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Hammer & Dolly: Cost, ‘culture’ considerations prior to OEM certification

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Hammer & Dolly, a joint production of Thomas Greco Publishing and the Washington Metropolitan Auto Body Association, has graciously allowed us to reprint excerpts of some of its past few months’ articles speaking to some of the hottest issues in collision repair.

Among the must-reads for shops considering their first or and additional certification is the May 2017 NORTHEAST coverage explaining what kind of effort and expense an owner or staffer will need to rate a spot on an OEM auto body shop network. Highlights include:

(Barry) Dorn, whose shop is currently certified by Tesla, Porsche and Jaguar Land Rover (among others), made it clear that one of the biggest elements of being a certified facility is implementing the correct employee culture to make the process succeed and grow.

“If your people and your team aren’t really bought into it, it can be a living hell. It can fizzle quickly, and it’s very costly. But at the end of the road, if you can get through it, the reward’s there – just like with all challenges.” …

(Tom) Elder noted that getting a technician up to speed on this level of training is not always an easy process, revealing that one of his Mercedes-Benz techs once failed a test that cost $6,600 to take over.

“It hurt the technician to come back to it. Now, he goes every time and passes right away, and he has a great relationship with the people at the welding center. The whole thing turns into a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of pride in what you do to make it work.”

Don’t miss the rest of the discussion, which begins on Page 22 of the May 2017 issue. Read it here.

More information:

“NORTHEAST® Offers Perspectives on OEM Certification”

Hammer & Dolly, May 2017

Featured image: From left, Gary Wano, Tom Elder, James Carvino, Rick Starbard and Barry Dorn participate in an Alliance of Automotive Service Providers-New Jersey OEM certification discussion during NORTHEAST. (Hammer & Dolly)

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