By Kevin Caldwell, AAM
The Collision Division Operations Committee of the Automotive Service Association (ASA) met in Kansas City, Mo., Feb. 23-24 to review its activities in 2000 and to discuss its plan of action for 2001.
Members of the committee discussed environmental, salvage and legislative issues. They also received reports on the Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair (I-CAR), the I-CAR Education Foundation, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE), the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF), the Collision Industry Electronic Commerce Association (CIECA), the Collision Industry Conference (CIC), and the Association Internationale Des Reparateurs En Carrosserie (AIRC).
Committee members were reminded that the continuing goal of the Collision Division and its committees is to ensure that the strategic plan of the association is followed. Working to achieve that goal while addressing the issues confronting the division are the 11 members who constitute the Operations Committee and the division's two ASA staff personnel.
Within the Operations Committee there are several subcommittees, each with its own goals and plans, working to represent ASA members' best interest in resolving issues that confront the industry.
One of the primary goals of the Automotive Manufacturers Subcommittee, which is headed by Mike West, is to address repairability and related issues in a meaningful dialogue with the manufacturers to try to effect improvement.
Last year, West and Bob Redding, ASA's Washington, D.C., representative, attended the original equipment (OE) roundtable at the International Autobody Congress and Exposition (NACE). On behalf of ASA, they presented the following issues at the roundtable:
- The need for a better way to resolve repairability and parts replacement issues for ASA collision repair shops, other than their having to “weave through the maze of each manufacturer's bureaucracy” trying to find someone who can help. Manufacturers were asked if it was possible for them, as a group, to designate a contact person or committee - an appropriate source - to whom concerns or complaints about repairability issues may be addressed.
West cited as an example his recent encounter with Ford pickup quarter panel protector cladding moldings, which fit in the stake pocket area. These are not removable without their being destroyed, but they have to be removed for the painting process. This involves $86 of unneeded and extra expense, for want of a better engineered fastening system. West told the roundtable participants this is just one example and there are hundreds of others that auto manufacturers need to address. West suggested that if repairers had one contact, or a hotline they could call and then be directed to the appropriate source for assistance, what a boon to our industry that could be.
- Collision repairers need better information on future technology so they can prepare for repair issues. Aluminum repairability was cited as an example. Manufacturers were told that if shops are going to repair the cars they build, repairers need to know about major changes well in advance of the vehicles being driven off the showroom floor. And it's not just the repair industry that needs this kind of information, West said. For example, recyclers are concerned about mercury switches found in many cars. One ounce of mercury can contaminate a two-acre lake. Currently, there is an average of two ounces per car about which recyclers are rightfully concerned.
- What is happening with plastics recyclability? Many shops are still filling their dumpsters with plastic parts every day. “These parts are being sent to a landfill and, folks, we're running out of land,” ASA's representatives pointed out. “We're now using expensive fuels to haul solid waste by rail to distant landfills.”
Auto manufacturers were also asked if it would be possible for them to:
- Work together, as manufacturers, to develop compound composites that readily lend themselves to being recycled or repaired.
- Develop recycling programs in which independents and dealers may participate, which would also reduce the number of discarded parts sent to landfills.
- Not produce anything without also creating a recycling stream for it. This is a crucial need and good environmental policy. It would also send a strong message to government and the public that manufacturers care about the environment.
- Make training available, from the manufacturers, in regard to safety and special repairability issues. Proprietary training for dealers only will drive repair costs up, along with insurance premiums, making manufacturers' products less attractive to consumers.
Attendees at the roundtable discussion were reminded that if collision repairers could establish meaningful contact with manufacturers, it would be a win-win situation for everybody. They were also told that the Automotive Manufacturers Subcommittee will be working throughout 2001 on repairability and design issues, and accessing information. As part of its effort, the subcommittee plans to visit some of the auto manufacturers.
In 1999, members of the Refinish Subcommittee, headed by Tom Prescott, AAM, invited insurers, paint manufacturers, collision repairers and representatives of I-CAR to meet and discuss 18 issues. The Collision Division's agenda was to ascertain whether or not these concerns could be resolved. Insurers were in agreement with the repair procedures needed to perform a safe and adequate repair, as was everyone else attending the meeting. So these were summarized and forwarded to all of the automated estimating system providers for their response.
By the end of the year, the subcommittee's list had grown to 36 issues. During February and May of 2000, the information providers met with the Refinish Subcommittee and began implementing the subcommittee's requests.
Issues that have been resolved and are on today's systems include:
- Default to clear coat.
- Automated clear coat on jambs and undersides.
- Language to clarify blend procedures.
- Language change to de-nib and buff.
- Language to define extending clear coat to meet warrantee standards.
Items still needed include:
- Language to define raw vs. primed fascias.
- Double bagging.
- Blending of chip guard.
- Tinting procedures.
- Duplication of seam sealer texture.
- Definitions for prep issues - feather fill, block and the point of time where bodywork stops and paint work starts.
- Alleviating caps on materials when an arbitrary cap has been placed on paint labor.
- A definition of what constitutes paint materials (categorize difference between body and paint materials).
The Automated Estimate Subcommittee chaired by Chris Dameron has interacted with just about every other Collision Division subcommittee because refinish, salvage and insurance issues relate to this group. The Automated Estimate Subcommittee works with the various entities involved in addressing correct repair procedures that must be identified within the estimating systems the collision industry uses daily. The subcommittee's three main goals for the year 2000 were to resolve problems with used/salvage parts, address abuse of the "blend" formula, and deal with labor operations that need to be done with every repair.
Joint meetings with information providers, insurers, salvage representatives, I-CAR officials, repairers and paint companies have produced meaningful results, including:
- Default to two-stage refinish.
- Blending - The three information providers now have in their p-pages wording to clarify that blending is only for adjacent, undamaged parts. Mitchell shows an asterisk if blend is selected with a repair. ADP will not allow the blend operation on any repaired part. CCC's Pathways representatives say, “Pathways prevents combined blend and repair operations because blending does not apply to repaired panels. If you attempt to combine a blend operation and a repair operation on the same panel, you will receive an error message.”
- Extending clear to a break line. All three information providers have agreed to include wording suggested by the paint manufacturers concerning the need to carry clear to a break line if the paint companies' warranties are to be honored.
- Color, sand and polish. All three of the information providers have agreed to change the terminology for this operation to de-nib and polish or final sand and polish. ADP is also looking into separate operations for de-nibbing and sanding a complete panel for polishing.
There are other areas this subcommittee is working on that will take continued effort, including:
- Repair and refinish times on panels adjacent to welded-on panels.
- Combining labor operations instead of listing just one large operation; for example, break out mechanical operations when replacing a radiator support.
- Making it possible to list fixed glass labor in “sublet” when replacing a panel.
- Covering/bagging the vehicle multiple times.
- Differing labor requirements for different types of flexible bumper fascias (bare, primed, primed with shipping coat, etc.).
- Providing drop-down boxes to identify not-included procedures when working with recyclable parts.
For more information about the ASA Collision Division,
visit the ASA Web site at http://www.asashop.org.
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