Have panel beaters become panel fitters?

With the average parts ratio of repairable vehicles exceeding 50%, there is cause for concern. In an evolving world, artisans are a dying breed, which has direct impact on the capability and quality of repairing damaged panels. The impact on the insurance industry is huge…

According to Government statistics, “South Africa has a shortfall of about 40 000 qualified artisans against the annual production rate of 13 000 qualified artisans.” ¹

Transport group and Imperial Holdings have taken the initiative to start one of three major Technical Training Academies to address the shortage of technical expertise within the motor, electrical and auto-tronic industries.

Sean Fenn, General Manager of Development and Training at the academy, said, “the pipeline that produced apprentices in South Africa in the past, was broken. The academy is part of an engagement to repair that pipeline.”

According to Engineering News, Imperial will train over 350 apprentices in various related automotive trades at its Belville academy this year, and another 500 apprentices at its Germiston and Wadeville academies in Gauteng province.”²

Makano Morojele, Director of Human Capital, at National Business Initiative notes that in South Africa, there is not proper monitoring and tracking of the progress of artisans, nor enough comprehensive and reliable data available to assist with this tracking.³

Technical challenges

The ever changing design of vehicles and improved performance using lighter weight metals for aerodynamics, makes the metals less malleable.

Many metal panels such as front slam trays and boot floors, are now made of poly composite type plastics and break with most accelerated speed collisions. More intricate parts within the vehicles engine bays are now also being housed by plastic parts and tend to break more easily with impact.

Although there are plastic welding techniques, this is found unacceptable to the owners and or manufacturer of the vehicles, resulting in parts being replaced. There is now a generalisation that Motor Body Repairers (MBR’s) have turned into panel fitters and are not panel beaters anymore.

Having to meet safety standards for pedestrians as well as occupants of a vehicle, reinforced panels make most panels inaccessible for repairs. Structural panels are being manufactured with crumple zones as a safety feature by controlled deforming to redirect the impact or energy from the passenger cabin. These crumple zones are already designed with a weakness in the panel, and cannot be repaired due to metal fatigue. For this reason these panels need to be replaced.

Manufacturers are continuously extending their warranty periods, impacting labour rates. This makes it less economical to repair the parts, taking into account repair time influencing customer service, as well as affecting car hire costs for insurers.

Labour

Continuous strikes within the trade industry, has a knock-on effect on the entire motor trade and repair industry, affecting the profitability of the MBR. The extended time it takes not only to repair the panel, but to also prepare the body panels, is much longer.

According to a 2013 report by the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers of South Africa, the eight week successive strike saw car sales drop by 4.6% and car exports were down by 4.8%. The strike had an enormous impact on the Rand/Dollar exchange which impacts imports, thus the constant increase of part prices. The more expensive the parts, the more profit can be made from mark-ups on replacement parts, as opposed to the average hourly rate allowed in repairing these parts.

Balance

From an insurer’s point of view, the insurance assessor has an ever increasing responsibility to manage all the associated repair costs, respect the manufacturer warranty specifications, allow what is fair and reasonable to repair the vehicle and put the premium paying client back in the same position as they were, prior to the incident.
So the question is really: is it the major industries and Trade Unions or really safety that causes us to lose the art of repairing?
Sources:

¹ http://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/govt-gears-meet-artisan-shortage

² http://www.southafrica.info/business/economy/development/imperial-70313.htm#.UtYxG4waJMs

³ http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/artisan-accelerator-south-africas-artisan-shortage-cloud-may-have-a-training-silver-lining-2010-07-23

? http://www.fin24.com/Markets/Currencies/Strikes-and-the-rand-20131204