THRIVING with WATERBORNE

Jan. 1, 2020
ENGLAND – Collision repair facilities in the United States and Canada are readying themselves for the changeover from solvent to waterborne paints. Portions of California have mandated that shops begin converting to waterborne next year and com

England's shops share encouraging words for U.S. shops headed toward new technology

ENGLAND – Collision repair facilities in the United States and Canada are readying themselves for the changeover from solvent to waterborne paints. Portions of California have mandated that shops begin converting to waterborne next year and complete the process by January 2009. As a result, some operators in the state are feeling more than a little trepidation about how such a rollout will impact their overall production and bottom line profitability. But what's coming in the United States is not new. European countries began making the waterborne transition in the 1990s and shops in the European Union must be waterborne compliant by the start of 2008, although most have already made the change.

In an attempt to help shop's in the U.S. comprehend what's ahead, Spray-Tech and Junair invited ABRN to England to visit collision repair shops and see firsthand how these operations have adapted to waterborne products. England has approximately 4,500 collision repair shops, according to Doug Kirk, a former export and technical director with Junair who served as our host during the short visit to England.

"The difference between what you've got (in the United States) and what we've got is that you are going through what we went through in the 1980s," says Kirk, a Scottsman who now works for one of the global paint manufacturers. "You have at least twice the number of body shops than the market can actually sustain. We went from 25,000 in 1980 to 4,500 shops now; we've probably gotten to the point where it's just about right."

After spending a few days talking with operators and painters in various parts of the country, it was readily apparent that making the conversion from solvent to waterborne was a concern to them, too ... many years ago.

High end, strong results

With a short crew cut, square shoulders and angular jaw, Jimmy Renwick looks more like a rugby scrum-half than a seasoned painter of 25 plus years. So when his boss, Kevin Richardson jokingly says his lead paint tech "spits and curses at him" with the mere suggestion that he use solvent during a repair, it seems best to let Renwick have his way.

Richardson is general manager of Carr and Earl, a dealer shop that is BMW and Mercedes-Benz approved. The 10,000-sq.-ft. facility, located in Newcastle upon Tyne in Northeast England, has seven factory-trained techs, five from BMW and two from Mercedes. Carr and Earl made the crossover to waterborne in 1997.

"It really is fear of the unknown, isn't it? That's all it is," says Richardson, sitting at his office desk discussing the nervousness felt by his employees prior to the move. Since then, however, they've come to realize the fear was unfounded.

"You've got a bit of a contrast between peoples' capabilities and skills," he says. "When they're working with a new product, if it doesn't go right, that product is (considered bad). It's not the product. It's that they don't have the right skill level to work with the product."

Renwick is not at the low end of that scale. He was BMW's Paint Technician of the Year in 2004 and helped build the shop to its current status as one of England's best body shop operations.

"Once you've used water a couple of weeks, and you get into the flow of it (it's fine)," says Renwick. The key to making that transition, however, is getting rid of the solvent altogether. Keeping solvent based paints in the shop for a couple years during the transition actually hurt the learning curve for the shop's painters, he says. "Once you took the solvent away you had to use water. If you're running solvent next to water you'll fall back into it. You've got to clear the decks."

In terms of overall quality, Renwick says hands down water is better. There are some slight differences in the process, though. "Your preparation has to be a little bit better. Preparation is the main thing with water-base, especially on light colors," he says. As a rule of thumb, during preparation techs should consider increasing sanding grades one level. So if you sand at 500, go to 600; if you sand at 600, switch to 700 for a better finish.

As we've discovered in the U.S., it also is vital to get proper airflow to complete waterborne jobs. Carr and Earl installed venturi-type blowers early on, which worked fine as long as the shop didn't have too many cars to push through the system. But as production picked up, the shop had to make changes to its spray booths and enhance air movement with new blower systems within their booths.

Along with the product changes related to waterborne there have been facility changes that have given Carr and Earl enhanced profitability. In 2005 a second door was added to the bay area to improve traffic flow and eliminate bottlenecks.

For Richardson, getting the proper finish on a job is important, but just as important is the financial benefit his shop has witnessed following the transition from solvent to waterborne. He wouldn't allow us to disclose figures in terms of how profitable the shop has become as a result of waterborne and design changes. But he is more than pleased with the results.

