Lord & GIO information night

In Brief

Straight talk
Bosch has developed a novel, 'touchless', optically-operated wheel alignment system called Luchs, with the support of BMW. The system measures alignment quickly and precisely on a car lift or while just driving by. Luchs was first presented at Frankfurt's Automechanika in September. The new system has now been launched within BMW's authorised repairer networks as the "BMW KDS new generation".

Xirallic issues
A UK survey has found that despite Xirallic tints being used by 20 popular motor manufacturers, experience has shown that there are major issues when Xirallic pigments are used.
First is the ability of the estimator to identify the colour as a Xirallic prior to estimating and second is the huge variation in the quantity of Xirallic pigment in any given formulation. Until further information becomes available, these factors require the estimator and the technician to agree the correct price for the job, the survey found.


Lord Chemical Products Australia, manufacturers of Fusor adhesives, were recently invited to attend a series of information nights conducted by GIO Insurance Company. The information sessions were designed to inform the owners and managers of shops of the latest technologies that are available in the auto refinish market.
Lord showcased its complete range of adhesives, including bumper and plastic repair, foams and sealers, and metal to metal bonding. A Lord said that both sessions were a resounding success.
Fusor Adhesives are available in Australia and New Zealand from Australian Warehouse Distributors on (03) 9553 1977.



Refinish business
Automotive Refinish Technology (ART) one of Glasurit's main distributors, has appointed Darren Lobley as business manager.
Lobley has worked in the refinishing business for more than 25 years, most recently in management roles with BASF Coatings.
"I will be looking at how we can better service the needs of our customers to work towards building on their strengths in a competitive market place, Lobely said.


Akzo Nobel three
Akzo Nobel CR Australia has recently increased its distributor network with three new distributors. City Ford, located in the centre of Melbourne, has commenced selling both the Sikkens and Lesonal products. City Ford's paint department can be contacted on (03) 9345 1677.
Mosman Toyota in NSW will also be distributing both the Sikkens and Lesonal products - contact (02) 9960 4366. Stillwell Ford in Regency Park, SA, is now distributing the Lesonal brand. Contact (08) 8440 0999.

Bach elevated
Following the successful launch and development of the Acoat selected programme with bodyshop customers, Sikkens Australia will now offer a similar business consulting services program to its distribution network. Gregg Bach has taken up the new role of distributor development manager and will provide training and support for distributors.
As a result of this change, Paul Wake has assumed the role of national services manager and has full responsiblility for the Sikkens Acoat selected and bodyshop services programs Australia-wide.

Andy man
Andy Brough has joined Sikkens as commercial vehicle key account manager. He previously worked for Sikkens UK, where he was responsible for sales of refinish products to the commercial vehicle market in the south west of the country. He has many years of experience in both the car and CV refinish markets and has successfully developed sales direct to end users and via the distribution network.
Brough will be concentrating on the development of sales to CV accounts and fleet specifiers in Victoria and will also assist the regional teams interstate when required.

Postman's knock
The UK post office recently entered the car insurance market with an aggressive launch, claiming it will undercut rivals by offering cheaper cover for three-quarters of British motorists.
Post Office Financial Services, a joint venture with Bank of Ireland, aims to capture five per cent of the UK market within three years. It says it will offer customers significantly lower quotations than its rivals. The claim was backed up by research involving 23,000 "shadow" insurance quotes, which were then compared with what was offered by Britain's biggest insurers.
Patrick Waldron, chief executive of Post Office Financial Services, said the venture has cheaper rates because it offers quotes for 99 per cent of inquiries, rather than "cherry
Hot Ziggy
Visitors to the Auto Trade Fair in Sydney in May would remember the spectacular hot-rod called Ziggy that was being used as a display piece for Metalux Metacryl paints. It turns out that the car was not just a pretty mock-up. "Longshot" clocked up 174 mph in 7.74 seconds at its first competitive outing in August and there is more to come, we're told.
For those interested in labour, Longshot ate up 400 hours (the real variety) of paint and rectification time in its preparation.


Say it with flowers
Bodyshops want to thank their customers for bringing in their damaged cars so most presents run to little knick-knacks like key rings and pens. Paint & Panel also likes the car cleaning vouchers given by Shipstone in Brisbane but, if you want to get to the female heart, say it with flowers. Platinum in Perth does it and wins plenty of smiles. Even the blokes don't mind getting flowers and then presenting them to their partners - usually without mentioning that they came from a generous panel shop, of course.

