Think Globally

It is important to understand what the collision repair industry is doing outside of Canada, as this will help to shape or create the future, Tony Canade, chairman of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum (CCIF), told delegates at a meeting in Mississauga, Ont. on June 21.

“Sometimes we get pigeonholed in our own little worlds,” Canade, the president of Assured Automotive, said. “We get pigeonholed in our own little economies, pigeonholed into our own little countries.”

But, there are things that occur outside of Canada that can and will have a dramatic impact on the way business is done at home.

He noted, for example, that in past years while attending the International Bodyshop Industry Symposium (IBIS) in Montreux, Switzerland, he heard about European paint directives that were being mandated much sooner than in Canada. In Europe, procurement and tiered insurance programs were also happening sooner than in Canada. It wasn’t a matter of if it would happen in Canada, but when.

It is important to understand what some of the drivers and motivators are behind the changes in other areas. There are things that will happen in the future that are out of our control, Canade said. “Get over it, deal with it, you can’t control it. But there are some things that we can. There are some things we can do to help shape our future.”

At a crossroads

At this year’s IBIS conference, Canade noted there was some discussion about vehicle manufacturers and the repair sector and whether they were on a collision course. He mentioned a few people at the conference stood up and said that the collision repair industry is at a crossroads and could contract radically over the next five to 10 years, meaning fewer and fewer jobs. The market is mature and external forces will cause the market to contract.

“One thing that I do want you to take away from this is that it’s not the one magic bullet,” Canade said. “We’re not going to wake up one day and our business is going to have changed overnight.”

Change will happen slowly and gradually. Identifying and understanding the changes, and subsequently putting a plan in place to deal with the changes is key.

“Understanding that where one opportunity subsides, there might be another one we have available to us,” he noted. “Those are going to be the keys to ensuring our sustainability and our success as the collision repair industry.” Change is already occurring as technology continues to proliferate. For years, vehicle repair did not change, but as different materials and different technologies are being used, the equipment needed to repair the vehicles will change, as will the way they are repaired.

Communication with manufacturers

At IBIS, there was talk about the necessity of engaging vehicle manufacturers and ensuring they understand that the collision repair industry needs to be able to fix the vehicles being made. “They need to design vehicles for repairability,” Canade said. He noted that if vehicle manufacturers are given the choice, they will design vehicles that are aesthically pleasing and drive well, but are difficult to repair over designing unattractive vehicles that don’t handle well but are easy to repair every time.

Aesthetics, design and the consumer win out over repairability every single time, he noted. The key is to ensure that manufacturers are working with the vehicle repair industry to ensure that through the design process, they are also working through the repair process.

In addition to working with vehicle manufacturers, the collision repair industry must start to think about what its strategic relationships are going to be on a move forward basis, Canade said. “I can’t tell you what it will look like in the future, but one thing’s for sure, it won’t be the same as it used to be. And it’s really up to us to find where that strategic relationship has the most benefit from a mutual basis.”

While attending the IBIS conference he realized how similar the issues and challenges that the worldwide market is facing are so closely aligned to the challenges facing the Canadian collision repair industry: people, profitability, technology and the environment.

“All of these things are very very similar, so think globally,” he cautioned.