Page 22 - Australian Paint & Panel Magazine May-June 2019

22
News • In Focus
PAINT&PANEL MAY / JUNE 2019
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
Major Expo sponsors Sydney Automo- tive Paint & Equipment (SAPE) had a massive presence with a huge array of curing, joining and alignment equip- ment as well as displays from the many brands it distributes such as Juice, Cam and Roar. Director Paul McMartin said: "The SAPE Group were once again proud to be the major sponsor of the Collision Repair Expo in 2019. This is undoubtedly the pinnacle event that brings our great industry together un- der the one roof. The 2019 Expo proved to be one of the best shows of recent years. We had tremendous feedback from customers and many key players
This is undoubtedly the pinnacle event
that brings our great industry together under the one roof.”
in the industry. We’re excited about the future of our industry and The Colli- sion Repair Expo in 2021."
Lowbake as they do every year, sup- plied the demonstration booths outside for paintshop product demonstrations which were live-streamed in one of the cafe areas.
Lowbake launched the mobile re- pair cell and a wheel station and a mobile UV. We liked Norton's clever process tub idea too. A host of new products were launched, see the prod- ucts section on page 64. One of our favourite new products was the Guni-
wheel, a universal spare wheel which fits 95% of cars in Australian market. There was also a very clever paint mixing machine which we will fea- ture next week.
As well as the plethora of product, there was also a packed program of seminars. Sadly, I only got to two of them but they were both excellent. The Repair and Prepare for the Future had an informative panel including ve- hicle manufacturer representatives from Holden, Ford, Volkswagen and Subaru as well as Mark Czvitkovits from I-CAR and Jeff Williams from Specific Prestige. Unsurprisingly the two most important elements to pre- pare for the future and training and developing good relationships with manufacturers and dealers.
Andrew Marsh of EZI Methods and Auto Industry Consulting flew out from the UK to talk about the opportu- nities that ADAS is offering the colli-
sion repair industry. I was also fortu- nate to be able to interview him and found his insights into the automotive industry and how it affects body re- pairers fascinating - see page 26. The Hella Gutmann calibration system that drew a great deal of attention at the show, a demonstration of how it works can be found on our YouTube channel.
Friday night was party night for many visitors with a host of suppliers inviting their customers to network and enjoy themselves. I enjoyed a couple of glasses of top notch wine with Car Craft, then slipped into Axalta's fabulous casino-themed party before enjoying some great jazz with Akzo- Nobel. Glasurit, Valspar and St Gobain also entertained their customers.
You'll find a number of short videos from the show on our YouTube channel (search Paint and Panel magazine) including a highlights tour and demonstrations of new and innova- tive products.
TOP LEFT: Colourful Parts Check stand has a big team to explain the concept to showgoers.
TOP RIGHT: Capricorn has a large presence with two stands.
LEFT: The Guniwheel was one of our favourite product launches.