Loan cars
Bodyshop policy regarding loan cars still varies enormously from shop to shop. One shop that Paint & Panel visited during the bodyshop awards judging maintained 12 "free" loan cars while another had stopped the practice altogether when its one car (known as the "lone loan")caused so much angst over who would have it that it was better to retire it and have none.
There is a strong trend towards loan cars at a better-than-market rental. Those who are doing that say customers are more interested in convenience than saving the $20 or so dollars a day they have to pay in rental.
A Sydney-based company, Fleetplan, is marketing a way of providing loan cars and making a profit out of them at the same time.

Apprentices work
One shop manager, who shall remain nameless, has this to say about his apprentice painters: "they do the prep work and that brings down our cost. It's a good way for them to learn, too. It also means that the painters can concentrate on painting and that boosts their efficiency."
On the other hand, this means that apprentices are not going to get experience in painting for quite some time.

Clear evidence
With the exception of the BMW bodyshop in Melbourne, which is using a new Glasurit product, it seems that Australian smash repairers are in no hurry to have another go at waterborne paints.
One of the current criticisms of waterborne paint is that you still need a solvent-based primer and clear to complete the job.
Sikkens has now overcome that problem with not only a waterborne clear but primers and colours to go with it. When the clear is first sprayed on it can give the painter a fright because it appears white and cloudy. But it dries clear with a high gloss.
Sikkens has no plans to release the waterborne range in Australia, but if there is a demand for it, either from consumers or as a result of environmental laws, Sikkens will be ready.

Show me the metal
Shops that think they can leave the repairing of various grades of high strength steel to 'the other guy' had better think again. Both high strength steels and aluminium are percolating down through the models, getting ever closer to the mass market. Volvo's latest nippy sedan, the S40, has no less that four types of steel in its body frame. There is mild steel, high strength steel, extra high strength steel and ultra high strength steel. Apart from the mild steel, don't even think about using your old welder on a repair.

Dxh1:Steel the show
Dc1:And while we're on the subject of steel, a consortium of 35 sheet metal producers from 18 countries, working for the last 10 years, has brought forth a new generation body frame made from UltraLight steel. It is 36 per cent lighter than conventional steel bodies, 98 per cent better in torsion tests and 52 per cent better in bending tests. The design also features a 'hydroformed' roof panel and side roof rails - made by using the force of water to shape the parts from thinner gauge steel. The idea is probably attractive to car makers but not to repairers, one imagines.

Material facts
In their Olympian-type quest for 'ligher, stronger, cheaper', car makers are faced with the following relative densities of manufacturing materials. Note they do not necessarily equate to strength.
Steel 7.8
Aluminium 2.7
Glass 2.5
Plastic 1 to 1.3
Carbon fibre 1.8
Magnesium 1.7

Tim heads north
@Dc:Popular industry identity Tim Loden has been appointed North American director of marketing for Akzo Nobel, based out of its headquarters office in Norcross, Georgia.
Loden began his career with car refinishes in 1990 and has spent the past year in the USA's midwest region as market manager. Prior to returning to the US, he spent five years as general manager in Australia on an expatriate assignment.
Loden will have marketing responsibilities for product management, services, colour services, communications and OEM approvals for the segments of car refinishes and commercial sales throughout North America. Loden and his family have relocated to the Atlanta area.


Fusor instructor
Steven Dew, a familiar face in the body repair industry, has recently returned from an extensive training programme in the USA with Lord Corporation, the manufacturer of Fusor adhesive repair systems.
Dew has been accredited by Lord Corporation as a Fusor instructor, which incorporates technical and management training. This will further complement his role as business development manager for Australian Warehouse Distributors. He completed programs in chemistry training, OEM development, Fusor body repair systems (which include metal bonding), plastics bonding and repair.


For the birds
UK insurers HBOS and Peter Wood have launched women-only car insurance called First Alternative Woman.
The company said female drivers could expect to save approximately £130 on average on their annual premiums by using FAW.
Policy benefits include courtesy cars and a recommended repairer network, breakdown assistance, low mileage discount, the potential to increase personal belongings cover, and an additional 10 per cent discount if the insurance is purchased online.
FAW research from the UK Social Issues Research Centre has shown that men "naturally tend to revert back to their stone age characteristics when driving, making them more aggressive".

