March 18, 2011, SECAUCUS, N.J.—The Collision Industry Conference (CIC) is creating a business plan proposal for a new, nonprofit organization, the United States Collision Repair Standards Institute (USCRSI).
If approved, the USCRSI will be charged with managing the creation, maintenance and implementation of ANSI‐approved repair standards for the automotive collision repair industry in the U.S.
The proposal of the organization is the result of years of work by the CIC Repair Standards Advisory Committee, which has analyzed the value of standards, examples of standards development and implementation in other countries, and the drafting of actual technical standards, said Russell Thrall, co-chair of the Repair Standards Advisory Committee and immediate past chairman of CIC.
The development of the new organization was initially discussed at the July 2010 CIC meeting in Chicago.
A contractor will be hired to draft an initial business case statement for the proposed organization, Thrall said. The contractor will seek input and conduct interviews with industry stakeholders including: collision repair shop operators across the U.S., collision repair shop operators in the U.K., automobile physical damage insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers, paint and materials manufacturers, equipment suppliers, and training and certification organizations.
The business case statement will provide a comprehensive overview of industry input and opinion on how the USCRSI should be founded, organized, funded and the scope of its operation, Thrall said. It will be used by the Repair Standards Advisory Committee to raise funds to establish the USCRSI, and serve as the basis in building a formal business plan to guide its start‐up and initial work.
Three subcommittees of the Repair Standards Advisory Committee will assist in developing the business plan:
• The Technical Documentation committee will create the actual repair standards document.
• The Governance committee will determine and establish the corporate governance structure of the USCRSI.
• The Fundraising/Marketing committee will be responsible for developing funding and marketing materials for the USCRSI.
More than 40 people are participating in the three subcommittees.
The subcommittees will present a full organizational business plan at the CIC meeting Nov. 2-3 in Las Vegas, Thrall said. A decision on whether to move forward with the organization will take place after the business plan is presented.
For more information, or to get involved, contact Russell Thrall at [email protected].
