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"In addition to technical skills, what are the primary attributes you look for when hiring employees?"
"There are four primary attributes I look for when hiring employees: a desire to learn and keep up with new technology; to be clean and neat; to have good work habits; and the most important one is being a team player."
James Rehwalt, AAM, owner
Jim’s Pacific Garages, Inc.
Pasco, Wash.A waterborne clearcoat for automotive refinishing has been developed by Spies Hecker. The product, termed an "automotive refinishing industry first" by Spies Hecker, is being "fine tuned," but a company official said he is confident the new clear will be on the market soon. The key to the product’s formulation is the suppression of a negative reaction between isocyanates and water, which up until now, had impeded development.
California Air Resources Board (CARB) officials expressed a willingness to address aftermarket concerns about California OBD II anti-tampering provisions at a June 5 meeting with representatives of six aftermarket associations in Detroit. As currently written, the anti-tampering rules impose serious legal and technical impediments to the manufacturing and rebuilding of replacement and performance parts, as well as to the servicing of OBD-II equipped vehicles, say the associations. California’s OBD II regulations will have far-reaching impact on the aftermarket since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is currently certifying OBD-II equipped vehicles and is considering making the regulations applicable nationwide.
In a "positive first step," say the associations, California officials said they were willing to clarify the OBD II regulation to ensure the anti-tampering provisions pose no legal barriers to "reverse engineering" in the development of parts. CARB also indicated it would explore measures that would minimize technical "roadblocks" and give the industry greater access to on-board computers.
Business First Data On Chicago Collision Market
Phase one of the Business First pilot study in the Chicago area has generated some interesting statistics about the collision repair industry there.Business First is a statistical data base service for the collision industry founded by the Automotive Service Association (ASA) and several leading collision industry companies.
The pilot study used lists from ASA, a paint company and a business list service to contact virtually every collision repair business in the greater Chicago area. In addition to the phone canvass, the pilot will also gather area demographic information and multiyear "micro-studies" of financial data from 60 representative shops.
Joe Sanders, ASA Collision Division director, said at a Business First press conference during the Northern Autobody Congress and Exposition at which findings from the pilot were released that he is enthusiastic about the data the program will generate. "I think we are going to build a data base that is unbelievable," said Sanders.
Web Ways
Our recent Automotive Service Association (ASA) trivia quiz (seen in both the May issue of AutoInc. and the ASA web site) was answered 100 percent correctly by only a handful of respondents. The true/false questions that threw most respondents: "The ASA name was born out of the merger of Automotive Service Councils (ASC) and Independent Automotive Service Association in 1980" and "ASA national headquarters is located in Washington, D.C."The former statement is false, these two associations did indeed merge to form ASA, but they merged in 1986, not 1980. The latter is also false -- while ASA does maintain a Washington, D.C., office, the association’s headquarters are in Bedford, Texas.
ASA Main Page || AutoInc. Main Page
TechTips || Stat Corner || News Briefs || Directions
News Briefs Extra || Taking The Hill || More Info About AutoInc.
Networking Your Shop || Chairman's Message || Tech To Tech
Guest Editorial || Selling Diagnostic Labor Profitably || ASA Addresses Insurance Issues
AutoInc. Magazine ®, Vol. XLIV No. 7, July 1996