SAPE opens new centre
Sydney Automotive Paints & Equipment (SAPE)has opened an innovation centre in Marrickville which managing director, Ray McMartin, believes is probably the biggest privately owned facility of its kind in the world.
Housed in a high clearance factory building close to the company's Sydney headquarters, the centre is a virtual one stop shop for SAPE's comprehensive range of smash repair capital equipment and consumables.
Under the control of group marketing manager, Peter Feehan, the innovation centre fills several roles.
First, it shows, in one place, everything needed to set up and run a panel shop. All the products have been selected by the company primarily for quality and performance. Many of them are exclusive to SAPE in Australia.
Centre stage is a fully ventilated Saima Gamma baking oven with IR curing arch. It is flanked by a selection of benches from Celette (Rhone and Lynx 2) and Autorobot, welders from Hirane (Japan) and Wieländer+Schill (Germany), a fully operational computer driven measuring system by Celette, hoists, Car System lifts, various tools like the pneumatic door skin tool and the Ajax Autotron inductor. The capital items are supported by a full range of consumables right down to Gojo hand cleaner. SAPE is a distributor for Glasurit refinishing products in Sydney, Brisbane & the Gold Coast.
It would be near impossible for a panel shop owner to visit the centre without remembering something that he needed ? and probably ordering it.
The second role the centre fills is that of a training centre. Suppliers of any SAPE?s products are welcome to conduct training there. Training can take place either at the site of the equipment on the newly painted floor of the warehouse, or SAPE will make available a boardroom upstairs with facilities for powerpoint and whiteboard presentations.
A third use for the centre is in the practical demonstration of equipment ? especially in the premium end of the market where large capital outlays are required. Many panel shops have to rely on brochures and verbal description to make their decision on the likes of a repair bench or an InverterSpot welder. At the innovation centre they can not only see these machines working but can trial operate them.
And there is a fourth use. Although Peter Feehan does not want the centre to become a regular production unit itself, he is happy to offer practical assistance to his customers in times of need.
"Say one of our customers had to measure an alignment," he said, "and for some reason their own system was not available, or needed checking. They could bring the vehicle here and use our facilities. Likewise welding or pulling. We're here to help."
The innovation centre is available every working day ? and evening if need be ? by appointment.
SAPE timed the opening of the innovation centre with the Sydney Auto Trade Fair and introduced several new products at the same time. They are reviewed in Paint & Panel's "Auto Trade Fair hot new products" feature elsewhere in this edition.
:Loan cars profit
A new way of providing loan cars to smash repair customers can actually produce a profit, according to Fleetplan, a Sydney based car leasing company.
The success of the system is based upon the loan car actually being a rental car. In the case of a third party claim, the car would cost the not-at-fault driver nothing, because it would be paid for by the at-fault driver's insurer. But in the case of an at-fault claim, the policy holder would be offered a rented car at $25 a day (for a new Mitsubishi Lancer), plus insurance. Fleetplan has a special arrangement with Mitsubishi to supply cars at a discount price.
The profit to the smash repair shop comes from the difference between the rental charge-out of $25 a day and the cost of the car to the shop at $12 a day. While the shop actually owns the car, all the paperwork is done by Fleetplan which rebates the shop $25 a day for each day the car is rented out. In order for the shop to make it pay, it must rent out the cars in its "virtual fleet". At 15 days rental per month the shop is breaking even and at 30 days it is making a gross profit of $390. That is a possible annual gross profit of around %4700 per car. Ten cars fully rented would gross around $47,000.
The expenses to the shop, which would come off the gross profit, are in cleaning, repairing and mechanically servicing the cars. It must also provide storage for the cars when not rented out.
There is no up-front outlay by the panel shop when going into a virtual fleet partnership with Fleetplan. Each Mitsubishi Lancer costs $22,500 drive away, leased over five years with a 35 per cent residual. Cars which are showing wear and tear can be auctioned and replaced with new cars.
In addition to Mitsubishi Lancers, Fleetplan can provide a Magna at a cost rate of $17 a day which then rents at $34 a day plus insurance.
A possible downside to the system comes if the panel shop has any of its virtual fleet idle for more than 15 days a month. Then the costs outweigh the income, but Fleetplan's sales manager, Gabriel Krimotat says that a shop can begin with a small fleet to make sure it is fully utilised, then add to it at any time. There is an escape hatch for any shop wanting to withdraw from the arrangement. The shop is only committed to the lease of the cars and can pay them out without further penalty.
