Page 32 - Australasian Paint & Panel magazine May-June 2022

32
Anniversary special
PAINT&PANEL
MAY / JUNE 2022
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
TOPLEFT: Very few paint brands survived the 80s & 90s. TOP RIGHT: Your average painter in full PPE? ABOVE RIGHT: The code was a long time coming and didn’t quite live up to expectations. BELOW RIGHT: Recognise that cheeky chappie? It’s Capital S.M.A.R.T founder Jim Vais.
Paint companies, suppliers, insurers bought each other out, then, around 2010, big repairer groups did the same. In the end, as we all know, AMA became the hungriest, most aggressive big fish in the sea.
On the progress side, we have many more women in the industry in every role imaginable, I-CAR has been an ex- cellent force to help raise knowledge and repair standards in recent years. Safety and PPE is finally being taken seriously with many businesses developing and maintaining a safe work culture and shops have a cleaner and more attractive work environment. Despite the myriad challenges this industry is still here pro- viding a vital service to keep the Aus- tralian public mobile.
EARLY 1980S
• Dulux and Berger paints ruled, heat lamps for drying
• 1982 Terry Flanagan sets up Autoquote – a world first computer quoting system.
• 1982 Base/clear becomes industry
standard
• 1984 Quoting was moving from pen
and paper to ‘space age’ computerised
quoting systems.
• Welding moving from oxyacetylene to
MIG units