Body Perfect Smash
AAMI/AP&P AUTOBODY REPAIRER OF THE YEAR REGIONAL WINNER (LARGE SHOP) NSW
Having seen, and then adapted to, change has secured Body Perfect Smash’s (BPS) position as a leading autobody repairer in Sydney.
Run by brothers Alan, Warren and Robbie Renno, Bankstown-based BPS has been awarded the AAMI/Australasian Paint & Panel Autobody Repairer of the Year Awards regional winner for best large shop in NSW.
“You have to adapt to change and accept that change is part of growth,” Allan Renno says.
“The biggest challenge for the industry is the unity amongst the industry. To be able to face the demands from insurance companies, demands that don’t necessarily work in favour of the customer. Keeping up with technology is also a challenge.”
BPS has Volvo, Subaru and Mazda endorsements as preferred repairer and its 18 staff turn over between 30 and 35 vehicles a week.
The staff includes two spray painters and three apprentice spray painters, three panelbeaters and two apprentice beaters, one stripper/fitter, a parts supervisor, an operations overseer, two estimators and office staff.
The panel shop technicians use Fan welders – spot inverter welders, inverter MIG welder and a plasma cutter – along with an Easy Beat welder.
Big hits, which are featuring less and less in today’s modern autobody repair shop, are addressed with an Autorobot XLS 11 +.
The paint shop features a Spies Hecker system and a SAICO booth. There is also an IRT dryer.
BPS designed its own air system, fabricated by the engineering company next door, DF Engineering.
The shop uses Norton Abrasives products and is about to install the Lord Fusor system for bonding materials.
The shop has a flow-through layout. While the Renno brothers bought an existing building on Cottam Ave, they have extended the building to provide a purpose-built paint and panel shop, which they have occupied for the past eight years.
The front, and original, part of the building houses the reception area and into the panel shop.
Vehicles then move into the prep area before heading to the paint shop and then out to the wash bay and ready for delivery.
In a much-needed move to increase space, two 40-foot shipping containers have been added to the side of the building, occupying an area in the block of land next door, which is also owned by the business.
One of these containers houses the equipment, tools and stock, the other acting as a parts store.
The rest of the neighbouring block is used for vehicle receivals and storage of vehicles waiting assessment or approval for repair.
The adjoining building to the vacant block is also part of the Renno brothers’ business, used for pre-delivery quality control and smart repairs for fleet customers.
When it comes to quoting, BPS uses DNS for quoting and accounting in the business, and to ensure safety for staff the business has implemented Monit to monitor its OH&S activities and ensure any OH&S issues are raised and addressed in a timely manner.
Allan Renno says the Monit system was inherited through the company’s membership of the Australian Accident Repair Network (AARN).