Paul Reichmuth started Seetal Spray Booths back in 1973 offering the first locally built combination spray booth & baking ovens. Paul gained experience in the industry in Switzerland prior to immigrating to Australia.
Seetal has been a great supporter of Paint and Panel magazine since the first issue. Seetal has built over 4000 spray booths in the Australian and New Zealand markets.
“Safety regulations have been the most significant change in spray booths in the last 30 years. Previously the industry was just punching in the dark doing what they saw fit.”
Paul was instrumental in implementing the industry standard AS 4114 which gave everyone a guideline to follow.
“Cycle times have obviously become more important and so having a quality spray booth that provides a dust-free environment is vital. There have been manufacturers of booths that aren’t top class and don’t provide a dust free environment and that lead to a lot of unnecessary work.
“It’s not how fast you paint the car; it’s how fast you get the car to the customer. Why spend four hours cut and polishing a car to save 10 minutes in the spray booth?
“Fast repair shops will undoubtedly be the sector that grows over the next five years. Drying techniques are very important to them and there will be an increase in catalytic drying. This is very expensive, so I expect it will be limited to the larger shops.
“I don’t believe independent repair shops will die out with more cars on the road than every before. It’s all about the quality of the work you do. Small panel shops who deliver quality repairs will survive and thrive, providing they maintain their current equipment to the highest standard or invest in new equipment.”