Although based in Sydney, Fleetplan can service and deliver to panel shops nationally through its arrangement with Mitsubishi.
Krimotat says that a major benefit of the virtual fleet is that it offers repairers another revenue stream for their businesses ? with minimal effort. He believes that it also benefits panel shop customers by providing them with an on-the-spot service.
School for PDR techs A training facility especially for paintless dent repairers has been opened on Queensland's Gold Coast. Called The Identifier System Training Academy it has been set up in response to the call for more skilled and trained paintless dent removal technicians. This increasing demand is not only in Australia but worldwide.
Identifier System head trainer and principle, Michael Lund, has been in the automotive repair industry for over 17 years, 12 of which have been spent in the PDR sector. He has trained with leading American and European technicians who have devised new techniques to repair door dents, shopping trolley dents and hail damaged vehicles. He has also been involved with many successful PDR businesses, including Dent Masters, Pro Dent Repairs, Dents and Dings of Australia and is currently overseeing the continuing success of the national company Dent Wizard Corporation.
Lund's business partner is Fred Watt with whom he formed the Wizard Automotive Systems group encompassing Paint Wizard, Tint Wizard, and Identifier System operating from a fully equipped wholesale and retail workshop. They have ongoing contact with the American and European PDR companies and technicians, thus ensuring the latest knowledge and techniques are passed onto their students and customers.
The Academy charges no franchise fees. It trains students in all facets of paintless dent removal over an intensive four week period.
Watt believes that the PDR sector of the automotive repair industry is one of the most lucrative business opportunities available today.
Prior to setting up the academy format, Identifier System successfully trained students one-on-one. Over the past five years these individual graduates have progressed and established successful paintless dent removal businesses throughout Australia and are now currently servicing motorists, car enthusiasts, car dealerships, car leasing companies, rental car agencies, business fleet owners and automotive auction groups.
Identifier System's prerequisite qualities that go to make a successful PDR technician are: a passion for working with automobiles, good hand-eye co-ordination, excellent vision, patience, and attention to detail.
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:Guide back to green
MW CarGuide has recently undergone some major changes including reverting back to its original name of Green Car Guide. It is a pocket-sized vehicle valuation and identification guide for passenger and light commercial vehicles that has been used by the motor dealer, panel beating, finance, insurance, legal and accounting industries for over thirty years.
The most obvious change to the book is the addition of photographs. Previously, illustrations were used to identify new models and model changes (in addition to text descriptions) but photos will be used instead for all future models.
Models are now being listed alphanumerically as opposed to being in engine size order. Engine capacity is now to be shown in cubic centimetres as well as litres. Also a lot more rare & unusual models are to be added over the next few issues.
Each edition has the original new, current trade and current retail prices and identifications for vehicles dating back over at least the past twenty years.
The guide has been published by a family run business, MW Publishing. since 1971. It is 100 per cent owned, operated and printed in Australia.
The book is also available on CD as ?CarGuide PC?. This relatively new program contains all the elements of the book version including illustrations & photos, but has features that can only be accessed on computer. Features such as the quick-find navigation mean you can find a particular model?s details very quickly, even if you don?t know the make of the car. Another feature, only introduced recently, is the ability to print model details and prices. CarGuide PC is easy to install and is compatible with Windows 95,98,2000 & XP.
Both the book and the CD are published quarterly and supplied as an annual subscription.
Enquiries, Tel: (03) 9360 4637 or email:info@mwpublish.com.au.
De Beers opens colour lab
Auto paint supplier, De Beer, has opened a colour laboratory and demonstration spray booth at its NSW south coast headquarters. The facility will enhance De Beer's reputation for follow-up service to its growing strength in the price sensitive sector of the market.
The laboratory is managed by Ian Reeves, a highly experienced colour technician in the auto paint field. He writes De Beer formulas for Australasian OEM colours as well as being available to match colours sent to him by De Beer customers. His laboratory is equipped with the latest analysing and matching equipment, and its results are continually added to "ICRIS" (Intelligent Car Refinishing Information Service) which is available on-line for panel shops using De Beer refinishing products.
