SO YOU WANT TO BE A PAINTER?
Five tips on how to succeed as an automotive painter BY JOSH DOBSON OK, you’ve been sweeping the shop for about a year now. You’ve seen what everybody does around the shop and know what you want to do for a career. You want to be a painter. You want to make vehicles shine. Well, […]
The Opportunity of a Lifetime
My life changed the moment I crossed paths with the Skills/Compétences Canada competitions. I had been working as a car painter in a collision centre full-time for a couple of years when I started to notice that my skills in the shop were getting better. Tasks became easier and faster to complete. I was able […]
CHANGE IS FAST AND FURIOUS
Take control of your professional destiny with the 2019 Training Directory BY CINDY MACDONALD Not long ago, electric vehicles were curiosities and self-driving cars were the stuff of science fiction. But the pace of change in the modern automotive world is furious. Repair technicians, estimators and even customer service personnel must keep up with changing […]
B.C. COLLEGE OFFERS AUTOMOTIVE GLASS TECHNICIAN PROGRAM
COLLEGE OF NEW CALEDONIA BLENDS ONLINE AND IN-CLASS TRAINING FOR APPRENTICES BY CINDY MACDONALD For the first time, the College of New Caledonia (CNC) offered an automotive glass technician apprentice certification program in the fall of 2018. This program is the first trade at CNC to use a blended online/ face-to-face model. The 16-week course […]
LAW AND ORDER: SGI’S TOP FIVE FRAUDULENT CLAIMS OF 2018
As March is devoted to fraud prevention month in Canada, Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) has laid out the top five insurance fraud schemes that they have caught over the past year. When suspected fraudulent insurance claims are made, SGI’s Special Investigative Unit is responsible for investigating them. Over the course of 2018, the SIU has […]
Getting Ahead
ST. JOSEPH HIGH SCHOOL’S LEGENDARY AUTOBODY PROGRAM BY LINDSEY COOKE Learning the skills of the collision repair trade in high school could bring more of the younger generation to the industry— at least that’s what St. Joseph Catholic High School teacher Stefano Liessi believes. Liessi has been teaching the autobody program at the Edmonton school […]
Repairing Beyond Borders
CHRIS MENCHACA’S WORK REDEFINES THE ROLE OF AUTO TECHNICIANS BY GIDEON SCANLON As the senior manager of training and development at the remote diagnostic repair giant asTech, Chris Menchaca is responsible for overseeing the training of asTech’s small army of remote service technicians. It is no easy task. For one thing: just a few years […]
Disturbing Descriptors
CELEBRATING THE MOST HORRIFYING OEM COLOUR NAMES From pepperdust metallic to bamboo garden green, the list of insane names is nearly endless. Some, like Honda’s burgundy night pearl and Lincoln’s blue diamond metallic seem self-contradictory, others surreal—like Ford’s tangerine scream and moondust silver. Unusual as those name may be, they are not the ones we […]
Thinking Outside The Box
WORKING TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE BY JORDAN ARSENEAULT Michele Morrison’s work as a recycler doesn’t end when she leaves the office. “My family considers me a little obsessed with recycling,” said Morrison. “I’m always looking for environmentally responsible options for disposing of materials around our home.” Morrison, who began working for SGI in 1997, became […]
Michael Macaluso: Mapping Future Success
BY JORDAN ARSENEAULT Bodyworx Professional caught up with CARSTAR president Michael Macaluso to discuss a number of industry-related topics, including market consolidation and the impact it will have on independent shop owners. What options do independents have in a consolidated market? Independents basically have three choices, they can sell, try to go in alone—which we […]
