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05/03/10. Our work forces today are comprised of 4 generations of people, each with it's own distinct characterisitics. Realizing what you are dealing with as an employer can make all the difference in communication and overall production in the work place. One generation is not necessarily more productive than another, but they tend to come at it from different angles and with different motives in mind. Cam Marston, noted expert on the topic, spoke at the Apr. 22 MVP conference in San Diego entitled "Beyond Tomorrow". The 4 generations are called Matures, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millennials (also called Gen-Y's). Read more about his presentation here. Although the article is Collision Shop oriented, there is food for thought here for everyone in business.
09/02/10. Recently, American Honda issued a statement that if any shop used other than Honda OEM replacement parts, it would void the owner's warranty on the car. The AAIA reacted, citing that this statement would be a violation of the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act.
07/30/10. Think switching to waterborne just means replacing tints and a stir machine? Read this interview article with Jeff Peevy, director of Field Operations for I-Car. There is much more to it than that. By the way, speaking of stir machines, did you know that PPG's Envirobase HP anti-settling technology does not require a machine? So not only do you get the best waterborne system out there, stir paddles never break, belts never slip, gears don't strip, toners are always ready, no machine maintenance and your utility bill goes down too!
07/29/10. The Chevrolet Volt will hit the marketplace in 2011. In addition to being the first extended-range electronic vehicle, it will also feature other innovative add-ons, such as a 7-inch touch screen navigation system, Bose audio, OnStar, 8 air bags and several 100,000 mile warranties. Tax credits are also available. The 120V recharge system allows charging at home (a 240V system is available also). If trips stay within 40 miles and the batteries stay charged, there is no gasoline needed. A gas-powered generator kicks in when driving on long trips to keep the batteries going. If that tank was full, it is estimated that the trip range would be 340 miles.
07/26/10. After 80 years, the icon of the quickie discount paint job industry will be closing its doors. Earl Schieb, Inc. officially ceased business operations on July 16, 2010. Current stores will either close or become individually owned companies, no longer franchises. Paint job warranties can no longer be honored. In the words of the psychiatrist, "So...how does that make you feel"?
07/12/10. PPG's MVP group will be holding its next bi-annual national conference close to home, at the Disney Swan and Dolphin Resort in Orlando Sept. 19-21. Titled "Visionary Leadership: A Call to Action", it will feature all the latest cutting edge topics, seminars and guest speakers. Forward thinking collision shop owners and managers should plan now to attend and participate in this most rewarding experience. Registration and other conference information can be found here. What's going on? Click on this agenda.
07/0910. PPG Industries' automotive refinish business donated the paint for a newly restored 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle muscle car auctioned as part of Super Chevy magazine's "Project American Heroes" fund-raising program. The sale of the unique vehicle was conducted by Barrett-Jackson Auctions on June 26 at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, Calif. The winning bid was $250,000. Read more...
06/17/10. PPG becomes the first supplier to install a wet-on-wet waterborne system at the OEM level. The first vehicle manufacturer to use the system is BMW, at their Spartanburg, SC facility. Wet-on-wet technology eliminates the need for a separate priming booth and all the equipment needed to use and maintain it. Typically it involves one coat of a colored primer similar to the basecoat, then flash, then one coat of basecoat, then flash, then two coats of clear that is subsequently baked.
Note to Collision shops - this process (which all major OEM paint mfgs. are using) is not likely to make our job easier. In fact, we could see even more variance as the primer could possibly migrate into the basecoat, and the basecoat into the clear. It all depends on how the millage and flash times are controlled at the factory.
03/05/10. PPG donates a waterborne Envirobase mixing system to Penn College. Now the School of Transportation Technology can graduate students who have knowledge of cutting edge and environmentally friendly products before they enter the workforce.
02/24/10. Structural aftermarket crash parts have been under fire recently as many have been found to be unsafe. At a mid-January CIC conference, Toby Chess, SCRS board member and I-Car instructor, presented a comparison study of OEM vs. equivalent structural aftermarket parts. For example, an F-150 core support was displayed which Ford had produced from magnesium. The aftermarket replacement part was made of aluminum! Bumper brackets are also commonly inferior. Several insurance companies have recently announced that until something changes, they no longer support the use of aftermarket structural parts. Read several articles on the subject here: AutoBody Repair News Autobody Repair News 2 Body Shop Business SCRS Autobody News
02/01/10. Silver losing ground? For the past several years, silver has been the most popular car color. A designer for Nissan believes that the trend is shifting to blues. Read here.
