PARENTAL CONTROLS
ARE WE FOCUSED ON RECRUITING YOUTH, OR RECRUITING PARENTS? BY ALLISON ROGERS You’d be hard-pressed to find an industry event where the current skills shortage is not mentioned. Heck, get two shop owners together and the topic will likely come up in less than five minutes of conversation. I’m not making fun—truly!—it’s a real issue […]
WHERE HAVE ALL THE TECHNICIANS GONE?
AFTER NEARLY 30 YEARS IN TEACHING, I’VE NEVER SEEN THE SITUATION MORE DIRE BY BILL SPEED As a retired high school autobody teacher, I spent my entire career trying to promote the automotive collision industry to my students by giving them real life experiences. These experiences varied from real world projects on live vehicles, field […]
MODERN MIXOLOGY
ROBOTIC REFINISHING PROCESSES, RADAR-SAFE REPAIRS AND MORE AT AKZONOBEL OPEN HOUSE BY ALLISON ROGERS Dozens of Canadian industry reps were at the AkzoNobel Ontario headquarters and training facility in early February as the coatings company hosted an Open House for its valued partners and customers. The main feature of the day was AkzoNobel’s brand-new AC100 […]
UPDATES FROM RUST VALLEY
A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE HALL OF RUST VALLEY RESTORERS BY ALLISON ROGERS If you look at Mike Hall, you’d think he was made for the silver screen. If you stick around and watch him work, you’d be certain of it. With a background in rock blasting and a lifelong love for cars, Mike’s journey into […]
INNOVATIVE ODDITIES
EXPLORING THE ECCENTRICITIES OF MODERN AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY BY SARAH PERKINS With technological advancements increasingly seeming to defy the limits of the imagination, the automotive industry frequently stands at the forefront of innovation. Just as frequently, however, OEMs offer an array of peculiar technology that blurs the lines between science fiction and reality. From vehicles that […]
FUSING PASSIONS
DAYNA KOHUT HAS BEEN COOKING UP A LOVE OF CARS SINCE HER DAYS IN THE CULINARY ARTS BY SARAH PERKINS To succeed in the trades is to be consistently developing a set of specific skills. From collision repair to craftworks, each trade requires its own techniques, training, knowledge, and body of tools in order […]
CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?!
SHOOTING FOR THE SKY Samson Sky, an aircraft manufacturer based out of Redmond, Oregon was recently granted a patent by the European Union for a flying sports car known as the Switchblade. To fly the Switchblade, the wings on the vehicle spread out and the tail extends in fewer than three minutes, the patent claims. […]
TRAINING
PULLING NEW SKILLS CamAuto Pro recently hosted an open house at its Quebec training facility, where industry experts Gene Fetty and Charles Aoun conducted a comprehensive training session on paintless dent repair (PDR) and glue pull repair (GPR). The training session was divided into two parts, with Fetty leading the PDR portion and Aoun taking […]
INDUSTRY
ONE-COAT WONDER BASF’s premium refinish brand RM has launched what it calls the first-ever single-coat clear, RMC1000. The product was created to meet customer demands for speed and efficiency, reducing cycle times and providing superior sag resistance. According to BASF, RMC1000 can be applied wet in one-layer and dried at 140F° for 30 minutes. Compared […]
UPPING THE GAME
SATISFY YOUR THIRST FOR MORE BY DARRYL SIMMONS This industry has plenty of people that love a good challenge. We all know what great challenges we find in the cars of today—there’s no doubt in the phrase “you learn something new every day!” when you work in collision repair. Alas, not all of these remarkable […]
