Page 24 - Australasian Paint & Panel Magazine Mar-Apr 2021

24
Industry Insights
PAINT&PANEL MARCH / APRIL 2021
WWW.PAINTANDPANEL.COM.AU
KIllen says being unable to fit large vans in a standard-size spray booth is the biggest problem shops face when re- pairing large vans.
“If you’re going to do them you need a longer and higher booth,” he says. “Some vans have an extra-high roof and we wouldn’t be able to fit them in. The Ford Transit, for ex-
ample, has an extra
bulging roof.”
Killen says it’s un-
usual to find shops
that have been kitted
out to handle the really large vans. “Here in the north-west of NSW I can think of about five or six shops who could do it out of a potential 50, so it is reasonably limited,” he says.
“That doesn’t mean other
shops don’t work on vans. The vast ma- jority of the work is front-end so the pan- els are often bolt-on, meaning the bon- net, the guard, the bumpers, and door can all be bolted off and put in the booth on their own and painted without having to put the whole van in the booth.
“If you actually get involved in the body structure of the van, you’re going to need a bigger set-up.”
Besides making room for bigger work bays to accommodate large vans, there is extra equipment required to make
If you actually get involved in the body structure of the van, you’re going to need a bigger set-up.”
sure repair jobs can be completed safely and competently.
“If you’re working on the roof you’re climbing up and down all the time so you need scaffolding and planks and skyhooks,” says Killen.
“I’m looking out the window at a camper van right now, and the roof would be about 2.8 metres from the ground, which is a long way to fall. You have to have the right safety equipment to work on that.
“When we come to the structural side of it, they’re so big and bulky that the benches for the realignment of the struc- ture have to be large and heavy and long - just that little bit larger than passenger car stuff.
“You’ve got to be careful because if you get a van in it can take up two work spaces and you don’t want the guy in the bay next door having to stop his work because of the van. In a shop like ours where we’ve got six panel technicians, if we dominate the shop with those bulky jobs it tends to slow down everyone around it.”
Killen says it’s crucial that shops al- ways stay two steps ahead of whatever trends are happening in the automotive world - like the move towards Electric Vehicles (EVs). With companies across Europe moving to ban the sale of all in- ternal-combustion-engine vehicles by 2030, even vans will soon be shifting to electric propulsion.
Ford Australia won’t confirm when the electric Ford Transit is coming Down
Under, but the people at Ford HQ in America have confirmed it will happen. “We’re already tooled up and have an-
nounced that we’re approved to work with Tesla as one of their body repair- ers,” says Killen.
“We’ve done that consciously to better position ourselves for electric vehicles. Looking to the future, I think there will start to be plenty of EVs, including vans, around. It’s always a bit of a guessing game to try and keep ahead of things, but you have to do it.”
Killen is right, of course, but as much as you can stay ahead of trends that are being widely predicted, it’s harder to know what unimagined drivers of demand are just around the corner. Personally, I wish I had a lot more puppies I could sell in this hot dog market.
2020’S TOP 10 VANS
Toyota Hiace Van 8,391 Hyundai iLOAD 3,919 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2,413 Ford Transit Custom 2,379 Volkswagen Caddy Van 1,749 Renault Trafic 1,701
LDV G10 1,627
Renault Master: 1,429 Volkswagen Crafter: 1,226 Mercedes-Benz Vito 1,195
ABOVE: Mike Killen is kitted out for van repairs.