Awards 2005 Highly Commended

AWARDS 2005

Highly commended

There were so many good shops among our regional finalists that the judges often had a heated debate over which deserved top honours. Any of the following shops could have been worthy winners, which is why we honour them with a 'highly commended' designation. Next year we may well see them on the podium.

ABS, Sydney
Out of the 11 employees at ABS Smash repairs in Sydney, six are from the same Affouf family. Allan runs the shop but there is plenty of staff consultation around dinner tables. The shop was established by Allan Affouf in the late 1980s and moved in 2000 to its own impressive premises in Carlton.
ABS (which stands for Affouf Brothers Smash) is a small shop were quality and safety are high on the agenda. It uses is Car-o-liner alignment, PPG paint, a BBB oven, a water filtration system to protect drainage water quality and a Fan inverter welder to handle high strength steel and aluminium. The shop is compact, but obviously efficient, with a logical workflow.
ABS was appointed last year as a Subaru preferred repairer, emphasising its dedication to quality repairs and the exclusive use of new, genuine parts.

Craig Hall Bodyworks, ACT
With 26 employees, Craig Hall Bodyworks is a major force in the Canberra repair scene. And although the shop may look conventional from the outside, there is much that is unusual about it. For instance, the shop has three Cobra booths. One is small, for component spraying, while the other two are full size and glass sided. All three have robot infrared arches. Owner Craig Hall says they are highly efficient if you know how to use them.
Beside a Car-o-liner and Car-o-tronic measuring, the shop has four small Italian hydraulic benches that are both economical and versatile. The rest of the equipment is top draw.
Hall is a young repairer with his own views about the industry. He believes that WRM online tendering may push up prices in the Canberra area rather than lowering them.

L & M Smash Repairs, NSW
While L & M is an older style shop, the fact that Subaru recently chose it as a preferred repairer attests to its quality output. Its equipment features the unusual but massively strong Chief benches from the US, three Saima ovens, Debeer paint, Fan inverter and silicone bronze welding, paintless dent repair on site and Datadot application available. Managing director Garry Maher leads a team of 18.
He is optimistic about the future of WRM online quoting, believing it will be fairer than the previous NRMW system that was generating many rectifications.
The shop has a friendly atmosphere that would attract customers and suppliers alike.

Pomroy Panels, Victoria
Pomroy Panels in the Melbourne suburb of Niddrie puts people, fun, memorabilia and charitable works up there with fixing smashed cars. Partners Bill Dawson and Craig Sharman set up in the first building in 1980 when they bought the business. They subsequently bought two more adjoining buildings which they've named, 'impact division' and 'valet corporate division'. The three buildings, each with frontal access and a central driveway, mean that each of the major stages of a repair can be carried out in relative isolation. It has also enabled the company the luxury of special rapid repair bays that can handle PDR or smart repairs.
The shop has 14 staff using an Autoliner bench, new Fan inverter spot welder, four flat racks, DNS/Quote Plus, door skinning machine and Datadot. Paint of choice is Sikkens and the shop is an enthusiastic participant in the A-Coat program.
Main work providers to Pomroy are AAMI (which provides 45 per cent of its work), RACV and Allianz. Last year Pomroy be came a Subaru preferred repairer.

Alpine Crash Repairs, South Australia
Tony Russo and 30 per cent partner Frank Dodic would like to buy the property next door and expand, but the local council would not allow it. They are therefore confined to their current space in Thames Avenue' Klemzic, an inner suburb of Adelaide ? and have made excellent use of it. CMC and Lowbake spray booths are at the far end of the shop out of the way of dust contamination ? although this was one of the cleanest shops we saw. It reflects in the standard of repairs.
The shop is a member of a self help groups called the Master Collision Repair Specialists. There are currently around 20 members ? who have joined by invitation.
Alpine Crash is a busy shop, very well equipped, and maximises the output of its 10 staff members.

Callaghans Collision Centre, NSW
If there was a reward for personal effort and sheer passion for the smash repair business, Greg Hensen of Callaghans Smash Repairs in Sydney's Taren Point should get a gold logie. He arrives at work at 4am in the morning, followed by his two head supervisors at 4.30. The first shift(of which there are two a day)starts between 5 and 6 am when the first technicians arrive.
"We work on incentives here," Hensen says. "If they don't produce they don't earn, but I don't want my people to work more than eight or nine hours a day. After that they burn out."
That rule doesn't apply to him. He appears to thrive on 16 hour days without any strain or ageing appearing on his 33 year old face.
Hensen has appointed a business coach who spends a day a week discussing ideas and evaluating their possible outcome.
"I basically implement what he suggests," Hensen says. "The results have been amazing."

Alexander Body Works,
Tackling smash repair skill shortage, especially in Townsville, has become almost an obsession for Alexander Body Works, and quite coincidentally, so has work space. The company has both in abundance.
Training is the consuming interest of the company's general manager, Laurie Martin, who is also a proven exponent of advanced shop management.
The vast aircraft hanger-like space of the shop came from the property purchase of shop owner Con Alexopoulos five years ago. He enthuses over his general manager's methods, and the fact that he has developed a second-to-none training scheme that has won many awards.
The building itself is the envy of most repairers ? spreading over 2250 square metres without one supporting column inside. That means it is all usable space.

Regatta Motor Body Repairs
The blend Barry Leslight's 30 years in the smash repair business and the skills of his son Brett who has been trained in panel beating, painting and architecture, has produced a unique shop in Regatta Body Repairs. The skills of both men are reflected in the equipment, work flow and administration spaces. Customers sit in chrome and glass surroundings which look down on an immaculately clean shop ? probably better suited to more upmarket cars than those it presently repairs.
Brett Leslight's aim is to move more into prestige brands now that the shop has completed the rebuilding that commenced about a year ago. He says the new look is already having the desired effect both from insurers and private customers.