All at see
New Peugeot-Citroen rules stipulate that all dealers taking delivery of new vehicles can only conduct exterior checks from 1.5 metres and within 2.5 minutes, while interior checks can only be carried out from the driver's seat. Hidden damage, which can only be detected by driving or by checking on a ramp, must be reported within three working days.
Citroen's dealer council has urged members to complain that the rules are unworkable and demand they be dropped.

Labour only?
In their never-ending attempts to reduce repair costs, insurers in the UK are investigating the possibility of paying repairers on a 'labour' only basis. The idea is that insurers offer a higher hourly rate offset by paying only cost price for parts and paint. Parts are sourced only from an approved supplier.
So far the reaction from repairers has been one of sus
Keeping your head
During Brain Injury Awareness Week recently, NRMA reminded motorists that "the most important and fragile object they carry in their car is their head".
Then again, if you're going driving it is difficult to carry it anywhere else.

Crickey, what's that?
Toyota's continued use of the trade marked Isuzu trucks slogan 'reliability is everything' in the Steve Irwin promotion of Toyota genuine parts has angered Isuzu. Isuzu says it has been using this slogan in 1982, but Toyota won't budge. Oh what a conflict!

Buzz words
The ALP's Bob McMullan has coined a phrase that is destined to become commonplace as the conflict between insurers and repairers continues. He says "we want an end to price gouging by big business in small business markets". He must have watching football or wrestling to come up with 'price gouging'. Nonetheless, it is a colourful expression that aptly describes the problem.

Road not to ruin
A surface technology application that greatly extends the life of ageing Australian roads has received an important Federal Government grant.
The "RoadSave" technology product has been developed in Adelaide by a civil engineering contracting company that was looking for alternatives to pavement structural repair and replacement. The easily applied liquid spray literally stops the clock on further degradation of Australia's 1200 million square metres of sealed government roads.

Pass the parts
Mazda has begun an 'obsolete parts program' in the UK and Europe which ought to be able to pass on some price cuts to owners of older models whose cars need replacement parts.
The idea is that dealers won't have to stock slow-moving items for out-of-production models, but can send them to a national clearance centre.
Dealerships needing any of these parts can now buy them from the centre at a discount of 20 per cent while the supplying dealers will get up to 50 per cent off the price and also save on storage space in their own workshops.

Insider trading
The NSW Government has joined the plastics repair industry by involving inmates at the Sydney Correctional Centre, Windsor, in a work program to recycle bumper bar covers.
Up to 30 inmates will be employed in the program, restoring some 300 covers a week. They are being trained by a private company in a trade that may provide employment for them after release.

Record fair
A total of 163,564 visitors from 145 nations attended this year's Automechanika, the international trade fair for the automobile aftermarket and original equipment market held from 14 to 19 September in Frankfurt. This represented an increase of more than two per cent compared to the previous event. 39 per cent of visitors came from outside Germany and there were 4,505 exhibitors from 72 countries (four per cent more than in 2002) presenting their latest products in around 300,000 square metres of exhibition space.

Fillon at AM
Fillon Technologies, manufacturers of paint mixing machines and equipment, infrared drying lights and spray gun cleaning machines celebrated 50 years in business at this year's Automechanika in Frankfurt, throwing a special knees-up at the Frankfurt Novotel.
Local distributors Australian Warehouse Distributors were represented by Bill Lavence, managing director and Jim Dimopoulos, general manager. Fillion Technologies manufacture the Itech range of infrared drying units from the economical Spot 800 to the top of the range Kronos 3000.


Farecla exhibit
Farecla also exhibited at this year's Automechanika in Frankfurt, with new products and live demonstrations all part of the activities conducted on its stand. In addition, Farecla held its International Business Partner meeting at the Le Meridian Park Hotel. Australia was represented by Australian Warehouse Distributors with Bill Lavence, managing director and Jim Dimopoulos, general manager.
The outcome of Farecla's successful exhibition at the Automechanika has flow on effects for Australia, with the new products and ideas that came out of the show available in here shortly.

Compressor warning
Champion Compressors has warned users about a trend towards extended servicing periods, which it says are sometimes unsafe and can lead to air compressor damage. Some service contractors are recommending up to 3000-hour intervals between servicing, Champion's Dino Allessio said. "When considering an air package, the decision should be made based on lifetime costs, not merely the compressor's purchase price and basic service cost," he said.

BMW gets jacked
BMW has been found guilty of breaching the Trade Practices Act for supplying 318i models equipped with a jack that failed product safety standards. Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) chairman Graeme Samuel said the case reaffirmed that suppliers must strictly comply with the requirements of mandatory consumer product safety standards.