorldSkills, which took place in Abu Dhabi earlier this month and brought some of the best apprentices, students and young professionals from all over the world together to compete. WorldSkills operates at regional, national and international levels. The National Championship is Australia’s biggest vocational education and excellence competition.

Through international cooperation and development between industry, government, business and institution, they promote the benefits of, and need for, skilled professionals. WorldSkills shows how important skills education and training is for youth, industry and society by challenging young professionals around the world to become the best in the skill of their choice.

Earlier this year Glasurit launched a tailor-made training program that uses a customised and flexible training approach to educate body shop workers in using the comprehensive Glasurit portfolio of paint systems for refinishing vehicles. Glasurit also works with local training institutions to develop and implement customised training programs under the Glasurit EDUCATE banner.

WorldSkills – one of our best kept secrets

[column width=”50″ first=”true”] [/column] [column width=”50″ last=”true”] At the international level, WorldSkills is a skills power-hub and information resource library where educators, policy-makers, industry and other organizations redefine the value and improve the attractiveness of skills. At a national level, WorldSkills Australia is a social enterprise that passionately believes skills drive the future of young people and the future of Australia.  [/column]

Whichever way you define it, WorldSkills has just got to be one of the country’s best kept secrets, and the National Collision Repairer is proud to continue our long-standing support to benefit the industry and contribute to enhancing the appeal of a trade vocation to our younger generation.

Dusti-Lee Franchi represented Australia the WorldSkills international event in Abu Dhabi in the four-day Car Painting category, competing with 27 of the world’s top young spray painters. The intensity and complexity of the challenge was that it covered the following modules: Touch-up/spot repairs, Vehicle masking, Plastic repairs, New OEM panel primer/colour application, Colour matching, Detailed design layouts, Buffing/polishing and Decal/transfer application.

The competition was intense, and Dusti-Lee received a Medallion of Excellence, which is awarded to the top percentile of the competitors – this was a great result for her, in a very competitive field, especially when we consider that some of the competing countries take their technicians into full time “WorldSkills Camps” many months ahead of the event. Dusti-Lee trained extremely hard with the support of her employer, local TAFE-WA trainers, BASF training staff and TAFE-NSW trainers.

Her mentor throughout the process was Brad Franklin, Technical Trainer for Valspar Automotive and former recipient of a Medallion of Excellence at WorldSkills in Switzerland in 2002. Franklin is now WorldSkills Australia’s Expert in Car Painting and WorldSkills International’s Deputy Chief Expert in Car Painting. With the support of Valspar Automotive, Franklin could volunteer his time to make it all happen.

“Dusti-Lee made a huge commitment to the challenge in Abu Dhabi following the Global Skills event held in Newcastle in July. She moved from Perth to Sydney to focus full time on this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ event. She can be very proud of her efforts,” said Franklin.

Dusti-Lee Franchi was recognised as a Future Leader of the Industry in the February 2017 issue of the National Collision Repairer following her win in the WorldSkills Australia National Championships. To go on and represent our country (and be awarded a medallion of Excellence) is a such a tremendous achievement.

Well done, Dusti-Lee – you have made us all proud!

Axalta debuts Cromax EZ on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last NASCAR Cup Series race car at the 2017 SEMA show

Axalta Coating Systems will debut Cromax® EZ, its latest waterborne offering for the refinish market, on Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last NASCAR® Cup Series race car during the 2017 SEMA Show.

Earnhardt will drive the Cromax EZ-painted No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS for his final start as a full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver at Homestead-Miami Speedway on 19th November 2017.

Cromax EZ is a water-borne basecoat system that delivers exceptional results, has superior colour match capability and outstanding cycle time. Designed for body shops that want to make a seamless transition from a solvent-borne application process to a water-borne system, EZ is exceptionally easy to use and requires minimal training. Cromax EZ also features a simple mixing procedure that requires just a single reducer and mix ratio across all formula types and environmental conditions. Simply put, Cromax EZ is easy to mix, easy to match, and easy to apply.

