Page 24 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Sep-Oct 2019

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News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2019 WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
CAPRICORN FUTURES COLLIDE CONFERENCE
A GREAT TURN OUT AND ENGAGING SPEAKERS ENSURED THAT CAPRICORN’S FIRST COLLISION REPAIRER CONFERENCE IN MELBOURNE WAS A GREAT SUCCESS.
T
HE INAUGURAL CAPRICORN
Futures Collide Collision Re-
pair Conference held in Mel- bourne on Saturday August 10 proved to be a major success. Held at the Novotel On Collins Confer- ence Centre, located in Melbourne’s Cen- tral Business District, this unique colli- sion repairer focussed event was also the first ever Capricorn organised event to include both Capricorn Members and non-Members from both Australia and
New Zealand.
A total of 200 delegates heard and interacted with highly qualified speakers from the USA and Europe, along with local industry identities, ensuring the broad sharing of impor- tant industry information, advice, technical workshop product updates and service awareness.
The event’s keynote speaker was Mike Anderson, a leading American collision repair industry business own- er and consultant who is widely regard- ed as a global champion of the indus-
try. Anderson gave a highly detailed insight to the meticulous standards that are required by collision repairers both in the present and heading into the fu- ture. Anderson’s stern delivery of the facts relating to the level of attention to detail required by modern automotive panel repairers was combined with in- teresting stories of his own personal ex- periences with several doses of humour thrown in. This ensured a seriously in- formative and entertaining commence- ment to the conference.
The conference also included a de- tailed panel discussion that included representation by three collision re- pair business owners and operators, the insurance industry and the state’s major automotive industry body. Two OEM’s were represented at the confer- ence (GM Holden and Hyundai), ena- bling delegates to direct questions to senior industry sector specific repre- sentatives for direct and well-in- formed responses.
Hyundai’s presentation included the fact that the global automotive manu- facturer is now a Capricorn Brand Part- ner, providing more access to products and information for members through the Hyundai network of dealers within Capricorn’s formidable supplier base.
With the ever increasing numbers of European makes and models on Aus- tralia’s roads, it was also very apt that the conference also benefitted from the contributions of Ralph Meichtry, Man- aging Director of Betag Innovation, the Swiss based world leading collision re- pair training services provider.
Given that the major emphasis of this collision repair conference was to deal with the issues facing the industry right now, the event’s presenters also
Conference organiser Rob Mildenhall and Dale Durden from Capricorn.