Reeves makes the point that OEM colour master plates are not always as accurate as panels from the vehicle when it comes to exact matching. He also says that around 10 per cent of auto paints are, in fact, transparent, and will look quite different when sprayed over different coloured undercoats. They have to be identified before accurate formulas can be written.
De Beer uses its new spray booth and meeting room to run training courses for beginners to advanced painters. The courses take up to three days and are popular among painters who appreciate a visit to the peaceful south coast to increase their knowledge.
It is not anticipated that the recent takeover of the Dutch De Beer company by the giant American Valspar will change the way De Beer does business in Australia. De Beer is content to grow steadily from its current four per cent share of the available Australian market.
De Beer is sold through 22 main distributors nationally and a number of sub-agents.
:Curry replaces Reddy at VACC
Darren Curry is the new body repair division manager for the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce (VACC. He has taken over from popular and outspoken Jim Reddy who retired in April. Reddy had been heavily involved in his role for what he called "a very turbulent" five years, attending literally hundreds of meetings in Melbourne and country Victoria.
Much of Reddy's work centred on the code of practice for crash repairers, hourly rates and late payments.
"There are so many contentious issues repairers have to contend with," he said at his retirement. "To list them I would need a few pages, not a few lines. I just hope that changes to legislation are not too far off; strategic changes that pave the way for a fairer future for all repairers."
Jim Reddy has been involved in the crash repair industry for five decades, having worked for three major insurers as an assessor and for ten years in own business In his retirement, he will be giving a bit of paternal advice to his son who is running his own crash repair business. Jim extends a big thank you to all those he has been involved with over the past five years while working at VACC and wishes them all well in the future.
His successor, Darren Curry, has a strong background in towing operations. He can be contacted on 03 9829 1147. His assistant is Liz Pelekonis on (03) 9829 1212.
:Flaws in quoting
At a time when smash repairers, as a group, are trying to convince insurers that repair prices are hovering around unsustainably low levels, an exercise conducted in South Australia by paint company PPG has shown some cracks in the repairers' ranks.
As part of its "maximum velocity performance" (MVP) training program for repairers, PPG asked three of its seminar participants to quote on the repair of two cars: a 1990 VN Commodore and a 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer.
"The results were interesting, to say the least," said MVP manager, Robin Taylor. "The average estimate for the first repair was $2035, but the worrying aspect was that the lowest estimate was $1460 and the highest was nearly double that at $2800. The estimates for the second repair were even further apart.
"What this illustrates is that there is an incredible difference in, firstly, how each repairer looks at an individual job and, secondly, how long they think it will actually take their workshop to do the job."
He said that incorrectly pricing jobs has the potential for far reaching consequences. Some repairers are accused of over quoting and being too expensive, however this is often not the case. The fact is that too many repairers actually under-quote which causes an artificial lowering of perceived value. Incorrect estimating drags the whole industry down to unprofitable levels and affects the quality of work.
"To be able to estimate correctly," Taylor said, "it is crucial that repairers know the actual cost per hour of running their business, and their break-even rate. It's clear that some repairers are undercutting that rate without knowing it. That's not only unsustainable for their businesses but, because insurance companies are naturally only too happy to accept lower estimates, it leads to a spiralling down effect as other repairers feel they're forced to follow suit to obtain work."
There is an obvious impasse when repairers want top dollar and insurers want the lowest price. The solution is when both sides achieve reasonable results.
According to Taylor, while some insurance companies seek to control the base price for R & R and paint tasks through the use of time manuals and paint sheets, repairers often don't help their own cause. In addition to undercutting those rates they don't estimate for all allowable items such as booth allowance and mix and match time. Too often repairers don't ask for the "additionals' they're entitled to and are afraid to add a mark-up to parts.
"There is an old myth in the industry that insurance companies don't pay repairers enough," Taylor said, "but the reality is that repairers don't ask ? and don't get. "It's worth remembering that often assessors assess the repairers estimate and not the actual damage. Therefore if the estimate includes items that are reasonable in repairing the vehicle, those items are more likely to be accepted.
"Wherever possible, repairers should be looking to get more on the job by estimating to do everything that's required in the form of R & R repair, paint, parts and miscellaneous items.
"Having said that, the reality for many repairers is that they can be difficult, or even impossible because of competitive pressures they face when quoting. Under those circumstances repairers must focus on their own business by controlling costs and improving efficiencies in both production and administration. Indeed,there is a need for the smash repair industry as a whole to continually focus on improving efficiencies.