01/19/10. PPG self-etching primers SX1071 (One Choice label) and P565-9880 (Nexa) have been approved by Chrysler for OEM warranty repair.
01/12/10. Each year an award is given by PPG to the person who scores highest overall on the ASE Paint & Refinishing test, among thousands of partcipants. Awarded in Nov. 2009 at the ASE annual convention, it was James Erdahl of Wahpeton, North Dakota. James is the chairman of the AutoBody Department at North Dakota State College of Science. Read more... If you would like to take the test yourself, sign up at the ASE site.
01/06/10. NACE (the National Autobody Congress & Exposition) has announced the dates for this year's event in Las Vegas, held at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. For the first time, they are moving away from November, SEMA and other conventions to ASRW (Automotive Service and Repair Week). Educational events and exhibits will be held Oct. 10-13, 2010.
01/04/10. PPG has a habit of giving back to local communities. We think of PPG as a paint manufacturer, but corporately they are involved in hundreds of product lines. The fiberglass manufacturing facility in Lexington, Kentucky has opted to help feed the needy by donating $2,000 to the local Wheels on Meals and Pastor's Pantry groups.
11/23/09. PPG introduces ColorMobile, new software for your iPhone or similar internet-capable handheld device that allows the authorized mobile repairer access to online color formulations in the field. It's also a great analysis tool to help you determine the correct color variance needed when immediate access to a computer is not available.
11/10/09. Doing business with Bambi. In a related article from Aftermarket Business, Audatex claims that business from deer collisions is up - about 100,000 per month!! - giving new meaning to the phrase, "deer in the headlights". Another article confirms these findings.
9/29/09. Very interesting video put out by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It displays a live test crash of a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Malibu colliding head-on, but off-center towards the driver side. Think that Bel Air is just a tank and would wipe out the Malibu? Think again. Both vehicles sustain heavy damage but the driver of the newer vehicle would likely have experienced minor injury and the Bel Air driver would likely have been killed. Very graphic, especially the overhead view - check it out!!
9/28/09. PPG's MVP business solutions now has it's own website: http://www.ppgmvp.com/. Also check out the press release.
An increase in totalled vehicles isn't helping the collision industry.
Standardizing repair procedures is one of the projects that the CIC is undertaking. Some procedures are already accepted industry wide but increasing them is believed to be beneficial to the industry overall. Click here and see what you think.
09/01/10. The Raybestos promotional '32 roadster was painted in PPG's Deltron 2000 with a special color called Raybestos Red. Check out the article and also the video at the Raybestos website. This vehicle will be given away to the Raybestos sweepstakes winner (ended Aug. 31).
03/12/10. The Gold medal winning USA 4-Man Bobsled team took the top Olympic spot in a sled painted with PPG's DBC9700 basecoat black and topcoated with DCU2060 flexible flat clear.
11/05/09. Tom and Mitch Kelley (father and son) own Crazy Painters in Bellflower - southern California. In their NACE issue, Auto Body Repair News is featuring a bright orange 2010 Camaro on the cover, painted by Mitch with PPG's Envirobase HP waterborne basecoat. In all the years of ABRN, it is the first time ever that a car has appeared on the cover. Read the ABRN article and also check out the news release on the PPG website.
9/16/09. John Force, one of the most decorated, trophied and consistent dragster drivers in NHRA history, has gone green. His whole team, which is mostly family, has switched to Envirobase HP waterborne basecoat paint on all the dragsters. Read more.
Street rod painter Charley Hutton has teamed up with PPG. Charley is among the first to begin to explore waterborne coatings in Custom use. Charley appeared recently at the NSRA 40th Annual Street Rod Nationals in Louisville, KY, Aug. 6-9. He was there along with the Vibrance Truck, signing autographs and talking the talk. PPG also present the awards for Outstanding Use of Color. The three top vehicles were a 1948 Ford F150 truck (Dark Khaki Pearl and Dark Kiwi Pearl combination), a 1939 Ford Deluxe convertible (Cabarnet), and a 1934 Cadillac 4-door sedan (Light Santa Fe Metallic and Berry Metallic combination). Read the news release articles from PPG and also Modified Mustangs and Fords magazine. 
