PPG Speaks with CollisionHub on the State of the Industry

(photos)
Left:
RapidMatch XI measures more angles than any other spectrophotometer for the most accurate reading on the market.

Right: PPG™’s OEM relationships ensures it has access to the latest colors so that variant formulas can be more quickly identified and produced.

The collision repair industry is continually changing. CollisionHub Director of Industry Relations Jason Bartanen recently spoke to Tom Maziarz, general manager of PPG™ Automotive Refinish for North America, to get his view from having his finger on its pulse.

PPG™ meets technician shortage head-on with training and support

“We are facing pretty broad-based technician shortages, and all the collision centers I speak to talk about having a tough time finding people to come in and work in their shops,” Maziarz said.

To help address that issue, PPG™ has added a training class, and it has added support to industry training programs.

“We just launched a two-day prepper class, and this is designed for people who really don’t have any experience in how to properly prepare a car to be painted,” he said. “And we partner with local schools in the various communities we serve. If they want to put a technical program in place, we may help them with some paint, or a training application message so they can go out and continue to bring more people into the industry.”

PPG™, a longtime supporter of the Collision Repair Education Foundation, also joined the newly formed I-CAR Sustaining Partner™ program, which is designed to help raise funds to reduce the overall cost of delivering training to people who want to get I-CAR certification.

Move More Production Through Your Shop with PPG’s Color Accuracy

Whether it is to drive higher revenue or get better placement with an insurance company’s direct repair program, there are good reasons for a shop to want to improve cycle time, Maziarz said.

“And one of the key things to driving better productivity, especially from a paint shop standpoint, is how quickly you can get to that exact color match.”

With OEMs coming out with more exotic colors, they are more complex to reproduce. Because PPG™  is a prominent supplier to OEMs, it has a close relationship with them, including having staff at ports of entry to compare incoming vehicles to existing variant deck chips.

“We’re on the forefront of being able to get those colors and be able to provide matches for those colors.”

PPG™ color tools, such as the Paint Manager® XI software and the RapidMatch XI spectrophotometer, allow a painter to rapidly select the correct color. Paint Manager XI offers 3.5 million colors and variants, with a database that is updated daily via the Internet.

The RapidMatch XI measures more angles than any other spectrophotometer, for the most accurate reading on the market. And a new solvent variant deck is coming soon this year for the Deltron® line that will be similar to the one in use for EnvirobaseHP® waterborne.

MVP Classes Help Collision Centers Improve Throughput

For shop owners and managers looking to improve throughput, there’s no better way than by taking advantage of the MVP Business Solutions classes PPG™ offers, Maziarz said, including the new-for-this-year two-day Advanced Estimating class. The popular Greenbelt Lean for Collision program continues to be one of the most popular classes, and it directly addresses the throughput issue.

“From Administrative to Production, we have a lot of classes through our MVP Business Solutions program for shops to take advantage of.”

How You Can Expect Coatings to Change in the Future

As vehicles continue to grow complex, coatings at the OEM level will move beyond corrosion protection and beautifying. Because PPG™ is an OEM supplier, it will be better prepared for the refinish market in having the products needed to restore that functionality, Maziarz said.

For just a couple examples, the future promises to bring coatings that keep car sensors clean so they can continue to be accurate as snow and dirt builds up, as well as interior coatings that reduce road noise and vibrations.

“Regardless of where those coatings evolve to, it positions us well to make sure that we can then take that technology and introduce it into the collision repair industry. We continue to provide a full array of products that allow the collision repair shop to repair the vehicles of today, as well as what the vehicles look like into the future.”

About Gipe Auto Color

To learn more about how we can help make your shop more efficient, call Gipe Auto Color at 502.966.2384, Monday through Friday between 8am and 5pm. We represent only the highest quality products on the market.

With over 50 team members and 9 locations serving Kentucky, Southern Indiana, Southeast Illinois, and Northwest Tennessee, Gipe Auto Color is one of the largest PPG™ Platinum Distributors in the region.  We have seven dedicated tech reps certified in all PPG™ automotive refinish product lines.  Their primary duty is to help customers apply PPG™ coatings using techniques that ensure maximum performance day in and day out.

Our service does not stop in the paint shop. We offer assistance in process evaluation, development of standard operating procedures, inventory management, performance data analysis, and targeted improvement strategies with an emphasis on customer profitability.