"The message for bodyshop owners is clear. Know your running costs and constantly measure performance. Focus on what you can control: your costs and your efficiencies, and ensure that you quote accurately."
:The A.R.T. of service
Automotive Refinish Technology (A.R.T) Wodonga has expanded its mobile service with the introduction of a second purpose-built A.R.T truck.
The 10 tonne truck was built to allow customers to purchase from the full range of supplies available from A.R.T.s distributorship, including stocks of all Glasurit products, Festo tools, abrasives and sundries, DeVilbiss spray guns and equipment, GPI, Sykes and other sundry products. The truck also features permanent static displays of Festo tools, DeVilbiss guns, Glasurit Profi System, GPI & Sykes products, making it a mobile show room as well as a practical delivery service.
?We have been receiving positive feedback from customers, saying it is one of the better set-up trucks? said Chris Francis of the A.R.T Wodonga branch. ?it is especially helpful to customers in regional areas, as orders can be delivered instantly instead of relying on freight.
?We cover country areas from Shepparton & Bendigo, through to Swan Hill, Echuca to Wagga Wagga and across to Dubbo, Orange and Bathurst.?
The Isuzu FFR525 is powered by a 7.8 litre inter-cooled turbo diesel with a custom-made body, ensuring A.R.T is well equipped to provide fast service to its customers who now have the chance to see, touch and feel tool displays, and be more aware of what is available.
This increased service also means the Glasurit product range is available to more of regional Australia, allowing access to a leading paint technology.
: Allianz wins the west
The announcement of a "Claims Charter" by Allianz Insurance has met with the approval of the Motor Trade Association of Western Australia (MTAWA).
MTAWA executive director, Peter Fitzpatrick said: "several of the major insurers are channelling the majority of repair work through a small number of repairers. In this way they are able to control and force down the price of smash repairs. The lowest quote for the repair wins the job and I am concerned that this focus on price will lead repairers to compromise the quality of work they produce.
"Allianz, which is a large multi-national insurer, has managed to produce repair efficiencies without compromising vehicle safety and this has resulted in a win/win/win outcome for the consumer, the repairer and the insurer.
Fitzpatrick congratulated Allianz and said :"Allianz is the only company to have responded to the ACCC's recommendation (detailed in its 20034 issues paper on the relationship between insurers and motor vehicle repairers) and we welcome this initiative."
For some time now the MTA has been concerned that some of the major insurance companies force their policyholders to check accident damaged vehicles into repair centres there the insurer chooses the repairer based on the cost of the quote.
See a full coverage of the Allainz charter on page ?????????
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New from BMS
Web TRIM, the latest version of the leading system from Bodyshop Management Systems (BMS), now includes 3 new report formats for different incentive schemes.
Managing director Rex Hartley says: ?the standard incentive bonus of rewarding an employee for the work he does will remain popular, but team-based schemes have many advantages that suit the structure of some bodyshops.?
Team-based incentives work on the same basic principle: a bonus is paid where the team completes more work than their base. Web TRIM enables the team bonus to be shared between team members in an agreed manner, so apprentices and supervisors can also participate and not compromise the integrity of the incentive.
BMS has found that with the improved profitability bodyshops are now achieving, it is also important to include all key staff in a rewards program. Estimators and supervisors can feel ?left out? when other employees share the good results.
As a consequence, Web TRIM now has built-in bonus schemes for all staff in a bodyshop, from detailers to managers, estimators to customer service officers. BMS aims to provide the mechanism to enable all staff to be motivated to give their best to their job. With many years of experience in bodyshops and incentive schemes, the latest version of web TRIM is both comprehensive and easy to use.
Motivating staff is critical to making business performance and profits. Improving employee performance under-writes an improvement in business performance. Web TRIM now includes an employee bonus graph. This immediately highlights employees are performing and those who are not. At a glance, managers can see weekly results. Of course there are detailed reports that can analyse performance in great depth, but simplicity makes the job easier.
:Surprise savings
Glasurit?s national head trainer, Kevin Cooper, held the close attention of 60 panel shop owners at the end of April when he told them of the substantial savings they could make merely by training their technicians.
