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Vehicle structure, business practices, training and more on deck for SEMA Collision Stage Stage

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Announcements | Education
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I-CAR, the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS), and guests from a variety of industry companies will deliver panel discussions, interviews, and information sessions during the SEMA Show on the Collision Repair & Refinish Stage (#32145) Nov. 5-8 from 10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. each day.

The full schedule of events is available on the I-CAR SEMA 2024 homepage. All the presentations will be livestreamed on the same page and available on demand the following day.

Andrew Batenhorst, SCRS Board director-at-large and Education Committee chair, will participate in several panel discussions covering blueprinting, OEM audits, foundational skills, mentorship considerations, and digital quality control options. He told Repairer Driven News most of the sessions are 30 minutes long and attendees will walk away with good real-world tips to immediately implement in their shops.

“We tried to choose stuff that is relatable and pertinent to what an average body shop is navigating from day to day,” he said. “We have a really good mix of everything from best practices for passing an OEM audit to handling training deficiencies on your team and the cultural side of that as well as the technical side. We’re even going to go into some of the logistical considerations in terms of repair planning departments. Some of the tooling and things that are overlooked a lot by managers when they’re trying to set up that department for success.”

Batenhorst recommends that SEMA attendees prioritize what they consider the most important events and classes to attend with the “Map Your Show” planner feature on the SEMA Show app or website and/or phone reminders to keep on schedule.

I-CAR Repairability Technical Support and OEM Technical Relations Manager Scott VanHulle added that I-CAR is working with every aspect of the industry to provide technical presentations at the show as well as interviews with tool and equipment OEMs.

There will also be separate panel discussions with four automakers — Ford, Stellantis, Rivian, and Audi.

“Rivian is going to cover some of the modifications that have been made to the Rivians that are different than the first generation,” VanHulle said. “They’ve made some updates and things like that that they want to cover and understanding the difference of, basically, what needs to be modified when you get the new part that’s for an old vehicle, and vice versa.”

Rivian will also feature a speciality-built R1S Body in White (BIW) in the SCRS booth (#31147) located next to the SEMA Collision Stage. The Rivian Engineering and Collision Network teams will make daily appearances in the SCRS booth to discuss vehicle material, their collision network, and the importance of proper repair. The teams will be available from 2-4 p.m. The newly-built display will be a physical representation of the Rivian material matrix, providing show attendees with perspective on how the exterior panels and inner structure are combined, in an interactive exhibit.

The conversation on the stage might also serve as a teaser to an OEM Collision Repair Technology Summit session, “The Value of OEM Repair Information,” which will feature David Sosa, manager, Collision Research & Development Workshop; Dan Black, senior manager, Service Engineering – Collision; and Kelly Logan, director, 3P Service and Collision Repair Programs, who will present the process an automaker undertakes to research, develop, validate, and publish new repair procedures for the industry.

The session will dive into a case study on the developmental life cycle of the front frame rail section concept, which will also be evident on the booth display. According to a news release, field data showed the front frame rail could incur damage even in a low-speed impact. It also was determined that the market would benefit from a safe and cost-effective alternative to a complete “skateboard” replacement.

On the stage with VanHulle, Ford Senior Damageability Engineer Gerry Bonanni will cover rivets to welding and everything in between, VanHulle said.

“Anything with vehicle structure is going to be what the focus of that one is,” he said. “Audi is going to be vehicle structures and going into some things around EVs and network. Stellanti will cover vehicle structure and some different things that have come up over the years that they want to draw attention to.”

I-CAR will also offer hands-on virtual reality learning experiences for attendees at the stage.

Database Enhancement Gateway (DEG) Administrator Danny Gredinberg will host live interviews that I-CAR will stream with Rivian on Nov. 5 about repair considerations for repair planning and estimating; with Repair Logic and OEConnection (OEC) on Nov. 6 about researching OEM repair procedures and using Repair Logic; and on Nov. 7 with 3M about repair planning for consumables and materials.

Videos from the stage last year can be viewed on I-CAR’s YouTube page here.

Images

Featured image: Kye Yeung, European Motor Car Works (CA), John Mosley, Clinton Body Shop (MS), Bruce Halcro, Capital Collision Center (MT) and Rob Grieve, Nylund’s Collision Center (CO) discuss “Pushback and Effective Countermeasures” on the Collision Repair and Refinish Stage at the 2021 SEMA Show.

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