HOFFMAN ESTATES. Ill. — By the end of 2009 or earlier, I-CAR in Canada will no longer operate as a region of I-CAR international, according to I-CAR International Board Chairman Robby Robbs.
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“Following the Canadian Collision Repair Industry Survey and ensuing Town Hall meeting in Montreal, it is sufficiently clear that the market is seeking changes to the current I-CAR structure in Canada,” Robbs says. “This recognition that the industry in Canada is seeking a different direction has prompted the I-CAR International Board to take measures designed to support the Canadian auto collision inter-industry in furthering options for the future.”
The I-CAR International Board of Directors established a Canadian Transition Task Force (CTTF) to receive and evaluate potential options offered by the industry to address its future training needs.
“The board established a Canadian Task Force roughly a year ago, to engage with the marketplace on business-model options that might better serve the needs of the marketplace and incorporate I-CAR products and services,” Robbs says. “At the request of that group under the chairmanship of Roland Taube, work was undertaken and has led us to conclude that the market is indeed ready to support a different model for I-CAR in Canada in the near future.”
The role of Taube and his task force of inter-industry leaders has changed, and is to now engage with the market on the development of proposals for a new business structure in Canada, and to evaluate these options, Robbs said.
During the next 60 days, the newly formed CTTF will support Taube and his team by providing a position paper on I-CAR, and by supporting the development of a structured request for proposal to be used by Taube’s team in soliciting and providing a consistent structure for the potential options offered by the industry. This should facilitate a fair and consistent comparative analysis of proposals submitted, and the development of recommendations based on a consistent set of scoring criteria.
“We would hope that proposals will be forthcoming in early 2009, for Taube’s team to consider and score,” Robbs says. “Once they are comfortable that they have solid proposals from which to review and recommend for board consideration, they will turn them over to the CTTF. The CTTF will review the proposals and the recommendations of Taube’s Task Force, and take a ‘short list’ to the board to decide with whom I-CAR will consider a licensing agreement.”
Robbs said the board indicated that this must be resolved by the end of 2009.
“Beyond that point, we will no longer operate in Canada as a region of I-CAR International,” Robbs says. “This is why we have moved to establish this CTTF. We want to make sure that any transition to a different model for the Canadian market takes place in an orderly, constructive and positive way. The market continues to invest in I-CAR training and in the I-CAR Gold Class Professionals and Platinum Individual programs, and we must ensure that the value of these is sustained and continues through this transition, and beyond.”
John Edelen, I-CAR’s president and CEO said that for the Canadian market it is still business as usual in Canada, for the current operation.
“We will continue to support the training needs of the Canadian market while the task forces and board sort through the new look of I-CAR in Canada,” Edelen says. “We will ensure on-going communications with the industry to keep you abreast of developments and more importantly want to reinforce to stakeholders that we will honor our commitments. I-CAR will not turn its back on the Canadian collision inter-industry while this process is under way. We are looking to structure our activities in Canada in ways which will be more responsive to, and sustained by, the industry. The role of the transition team will be to guide us through this period, so that we don’t lose the momentum and the good will of the industry, and so we come out of this stronger and better positioned to continue I-CAR training, programs and services in Canada, albeit under a different organizational model.
“This isn’t about a loss of a commitment to the Canadian market,” Edelen says. “This work has been about identifying and recognizing the need for change, so that I-CAR’s commitment can be sustained by the Canadian market. We believe that the steps the board is taking will lead us to the right and sustainable solutions for the Canadian inter-industry. In the meantime, our commitment remains high and we are doing everything under our current structure to continue to address the training needs of the industry.”