Cooper was speaking at the opening of Sydney Automotive Paints and Equipment?s ?Automotive Innovation Centre? in the Sydney Suburb of Marrickville. He mostly trains technicians at the Glasurit facility in Wetherill Park, but SAPE, a NSW Glasurit paint distributor, put him in front of panel shop owners, many of whom must have gone away convinced to invest more time and money in training.
Cooper?s own background is in spray painting and panel shop management in the Uk. Although he now spends a great deal of his time lecturing, he continues to raise his own skill levels in the belief that this is the best way to train others.
Glasurit offers various levels of training, most of which are three day courses at a nominal cost of $88 per student. Glasurit realises that panel shop, especially small ones, already make a sacrifice by losing the production of trainees for three days.
Cooper told the meeting that, within four years, water based paints will take a dominant position in the market. This was because increasing OH&S restrictions on solvent based materials. Therefore painters currently using solvent based paints would need training in water based because of their different behaviour.
Cooper is an advocate of dry sanding. He said that its use can achieve a 32 per cent saving over wet sanding.
With training, a painter can cut his paint usage quite dramatically. A single panel which used to take up to 150 ml of paint can be cut back to 100 ml through improved technique. He said that infra red drying could save up to 70 percent in drying time, and that a fast masking system could save 44 per cent over the conventional system.
Glasurit?s Ratio Colour system, in trained hands, can save the cost the time of using spray-out cards. Glasurit is a supplier of the CPS Colour Profi System. Cooper estimates that it costs about $45 in time and materials to do a spray-out card. The Profi virtually eliminates this.
Glasurit has been a strong supporter of spot repairs, where there is a concentration on the damaged paintwork rather than spray out a whole panel. He told the repairers that they could bring in revenue of $6000 a week on spot repairs ? which would take less than an hour to complete and be charged out at between $100 and $150 per job. Glasurit offers a spot repair kit for $2000 ? but Cooper made it clear that it should only be taken on if the operator was first trained and then experienced through a continuous flow of work. In order to be successful in spot repairs, a shop should be doing eight or nine jobs a day ? and Cooper conceded that only a few shops could get that kind of work ? possibly from a fleet or retail location.
:HiChem High Praise
HiChem, a wholly Australian owned paint manufacturer, has launched its 2K solid and Basecoat system, clears and primers to the Australian market via its large distributor network. Acceptance of this keenly priced system has been indicated no only by sales but by testimonials from its users. The following are from HiChem customers across Australia.
Dave Adler Spray Painting, Gawler, S.A:
?We have had the HiChem two Pack System for 12 months and we initially had a usage rate of around 30 per cent of vehicles going out in HiChem products. With the success of the system, this has made a turnaround to about 70 per cent of completed work finished in HiChem. Our shop was running one of the quality multi-national paint company systems. We still have that system in the shop. We started looking at a cost effective secondary system. After extensive testing we settled on HiChem basecoat and 2K System and ancillaries. We now have a higher per job profit margin using HiChem and we still receive high quality after sales technical service our business requires.
Burpengary Truck Refinishing, Burpengary, QLD:
?I have been using HiChem two Pack and Basecoat along with a multi-national brand for approximately two and a half years and have found the savings on my materials to be 50-60 per cent and the quality and colour accuracy are excellent.?
- SHANE LOCKIE (OWNER)
New Life Bodyworks, QLD:
?We run two systems side by side and find we use 80 per cent HiChem two Pack and Basecoat. We have found the finish and colour accuracy as good as, and sometimes better than, the multi-national we use. The HiChem system has now been used for about two and a half years without any problems.?
Crystal Finish Smash Repairs, VIC:
?We have been using the HiChem two pack and basecoat for over three years now and have found it to be of very good quality, even to the extent that our work ute and my own private car are refinished in HiChem. The quality, colour accuracy and cost of HiChem?s paint, clear, primers and ancillaries have made my business profitable and successful.?
HiChem's purpose-built Melbourne facility houses manufacturing, laboratories, offices and first line warehousing which in turn supports HiChem warehouses and sales offices located in all major cities of Australia. HiChem maintains substantial research and development laboratories. It has achieved international accreditation and is quality assured to AS/NZS ISO 9001.
?Colour Formulation for vehicles world wide is a huge undertaking with some 40,000 different formulations and a large range of variants,? said John Sterpin, head of colour development at HiChem Melbourne.
