FEATURE SCRS INITIATIVES ONGOING AS THEY COME TO RICHMOND IN APRIL

The Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) introduced several new initiatives and benefits in 2022, and the first Open Board Meeting of 2023 provided an opportunity to “reflect on the accomplishments of the past year and their importance to this organization, this industry and the people we represent,” SCRS Executive Director Aaron Schulenburg stated. “We have a responsibility to be the voice for the industry and to assist with the issues they face. The rest of the industry counts on this organization to be the leader that identifies challenges and offers resources to address those needs.”

And as the rest of the meeting focused on providing updates on those “initiatives that have taken years of work and development to ensure we found the right solutions for this industry,” Schulenburg encouraged attendees to “carry the water back to your own markets, members and customers who gave us guidance and feedback on the things that are important. This is all because of you and for you. We want to make sure everyone has access to this information and these resources.”

SCRS offers a plethora of resources for collision repair professionals, and the organization’s latest and greatest offering is its healthcare plan through Decisely. “Businesses we represent asked us to solve their healthcare problem; they were paying exorbitant amounts of money for coverage that’s only there in the event of a catastrophe, but though it wasn’t improving anybody’s lives, they just didn’t have any better options,” Schulenburg recalled, explaining the SCRS healthcare program is saving participating businesses 10-15 percent on average compared to what they were paying before, plus “the coverage is so much better than they were previously able to offer, thanks in part to the extensive list of no-cost services.”

He also provided an update on the SCRS 401(k) retirement plan, which had recently seen a reduction in the cost structure after exceeding the 250-participant threshold. But the most important component of these offerings extends into how it helps collision businesses retain their employees. (Hammer & Dolly provided an in-depth look at these benefits in last month’s edition, available at grecopublishing.com/hd0223natlfeature.)

“We want to make this a more attractive place for people to work,” Schulenburg stressed. “If we can provide better opportunities for our employees, they will be grateful for the opportunities they have in our businesses, and they will feel more connected to us. That’s what we really want, and that’s why these benefits are such a win for the industry.”

An equally important initiative that SCRS undertook last year was the highly-anticipated blend study conducted in collaboration with AkzoNobel, Axalta, BASF, PPG and SherwinWilliams (available for download at scrs.com/ blendstudy). Over the past two decades, collision repairers expressed repeatedly that the blend formulas documented by the information providers (IPs) did not align with what they experienced in their repair facilities, according to Schulenburg.

“All three designate a blend as 50 percent of that full refinish value, but our members have long said that painting a panel from edge to edge is easier and less time-consuming than to create an invisible transition of color to facilitate a color match; they insisted that it requires more skill. For well over a decade, we asked the IPs to reevaluate whether or not these blend values are still appropriate, but all three companies routinely replied with the same response: ‘We’re standing by our formula.’ Yet, their test results were proprietary. They wouldn’t share how they came to those values, and they wouldn’t re-evaluate it.

“So, SCRS pulled together all five North American coatings companies to conduct an accurate, scientifically-driven study,” Schulenburg continued. “Rather than compare each company’s operational time, we agreed to express it in percentages. We compared the process of applying color to a full panel versus blending to accommodate a color match. And when we published our white paper and presented our findings at the Collision Industry Conference in November, no one was surprised by the results.” (Read the recap of the unveiling of the study results at grecopublishing.com/ hd1222cic2022).

Since the release of the blend study white paper, SCRS has engaged in positive dialogue with all three IPs, each working through their own processes internally, with at least one who has agreed to conduct their own research and respond by the end of Q1. “We provided meaningful data that was conducted impartially and which provides enough information to get them to re-evaluate this 50 percent ratio that does not reflect what shops actually experience. Colors today aren’t the same as they were 30 years ago. Cars aren’t the same, and customers’ expectations aren’t the same. It’s all so much more complex, and our investment in this critical research helps serve as a foundation for discussions that impact a great number of people in our industry.”

SCRS sees the success of the blend study as an opportunity to address similar issues in the industry in situations where the processes or the numbers simply don’t make sense or are not reflective of what technicians encounter in real-world scenarios. Expect to see additional studies conducted in the near future to help advance the industry and make a difference for small and large shops across the country.

Many of the discrepancies found in the estimating products can be addressed through the Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG), a free resource available to the entire industry. SCRS Board member Barry Dorn (Dorn’s Body & Paint; Mechanicsville, VA) announced that 60 percent of the inquiries submitted to the DEG last year resulted in a net change. “That’s the power of what the DEG does. It provides a way for us to collaboratively push the boulder up the hill together.”

Dorn turned the microphone over to Nick Schoolcraft (Phoenix Solutions Group) who shared highlights about the updated site. “Security has been enhanced, and the ability to input inquiries will be much faster and more user-friendly,” he promised. “Users will be able to dive deeper into each individual query, plus we increased the overall speed of the website, leveraged mobility so it will be usable on mobile devices and updated the structure of the database to improve the reporting feature.” Stay tuned to Hammer & Dolly for an upcoming in-depth look at the new and improved DEG site, available at degweb.org

SCRS Treasurer Robert Grieve (Nylund’s Collision Center; Englewood, CO) shared an update on the Blueprint Optimization Tool (BOT), which “takes a repair plan written by a shop and suggests potentially forgotten operations. The BOT allows us to build consistency with different blueprinters, and since its inception, 66,000 operations have been added to estimates across the country that probably would not have been added. If we assume each operation took just half an hour, billed at $50 an hour, that’s $1.7 million moved onto body shops’ balance sheets, and that’s pretty exciting!” Learn more about the BOT at scrs.com/bot

Another resource SCRS has provided auto body repairers for some time is the continued release of its Quick Tips videos, co-hosted by Mike Anderson (Collision Advice) and Danny Gredinberg (DEG).

SCRS Secretary Michael Bradshaw (K&M Collision; Hickory, NC) noted that recent installations have also included consumer-facing videos that can be used “as a resource to help educate consumers on repair processes and also to address questions they may have about coverages or how the claims process works.”

Schulenburg challenged shops to share these consumer-facing videos to their local Facebook marketplaces. “Those consumer pages have thousands of consumers in your marketplace, and this is an opportunity to share free educational material with your community. Get in front of your community, encourage them to ask you more questions about it, and set yourself up as the subject matter expert. We want to get these videos in front of as many consumers as possible!”

The 2022 installment of SCRS’s Repairer Driven Education series reached more attendees than ever before. “We hosted our most wellregistered and best-attended live program in the 13-plus years we’ve been delivering education at the SEMA Show,” Schulenburg shared, also noting that SCRS saw a 300 percent increase in new member growth in Q4 of last year compared to the final quarter of 2021. It was a wildly successful year, but we’re always looking for new opportunities to make it a little more special and re-evaluate how to best bring these training sessions to as many repairers as possible. 2022 sessions are now available online at rde.scrs.com

“We want to expose as many shops as possible to topics that will help open their eyes and encourage them to step out of their businesses and come to these events where they leave feeling continued on pg.