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IBIS WORLD SUMMIT
HORSES FOR COURSES
A Deloitte session talked about the European fleet market and was followed by an interesting global perspective with Michael Wilmshurst, chief executive of Nationwide Accident Repair Services (UK giant network) and Frank Liu, CEO of Fix Auto China. Nationwide suggested that the day of one site being able to repair every vehicle had passed. Wilmshurst explained that Nationwide places an emphasis on the diversity of the repair solution where different problems need different methods.
‘We have a saying: sometimes you need a nurse, sometimes you need a doctor and sometimes you need a surgeon.’ Wilmshurst stated that it is important to ‘keep within scope’ and make sure you are capable of doing the job before taking it.
Talent is a concern in both markets, with Liu highlighting the lack of technicians within China’s industry. Supported by government funding, Fix Auto China has invested in schools
to train technicians.
Ford’s Jennifer Boyer announced
a global body repair network at the
summit. Boyer described the collision
industry as at a pivotal point with the
advent of ADAS systems making
repairing vehicles an even more
complex process. There are over two million Fords involved in accidents in the US each year and around the same number in Europe. Boyd said the company realised that it had been distant from the repair process for too long and that it needed to ensure that its brand was not compromised in the repair process. Customer focus groups also clearly stated that they wanted
Ford to be involved that the repair process.
IS CONSOLIDATION DEAD?
Brad Mewes, principal, Supplement – who writes the Supplementary column in Paint & Panel magazine told delegates that consolidation has reached a new phase and mega deals are now a real potential in North America.
Despite the slowdown, Mewes suggested there is $1.7tn of dry powder investment capital available. He said this was being invested in horizontal acquisitions and integration of businesses. In closing, Mewes suggested there is still a lot to target within the space and the potential for cross border consolidation is certainly evident (such as the Blackstone/ AMA deal).
CALIBER – BIGGER AND BETTER
Mark Sanders, president and COO, Caliber Collision opened session by stating: ‘I really want to challenge the perspective that the higher the pace of growth gets, the more your results deteriorate.’
He then went on to highlight how Caliber’s approach to business and staff or ‘teammates’ engagement has seen it improve across all of its key performance indicators over the past three years. Sanders listed Caliber’s performance metrics as
cycle time; NPS; return rate; kept informed; delivered on time.
He showed a graph charting Caliber’s historic growth from 2010 when it had 79 shops with a revenue of $316m to 2017 during which it was operating 546 sites with annual revenues of over $1.9bn. Sanders highlighted
how 2016-2017 alone saw the business grow by more than 1,200 teammates, some 800 sites and nearly 140,000 repairs. ‘It looks very attractive and is a lot of fun to be in a high growth company but the measure of our success is in our key performance indicators,’ said Sanders. ‘We have made a commitment that Caliber will never outgrow its ability to provide our high levels of service.
IBIS closed with a session on the skills gap, the best suggestion this reporter thought was to engage universities more in qualifications. This could bridge parental objections about going to TAFE versus going to university.
You can find a more detailed session information on both Brad Mewes and Caliber’s strategy on the Paint & Panel website.
Mewes suggested the industry is now in a new phase pointing to 2015/16 as an intense period of growth and opportunity. Fast forward to 2018 and the ‘big four’ in North America have continued to grow but at a slower rate of 26% CAGR – ‘growth is now far more strategic’ said Mewes. He pointed to the continued growth of the two major franchise operators – Carstar and Fix Auto – who he classed as “very active in the market and have grown aggressively”.
Mewes asked ‘is consolidation dead?’ The answer is no but it is in a new stage of a far more selective, disciplined approach. “In 2015, we were in stage two – the period of mega deals and greenfield site development where the strategy was based on profitability and scale. After the ferocious consolidation of stage 2, stage 3 companies focus on expanding their core business and continuing to aggressively outgrow the competition. This is a period of megadeals and large-scale consolidation plays; the goal is to emerge as one of a small number of global industry power-houses.”
www.paintandpanel.com.au
Skills session from left: Jim Muse, Axalta’s North America Sales Director and Global Refinish Accounts Director; Stuart Sandell, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Europe, John Van Alstyne, CEO & president, I-CAR.
“The measure of our
success is in our key performance indicators”
July / August 2018 PAINT&PANEL 23


































































































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