HiChem has also undertaken a lot of industry research to develop paint systems and procedures to assist the panel shop owner and tradesman to increase productivity and profitability in work processes, such as high speed spot repair next panel blending, accelerated drying systems and lower bake cycle times. These systems use a unique range of products including 1K non-sand primers, high productivity spot repair clear coats, MET and MICA Spot Repair blending products.
The company has also developed a tradesman quality pressure pack range including fade out thinners for 2K clears and solid colours and a 1K spot primer for oven rub-throughs and fry ups.
?We aim to give the refinish industry good quality, cost effective products and procedures to gain increased per job profit margins? said Ivan Moldovan, managing director of HiChem Australia.
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:Farecla family grows
The Farecla Full Line Distributor program is continuing to expand Australia wide with four new exciting additions: two from North Queensland and two from Tasmania. Australian Warehouse Distributors welcome aboard Roly Stones Allpaints from Townsville, Russco Agencies from Cairns, Thomas Parker from Launceston, and Trade Aid Supplies from Hobart. Farecla Full Line Distributors stock the complete range of Farecla products and are able to provide technical support to their customers including what products need to be used for each particular job, demonstration of products and new product releases.
There are over 20 Farecla Full Line Distributors participating in the program at present and more to be added in the near future.
:PPG hosts WorldSkills
Austraila?s 2004 National WorldSkills competition, held from 28th ? 30th May, was set to be a gargantuan event. So big, in fact, that it took the cavernous Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre to hold it.
WorldSkills Australia is an independent, not-for-profit organisation developed to promote the standards and status of vocational training and job skills. It looks to inspire all young Australians to achieve to their full potential via school, regional and, finally, national skill competitions.
Over the three days of competition, a field of around 600 of Australia?s best young trade and skill achievers were invited to compete in over 60 diverse categories, including plumbing, hairdressing, web design, architectural computing, jewellery, heavy vehicle mechanics and restaurant service.
However, when it came to the vehicle painting category, the need for a specialist environment and equipment saw the organisers approach PPG for help. With its state-of-the-art facilities and located just 20 minutes from the main venue, PPG?s Morningside Training Centre was ideal so its services were quickly offered, along with staff and whatever else was required to successfully run the event. When the 11 competitors arrived for the competition the stage was set.
Over three days the competitors were given a total of 22 hours (split into two 10 hour shifts, plus two hours on the third day) to complete three tasks that typified everyday work in a bodyshop. The pressure was on from the start since every move they made was scrutinised by four judges, including PPG Queensland training manager, Mark Haywood and territory manager, John Stack.
One task was designed to test how competitors responded to new technology. They were each required to prepare and wet-on-wet prime a new e-coat guard, before applying a Deltron basecoat. The panel was then deliberately dented creating a ?spot repair? scenario which they repaired using PPG?s revolutionary D8080 UV curing primer and, later, finished off with PPG?s D893 Low VOC single visit clearcoat. All of the tasks were completed using the System One polishing system.
In his role as one of the judges, PPG?s Mark Haywood was there for the entire competition.
?As a PPG trainer in my everyday role it was sometimes difficult to just observe without being able to assist. This was a very intense competition, held over long shifts and under constant scrutiny. In the end the results were very close.?
PPG congratulates Michael Sheppard of Kar Kolour Pty Ltd, Sydney who took out first place and will now represent Australia at WorldSkills International scheduled for Helsinki, Finland in 2005.
:Permatex local heroes
Permatex Australia has recorded the highest annual sales growth for Permatex branches in any country outside of USA for sales year 2003.
Permatex international director of sales and marketing, Greg Mostoller visited Australia to present the Permatex International First Place Trophy to Australian Timken. He said the achievement was an outstanding result.
The international honour comes after just three years of a national sales, marketing and distribution alliance between Australian Timken and Permatex, a world leader in automotive, industrial and maintenance products.
"We have no doubt that Permatex Incorporated chose the right business
partner in Timken, not just in Australia, but also in many other parts of the world," Mostoller said.
Accepting the award, Tony De Haas, market manager automotive parts, said the timing of the announcement could not have been better as April, 2004 was the highest sales month ever recorded in Australia.
Permatex markets and sells leading automotive repair and consumer products under a variety of brand names such as Permatex, Right
Stuff, Fast Orange. Slik Pak, NOS and No Touch.