"They will see a gain," he says of U.S. operators switching to waterborne. "There are no ifs, ands or buts about that. That's why they shouldn't be fretting about profitability and higher costs because they'll actually see profitability grow." It's not just a matter of making the product switch, though. "You have to combine it with the correct management processes and procedures. Once you change the processes in line with the products you're using, that's the end result," says Richardson, pointing to financial gains outlined in a PowerPoint presentation.

Heavy volume DRP

While Carr and Earl has a captive audience and can generate business based on its status as a BMW and Mercedes certified shop, other repairers in the country attract volume through insurance agreements, or direct repair programs. One of the larger DRP-style players in the United Kingdom is Karl Vella Autobody Repairs, an independent operation with four locations in England's Northwest.

Michael Cannon, general manager of Karl Vella's Skelmersdale shop, says insurers drive 110 vehicles per week to his massive 51,000-sq.-ft. facility. That figure includes 43,000 sq. ft. of shop floor and 8,000 sq. ft. of office space.

Cannon started in the business as a painter at the age of 15. Kirk observes, "More and more of what you do now in the shop is based on the refinish side as opposed to the panel-beater side. I personally think the most productive body shop managers in the UK are ex-painters."

Watching Cannon stalk through the facility inspecting cars as he moves through the bays it's obvious he keeps close tabs on the operation. He's been with Karl Vella for 15 years and was in place when the shop switched to waterborne seven years ago.

Cannon says most jobs average 16 to 17 hours of time, with an average of seven or eight hours devoted to paint. With 58 employees the shop is jumping most of the time.

"This is a busy shop," he says. "This is probably one of the busiest shops in the northwest of England."

Five tow trucks bring in 25 cars per day to the Skelmersdale location. A staff of five estimators looks at the cars and within an hour estimates are done, parts lists are generated and ordered and the job is scheduled. "The first thing I need to know is when I'm getting my metal in," adds Cannon. Interestingly, unlike in the U.S., consumers don't travel from shop to shop getting repair estimates. If a vehicle is brought into the shop nine times out of ten it's staying until the work is completed. It's up to the shop to pick up vehicles and bring them in for repairs. It's also up to the shop to supply courtesy cars to customers, which makes it that much more critical for short cycle times.

As with Richardson and Renwick at Carr and Earl, Cannon agrees that today's painters are much more comfortable with waterborne and, in fact, prefer water to solvent. The shop has eight painters and an apprentice. "When we first went over to water, they were all (nervous). If you ask any one of them now, they would not go back to solvents. No painter here would go back to solvents," says Cannon. Overall coverage is better, which reduces the amount of paint used, and that's more than enough of a savings to counter-balance the 20 minutes or so of extra drying time needed in the booth as a result of waterborne technology.

"A prime example is when I took on a painter from the Czech Republic," recalls Cannon. "He came over to this country and didn't speak a word of English and had never used water in his life. Within five days he was a natural ... and he couldn't even understand the language. That's how easy it is."

The biggest problem painters had in those early days was with color matching, says Cannon. The shop stayed with solvent for a time because certain colors were not available in waterborne, he says. Those early match problems, however, have since disappeared and solvent-based products have been long gone.

While shops in the United States grapple with the changes, it's obvious shops in England that have already completed the transition are confident in the technology. New spray guns may be necessary to avoid rust forming from the water-based system. And shops may need to enhance their airflow to make certain that drying times are adequate. At the end of the day, however, change is not for the worse, it's for the better.

"We've lost a little bit of production in some areas," adds Kirk. "We've had to go high solids. But by changing a few processes, it allows us to go faster, better, quicker, to make the overall process as quick, if not quicker."

Richardson from Carr and Earl, adds that it all comes down to attitudes. "We can't reinvent the wheel, but we can influence the speed and direction in which it turns," he says. "Winners make it happen, losers let it happen. You're probably going to have a few losers in this process."

About the Author

Michael Willins

Mike has been involved in the automotive industry since 1997. He was formerly Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Automotive Body Repair News. In 2005, under Mike's direction ABRN won the Advanstar Communications "Magazine of the Year Award." Prior to that he was senior editor of Aftermarket Business. With Mike's help Aftermarket Business earned the 2004 Gold Key Award as Publication of the Year given out by the Association of Automotive Publication Editors.

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