To celebrate Paint & Panel's 40th anniversary we're delving into the archives to look at what was making the news way back when.
NRMA opens new research centre 2006
NRMA has moved its research centre from the Sydney suburb of Artarmon to Newington. Officially opened on March 3, the new centre has doubled the floor area of the old. There is now 1100m/sq (including a workshop) devoted to low speed crash testing, repair cost and car theft resistance.
The centre is staffed by more than 15 specialists including professional engineers, panel beaters, mechanics and parts experts. The new Centre will continue to provide NRMA Insurance?s repairer network with detailed technical bulletins to help identify potential issues that may arise when repairing particular vehicle models. As Australia's only representative of RCAR, the International Association of Insurance Research Centres, which represents 25 centres in 20 countries, the new NRMA centre will be able to disseminate the latest industry information.
For over a decade, NRMA Insurance has operated a technical research centre, which carries out testing and research to help reduce the cost of car insurance premiums by working with the automotive industry. Since its inception, the technical research centre has reviewed thousands of vehicles, many before being released to the market. In fact, many of today's popular cars have had direct design input from the technical research centre.
The centre is headed by Robert McDonald a professional mechanical engineer who joined NRMA Insurance as development engineer in 1986. He is also a private member of the NSW Ministerial Advisory Council for Motor Vehicle Repairs and a board member of the Motor Vehicle Repair Industry Authority. He represents the Insurance Council of Australia on the National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council and is a member of the NSW Police Minister?s Car Theft Action Group as well as being a steering committee member of RCAR and chairman of the damageability and repairability committee.