More recently, Australian Timken, in addition to its traditional bearing business, has signed a similar exclusive national marketing and distribution agreement with the Bardahl range of automotive fuel additives, oil additives and performance improvement products.
A rapidly growing range of Timken Service Parts kits for cars, 4X4s, light commercials and trailers is another line of automotive aftermarket business that represents the new diversified face of Timken in Australia.
:Automechanika spreads in Asia
Messe Frankfurt is offering a special deal to exhibitors in Automechanika, the world?s leading exhibition for the automotive aftermarket and OE sector. The fair now takes place in three cities in Asia: Beijing, Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur.
The fairs offer manufacturers from all over the world access to three dynamic markets, each with unique characteristics and opportunities.
Companies who sign up to participate in Automechanika Asia plus either Automechanika Shanghai or Automechanika China will be eligible for a five per cent discount on exhibition fees for the Asian fair and three per cent discount on the China fair.
SHANGHAI
Automechanika Shanghai is making its debut in December 2004, answering strong demand from the local and international auto industry for an additional marketing platform in China?s commercial centre.
Shanghai is the ?dragon?s head? of the automotive production belt along China's 6,400km Yangtze River. There is good reason to see Shanghai as an important market in its own right, as production and sales in the region are growing faster than the national average. Auto production in Shanghai grew 24 per cent in January to March 2004 to over 158,000 units, second only in volume terms to Jilin province.
Some of the country?s major auto-makers are based in Shanghai, and many are planning big expansion over the next few years. Shanghai-GM announced major development plans in November 2003, while Shanghai-Volkswagen plans to invest six million Euro in China in the next five years.
Rapid growth in both production and sales adds up to strong demand in the OE and aftermarket sector in Shanghai in the near future.
BEIJING
Beijing?s growth in terms of automotive production is rapid and impressive; production grew 78per cent in January to March 2004, to over 128,000 units (from 72,200 units in the same period in 2003). It is now the third biggest production centre in China in volume terms.
This growth is already extremely attractive to international companies with interests in China. Major auto-maker Daimler Chrysler and strategic partner Beijing Automotive Industry Corp (Group) have recently pledged to invest US$1.1 billion in expanding their Beijing-based operations. Their new plant will have a capacity of up to 25,000 vehicles a year, creating huge business opportunities for businesses related to the luxury car market.
Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., a Chinese joint venture with Korea?s Hyundai, plans to triple its annual output capacity to 150,000 vehicles by next year, before expanding it to 600,000 units by 2008. Hyundai aims to have the capacity to produce one million vehicles in China by 2010, or 20 percent of the Korean company's planned global production capacity.
KUALA LUMPUR
The ASEAN region is also a key growth area for the world?s automotive industry. Since 1998, the region has recovered well economically, with vehicle sales topping 1 million units in 2002.
Combined new vehicle sales in ASEAN's big four markets ? Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines ? surpassed 1.2 million units in January to November 2003, a healthy 10 per cent increase year-on-year. Growth is expected to continue at the rate of approximately 16 per cent per year, led by commercial vehicles with an average growth of more than 19 per cent per year.
Countries within the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) are lowering their import tariffs, providing a greater incentive for international companies to do business in the region. Once trade barriers are lifted, a surge of buying activity is expected as prices become more competitive and a wider choice of imported cars and parts become available. With this liberalisation, local and regional manufacturers will need to stay globally competitive, resulting in opportunities for technical collaboration with international businesses, particularly in the field of R&D.
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News
PPG plays host
TAFE colleges and, in particular, TAFE teachers are at the forefront of preparing many of the next generation of tradespeople for a successful career in the smash repair industry. In recognition of that fact, PPG once again hosted the New South Wales TAFE Head Teachers Conference at the company?s training centre in South Strathfield, Sydney. Over a number of years this annual event has provided a valuable forum for discussion and information sharing.
This year?s discussions looked at the state of the smash repair industry and some of the factors that are directly affecting it. Talks covered a variety of toThe event was also a valuable means of learning more about issues that affect apprentice training. During the conference TAFE teachers were able to provide an excellent insight into the pressures they face in their day-to-day work including budget constraints and other difficulties. Armed with that information PPG believes it is in a better position to continue assisting TAFE colleges and to strengthen the relationship between the two organisations.