Page 112 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine Nov-Dec 2021

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BEST PRACTICE AWARDS
PAINT&PANEL NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2021
AXALTA BUSINESS EXCELLENCE AWARD
5 STAR PANELS
ONE OF THE FIRST REPAIRERS TO INVEST IN SETTING UP AN ADAS RECALIBRATION OPERATION, 5 STAR HAS GROWN FROM A BOUTIQUE SHOP TO THREE SITES SEEMINGLY IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE.
lence Award is for ‘next lev- T el’ sustainable businesses and this year’s winner, 5 Star Panels, Melbourne is no stranger to The Body- shop Awards. In my mind, if 5 Star own- er Fred Sleman was a car he would be a Fiat Abarth - the ultimate pocket rocket. He seems to have an insane amount of energy and since we first met him back in 2016 he has turned a boutique shop (winner of this category in 2017) into an award winning large shop (winner 2020), added two more branches and has a recalibration business to turbo charge production at his own workshops and others in the area. He also now employs over 40 people (more in ‘normal’ trading conditions). On top of all of that he has managed to achieve this in the most
locked down city in the world.
The modest shed in Tullamarine dou-
bled in size when he took over next door and then tripled when a third unit was added. And yet still the site was chocka- block. With its ‘spit and you hit the air- port’ location obviously hire cars have been a chunk of volume. In order to free up more capacity for the insurers he works with it made total sense to open a facility pretty much dedicated to servic- ing the airport customers. So a new branch was opened in Airport West. It made total sense, much more sense than Delta strain wreaking havoc on inter- state and international travel. While that has been painfully expensive for Sleman he is remarkably pragmatic, and
HE AXALTA BUSINESS EXCEL-
at least now can look forward to a bus- tling airport neighbour once more.
What has been a boon in the chicken/ eggs/basket department was the pur- chase of a rural shop in Bacchus Marsh which has been far less affected by Vic- torian lockdowns.
“I think there’s lots of potential for ru- ral shops, yes they are niche but offer a good service and you will always have business in the country and it isn’t such a crowded market.”
The Axalta Business Excellence award used to be called the sustaina-
bility award and it’s all about recognis- ing businesses that look to future proof themselves and stay ahead of the curve. Sleman ticks a whole bunch of boxes here. Firstly he carefully culti- vates relationships with work suppli- ers. “I believe that transparency and open dialogue with work suppliers is the key to having a sustainable and healthy working relationship. This promotes good practices which in the long term helps with business growth and sustainability.”
Another sustainable practice is con-