The iconic Ford Mustang celebrates its 45th birthday this year. Ford's pony car has been through several evolutionary generations but kept its allure as the company's steady seller. Few realize that without the Chevrolet Corvair the Mustang might never have been born. Read more...
If you're into truck restoration, consider joining ATHS, the American Truck Historical Society. PPG is the Official Paint of the group, which began in 1971 and today has over 22,000 members worldwide. In a new program developed by PPG, all ATHS members can receive up to a $100 discount on Delfleet Evolution or Delfleet Essential materials. Check out the rules.
04/19/10. STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - April 7, 2010 - PPG Commercial Coatings has partnered with the NATM (National Association of Trailer Manufacturers) to establish an annual award recognizing the best innovation or novel solution by a manufacturer in the light and medium-duty trailer industry that positively affects the environment. The award will be known as the Green Manufacturing Award. Read more...
02/08/10. PPG Commercial brands will be having a price increase on April 12. Order ahead on supplies and save money!
Outlaw Customs wins the Big Rig Build-Off using Delfleet FBC basecoat and a lo-gloss version of F3906 slow-dry clear. See story on the PPG website.
PPG introduces new anti-corrosion compound for dissimilar metals. ECK compound (stands for Electrolysis Corrosion "Kontrol") replaces the need for anti-seize compound, di-electric grease and Mylar tape products. It withstands temperatures up to 1000 and is suitable for painted or unpainted surfaces.
1/13/10. Maybe you're not into painting the blades on wind turbines, but if you need to bid on something like that or a coating that would require similar performance, PPG has just developed one. The system uses "thin film" technology with their HSP-7401 thin film polyurethane primer and the AUE-50000 series of polyurethane topcoats. Here is a press release on the subject.
Amercoat is a complete line of industrial primers and topcoats that are tough as nails and reasonably priced. Check out the Amercoat Website and click on individual products to see if there is something to fill your needs. Polysiloxane is a patented technology unique to Amercoat coatings, and makes it suitable for all sorts of exterior industrial applications: bridges, tankers, gas and water pipes, sign masts, construction, etc. Not all coatings need to be sprayed; some can be brushed or rolled, eliminating the time consuming need for masking and "suiting up" for overspray protection.
PPG introduces a new anti-corrosion compound for dissimilar metals. ECK compound (stands for Electrolysis Corrosion "Kontrol") replaces the need for anti-seize compound, di-electric grease and Mylar tape products. It withstands temperatures up to 1000 and is suitable for painted or unpainted surfaces.
Michael T. Hartings is the new General Manager for PPG Protective and Marine Coatings.
Ben's Paint Supply has recently partnered with Fiberglass Coatings. This new addition to our team of vendors adds more depth to our resin and related offerings, as well as competitive pricing.
02/08/10. PPG Commercial brands will be having a price increase on April 12. Order ahead on supplies and save money!
Not that this has anything to do with paint, but it's an interesting article about one of PPG's innovations in the aircraft industry, electrochromic windows. To learn more about the Aerospace division, click here.
07/12/10. In conjunction with their 75th anniversary, Matthews Paint Co. introduces their new Ultra-Lo VOC paint line. Maybe in Florida we're not as concerned about VOC's as other states, but this product has other performance features that should still inspire you to sit up and take notice, such as high-hiding (use less paint), ultra-high solids (50-67% means fewer coats), increased flexibility (better weathering), 50% more impact resistance than other industrial grade urethanes and more! Oh, and that whole VOC thing? - Matthews Ultra-Lo VOC finishes (solvent based) are much (much) lower in VOC's than a typical automotive waterborne coating!! Why not take a look? You can also download a product brochure here. Ben's Paint Supply has recently partnered with Fiberglass Coatings. This new addition to our team of vendors adds more depth to our resin and related offerings, as well as competitive pricing. 