“We are thrilled to debut Cromax EZ on the No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet SS for Dale’s final race as a full-time driver in the Cup Series,” said Mike Carr, Axalta President, Americas. “The red and black paint scheme is iconic. Cromax EZ did the scheme justice on what is a very special race car for a very historic moment in motorsports.”

Visitors to the 2017 SEMA Show can see the race car on display in Axalta’s indoor booth #22391. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will appear at the booth from 1:00-3:00 p.m. on Thursday, 2 November to share his thoughts on his career and upcoming final start as a full-time Cup Series driver.

For more information about Axalta’s schedule of events for the 2017 SEMA Show, please visit www.axalta.us/sema2017.

Creating wealth with Capricorn

Australasia’s largest automotive cooperative, Capricorn, is 100% owned by its Members. Therefore, it makes perfect sense that Capricorn Members, who are also the company’s Shareholders, are also able to create wealth from the cooperative’s business success across Australia and New Zealand.

Capricorn is all about helping its Members to run and grow their businesses, while also creating wealth for them over the long term.

Trade account business loyalty is the key to creating additional long-term wealth with Capricorn. Once a Capricorn Member has qualified to purchase shares, the Member is invited to directly benefit from the success of the cooperative. This is done by purchasing Capricorn shares. The amount of Capricorn shares that can be acquired is largely dependent on the amount spent using a Member’s Capricorn Trade Account. The annual Capricorn Wealth Certificate clearly shows that you don’t have to operate a huge business to gain significant annual financial benefit from your shareholding’s dividend payments as built over time.

The Capricorn Wealth Certificate outlines each Member’s shareholding, dividend paid, reward points earnt, spent and the Member’s points balance, over a set period. Capricorn paid on average $2m monthly to Members in reward points alone during the last financial year. There are countless stories of Capricorn Members across Australia and New Zealand who are generating a significant retirement nest-egg from their shareholdings. This is wealth that is generated simply by operating their businesses using their Capricorn Trade Account for all their business needs from the vast list of Capricorn Preferred Suppliers. It also includes their spend on those valuable Member benefits like Capricorn Risk Services, Equipment Finance – even booking a trip with Capricorn Travel.

For some Members, the wealth generated through their Capricorn shareholdings is used to pay for annual holidays, while for others, the shareholdings are kept in accumulation for retirement. By constantly using their Capricorn Trade Account for business purchases, along with the normal generous accrual of 1.5 reward points per dollar spent on eligible purchases, Members can benefit financially from how they do business.

Capricorn Members such as Klaus Hornberger, proprietor of Eurogerm Car Repairs in Bayswater, Victoria is delighted with his investment in Capricorn. “I started with 500 shares some twenty years ago and have grown my shareholding significantly since then. We have no other investments that return such strong dividends. I am very happy with the investment that I have made and the financial returns that have been generated from my Capricorn shareholding. Capricorn have made it so incredibly easy to do business with them as well,” Mr Hornberger stated.

According to Capricorn Group CEO, Greg Wall, “Capricorn Members are at the centre of everything we do, and we are certainly proud of the financial benefits that have been delivered to Members through our Reward Point Program and Dividend Program. Capricorn is all about making it just easier for our Members to run and grow their business. The financial returns from making the decision to be part of Capricorn makes the decision to join just easier as well”.

To find out more about Capricorn visit www.capricorn.coop or to join Capricorn, Australasia’s largest automotive and general products buying group, email join@capricorn.coop.

NCR Ken Beresford and Duncan Bell

Katherine Towing

The Northern Territory is well-known as a destination full of surprises. On a recent visit, Joe McFadries found this to be very much the case.

Who Pays? OEM procedures still not being consulted every time.

[column width=”40″ first=”true”]

[/column] [column width=”60″ last=”true”] CRASH Network and Collision Advice reported that a larger proportion of the 494 respondents reported checking OEM instructions at least ‘some of the time’ than in 2016. The percentage of shops who looked up OEM repair procedures ‘most of the time’ or ‘always’ grew from 48.2 percent to 48.8 percent, well up on the 2015 figure of 42.7 percent. “However, at the end of the day, this should still be done 100 percent of the time,” Collision Advice CEO Mike Anderson wrote in the report, released in October as the latest ‘Who Pays for What?’ survey began. [/column]

 

It’ll be interesting to see if the July 2018 ‘Who Pays?’ survey records a greater use of OEM repair procedures in light of the $31.5 million verdict against a shop, who the jury found exacerbated the injury to a couple in a fiery collision by deviating from Honda’s instructions on repairing their 2010 Fit. The announcement of the lawsuit came in late July, presumably after some of the ‘Who Pays?’ participants had already given their responses. The verdict was handed down on 2nd October.

