There are a host of compliance issues that collision shops need to be concerned about. Hazardous waste disposition, human resources and employee related issues, EPA and state environmental and air quality issues, OSHA and workplace safety compliance issues, and HIPAA and privacy laws are some key ones. http://bit.ly/zVTNED

The new issue of ABRN How2 is available and it offers an instructional video on block sanding, a video on NABC's Recycled Rides donation in Palm Springs, Calif., additional industry videos, blogs, Top Shop profile articles and more. http://bit.ly/x4Klio

According to avariety of analysts, yes, it will.

In 2008, the year that average gasoline prices hit records above $4 during the summer, the U.S. average didn't climb above $3.50 until April…

Chief EZliner Express

Feb 2012

Buddha without a soul

Mr. Oba, a lifelong Toyota Sensei and student of Mr. Ohno was quoted as saying – Lean is like Buddha missing a soul (paraphrasing). At first blush, this probably doesn't mean much to most. But after deeper inspection one would realize what he was referring to, was and is the core problem of “lean” as it has become widely referred to today. This is especially true for us in the collision repair industry. Let me…

Gyant Compliance, a division of Gyant Group, a Lake Forest California based company announced today that it has launched a New VOCWEBMANGER Application for the Collision Repair Industry.

“Gyant Compliance developed VOCWEBMANGER due to experiencing first-hand challenges of compliance that McLaren Unibody, my father in law’s old shop had faced with AQMD,” said Jon Gypsyn, CEO. ”I witnessed auto body shops struggling with tracking VOC’s, expiring permits, keeping up with new…

Motor Age: What are one or two key areas that owners should focus on first when marketing their shop?

First, shops actually need to market. Many don’t. They rely on word-of-mouth and a yellow pages listing. That worked in the past; it won’t in the future.

Second, shops can’t afford to spend advertising money and just assume it’s working. They have to know.…

I-CAR and ABRN will present a free webinar, "Best Practices for High Strength Steel Repairs" at noon EST Feb. 28. The one-hour webinar will discuss vehicle construction, how to identify the characteristics of certain steels, where they are commonly located, and to what extent they can be repaired. www.abrn.com/highstrengthsteel

Let’s play a game.

Try to think of any phone number from any business in your area.

Ready…go.

Think. Think of all the radio jingles you’ve ever heard, the TV commercials, the clever phrases or rhymes with phone numbers in them.

Okay stop.

How many did you think of?

One? Maybe two? Zero?

The first time I played this game I thought of one phone number off the top of my head.  One.

I also played this game…

We are almost to the end of January and I hope everybody has had a chance to reel in their 2011 numbers.  While those numbers are fres h in your mind I encourage you to look them over and pick three that you feel you can improve on.  Then unlike the New Year’s resolutions you made just under a month ago,…