The study does seem to indicate shops shifting into categories where they’re at least accessing repair procedures more frequently. For example, more shops reported checking instructions ‘most’ or ‘some of the time’ than in 2016, while the percentages reviewing them ‘only occasionally’ or ‘never’ both fell. Unfortunately, the number of shops checking them on every repair fell 0.3 percentage points. “Some shops think if they fix the same type of vehicle frequently, they don’t need to check those procedures every single time,” Anderson wrote. “Earlier this year, when you replaced a quarter-panel on a Ford Mustang, the procedure required replacing the roof as well. Today, Ford has a sectioning procedure, so it’s important to research it every time because things change,” he added. On a 2009 Toyota Corolla, two years ago Toyota said if you remove and inspect the airbag in the headliner area, you had to replace it. It was a non-reusable part. Today, Toyota makes the clips for reuse available separately, so you don’t have to replace it. “One vehicle manufacturer last year changed the way to replace their pick-up bedside four times,” he added. You need to research that information every time, and save it on file, so if you ever get audited for whatever reason, you can say, ‘The reason we did this procedure was because this is how the OEM said to do it at that time.’

“It is my opinion, and I feel I can’t say this enough, that it is impossible to write a proper and safe repair plan, or repair a vehicle after a collision, unless you absolutely, 100 percent of the time, research the OEM repair procedures.” The ‘Who Pays?’ survey also shows an interesting increase in the percentage of shops using I-CAR’s Repairability Technical Support (RTS) portal and actual OEM websites to access procedures.

46.6 percent of the 1,057 respondents said they used the I-CAR RTS, which provides links to the actual OEM websites, as well as additional commentary by I-CAR, an increase of nearly 6 percentage points since the 2016 survey. The formal OEM websites saw nearly a 10-point jump from 2016. ALLDATA remained ahead of them both at 68.2 percent, down slightly from the 68.8 posted in 2016.

Shops could select more than one answer, so it’s hard to read too much into the growth and decreases in some of the third-party aggregators. However, the increased use of the I-CAR and actual OEM sites may be welcomed by automakers and others who argue that the third-party repair instruction aggregators can’t keep up with the actual OEM procedure websites.

This article courtesy of John Huetter of Repairer Driven Education (RDE). Check out their website at; http://www.repairerdrivennews.com/ for this and many other informative and educational article on the collision repair industry.

Brian Johnson and the team from Glendale TAFE deliver yet again!

Last week, over 300 industry representatives descended on Glendale as the much-anticipated Hunter TAFE Trade Night kicked off under the guidance of Brian Johnson, Head Teacher Autobody Repair, Protective Coatings and Manufacturing. The TAFE campus was the ideal venue for such an event as the facility is already fitted out with premium equipment from the likes of Lowbake and Car-O-Liner, which is most appropriate given that the theme of the evening was “New Technologies and Trends”.

From the outset, it was clear from the high levels of engagement that people were there to network, share their own latest offerings and find out what everyone else has on offer. The extensive array of displays from 35 organisations was outstanding and suppliers were only too happy to interact with the crowd and show off their latest toys. Anyone who was interested was encouraged to “get their hands dirty” with the many interactive displays.

Active participation was the order of the day and this was embraced whole-heartedly by 3M, AkzoNobel, Autolac, Axalta, BASF, Car-O-Liner, Fix Auto, iBodyshop, I-CAR, Lowbake, Nippon, PPG, Thatcham, Valspar, Wagner and Wurth – to name just a few.

The global coatings companies once again excelled themselves by conducting live demonstrations throughout the evening and the results were nothing short of spectacular. Glendale TAFE now has a collection of freshly painted front guards! There were also live demonstrations covering welding, autobody realignment, polishing, abrasive blasting and even aircraft surface finishing. In addition, there were several educational seminars from I-CAR, Thatcham, iBodyshop and PPG, although it’s fair to say that the networking got the better of the attendees as the seminars could have been better attended.

There was a formal side to the evening with the presentation of several awards to young technicians in auto body repair and refinish. The full story can be found in the upcoming November issue of the National Collision Repairer magazine.

Overall, the evening was a great success, with the last word going to Brian Johnson, who specifically acknowledged Suncorp Insurance for supplying damaged vehicles for use in the training programs. “I am overwhelmed by the support of the industry and continue to be thrilled by the quality of technicians we at Glendale TAFE are turning out,” he said. “It is a credit to my team and the drive and commitment of our students,” he added.

Editor: The National Collision Repairer congratulates Brian Johnson and the team at Glendale TAFE. Once again, they have exceeded all expectations. It is easy to see why Johnson was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Visit Chemspec USA at SEMA – Booth 10677

ChemSpec USA, a global paint and coatings manufacturer of premium automotive coatings is returning to Las Vegas for the SEMA Show between 31st October and 3rd November and you are invited to schedule an appointment or visit at Booth 10677 in the Collision Repair & Refinish section in the North Hall during the show.

This year the company is proud to showcase it’s Metalux® Platinum Clearcoat and Primer. These products, together with ChemSpec USA’s branded refinish range offer improved processes, maximised productivity and deliver world class finishes that exceed customer’s expectations. In addition, ChemSpec USA will also showcase the company’s turn-key manufacturing solutions that allow them to consistently deliver a wide variety of high-quality products.

ChemSpec USA has manufactured a wide array of collision repair products for more than 40 years and is now proud to be part of the Axalta Coating Systems family of brands and is dedicated to growing and strengthening relationships with customers in the USA, Australia, New Zealand and worldwide.

For more information, contact Corey Smith. Tel: (+61) 0419 552 868, email sales@chemspecpaint.com or visit www.chemspecpaint.com.

NCR Autocare 2018 logo

Major collision repair industry support for Autocare 2018

The major Australian automotive aftermarket industry event of 2018, the Autocare Convention, will see significant involvement from the collision repair sector with many of the industry’s major companies committing to take part.

Autocare 2018 will be held on 4th and 5th May, 2018 at the new International Convention Centre (ICC) located at Sydney’s Darling Harbour.

Australia’s pre-eminent provider of industry training programs, I-CAR, has become a Diamond sponsor of Autocare 2018 and will have an integral involvement in this education led industry event along with many more major suppliers to the industry.

I-CAR will be joined by several the collision repair industry’s biggest names, including Lowbake Australia, who will have their portable spray booth in operation, providing live demonstrations of refinishing technology at the venue’s unique outdoor deck display area. A who’s who of the collision repair industry will have trade display areas at Autocare 2018, including 1Q1, Axalta Coating Systems, Bodyline Imports (Autolac), Car-O-Liner Australia, Dent Wizard Tools, DNS Technology, Fix Auto Australia, GPI Automotive Products, Henkel Australia, Kemppi Welding Machines, Nippon Paints, Quotimation, Saint-Gobain Abrasives, Sydney Automotive Paints & Equipment, Thatcham Escribe, Truflow Spray Booths and Valspar Automotive Australia.

Autocare 2018 will feature plenary sessions and seminars across three key streams that are integral to the continued success and growth of the collision repair, automotive parts and service industries. These important events address the theme of Autocare 2018, “Disruption, Innovation and Rejuvenation”, covering the major business factors presently affecting the collision repair and general automotive aftermarket industry.

Several exciting inclusions are being organised to attract thousands of automotive trade professionals to Autocare 2018. These include a special feature car display, along with appearances from key motorsport identities and international VIP guest speakers. Trade display areas at Autocare 2018 present highly visible opportunities to launch and showcase products and to conduct personalised customer training throughout the event. To be a part of this major two-day national convention contact Autocare 2018 Manager, Nina Roberts, on (03) 9596 9205 or nina@iecgroup.com.au.