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Articles

Shops March on Capitol Hill During ASA National Convention

Keystone Acquires Some Assets from Bankrupt Eagle Automotive

PPG Earns e-Learning Success Award for Global Training Efforts

Ford Plans to Sell Industrial Equipment Arm of Hertz

ADP Reports Record Q3; Earnings per Share Up 10 Percent

NABC Elects New Officers, Forms Committees

INDUSTRY UPDATE

Legislation held a prominent position on the agenda as the Automotive Service Association (ASA) held its 2002 annual convention just a few miles from the nation's capital in April.

Two busloads of shop owners and other convention attendees in Washington, D.C., spent a day on Capitol Hill, calling on members of Congress from their state to ask them, among other things, to support proposed legislation - H.R. 2735, "The Motor Vehicle Owner's Right to Repair Act" - that would force automakers to make service and repair information readily available to independent repair shops.

At a reception in the Rayburn House Office Building across the street from the Capitol that evening, ASA presented some of the signed petitions ASA members around the country had collected in support of H.R. 2735 to Rep. Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., one of the original co-sponsors of the bill.

The effort had some nearly immediate impact: By the end of the week, seven more House members had signed on as co-sponsors of the H.R. 2735, bringing the total number of co-sponsors to 29.

"That's what grass roots activism is all about," Bob Redding, ASA's lobbyist in Washington, D.C., told convention attendees in his Friday morning presentation. "It's made a tremendous difference. It works. This is a small sample of the power this industry holds if we're together. Realtors, homebuilders, insurance agents and general contractors figured this out a long time ago. If you look at the numbers nationally, we have 120,000 mechanical repairers - that's the low estimate - and 50,000 to 55,000 collision repair shops. If we were all together, think of what we could do."

Although the bill is not expected to move this year, momentum is gathering for it next year, Redding said, and that alone is forcing the automakers to come to the table to discuss information availability.

During the convention, Redding also provided updates on a number of other ASA legislative efforts and positions:

• Insurer-owned shops: ASA's board has issued a statement opposing insurers having controlling ownership interest in repair facilities. Redding said the association has "begun meetings in key states to find out more about what our options are," and may support proposed California legislation that goes beyond ASA's official position by not only banning full ownership of shops by insurers but also forcing insurers to divest any investment they have in repair shops.
• Non-OEM parts: Redding said the time may be right to push for legislation requiring consumer notification and consent prior to the use any non-OEM crash parts. "We have assurances from OEM trade associations and the new car dealers to follow us to Capitol Hill if we decide in the next year to 18 months to pursue a legislative fix for notice and consent," Redding said.
• Shop licensing: Although ASA believes it is up to its members in each state to determine whether they want shop licensing, Redding said ASA is getting more calls from state legislatures interested in the topic. He said it will be critical that shops stay aware of any such efforts in their state - which may be sparked by a negative news story about the industry or even one legislator's bad experience with a shop - to make sure that any licensing program "doesn't become too burdensome to you as a small businessperson or so weak that it becomes nothing more than a tax."

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Keystone Automotive Industries, Inc. has acquired certain assets of Eagle Automotive, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, which recently filed for protection under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code that covers liquidation proceedings. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Separately, the company announced that it has established greenfield operations in Columbus, Ohio; Vancouver, Washington; and Raleigh, North Carolina. These openings complement the company's acquisition in January 2002 of the aftermarket collision parts distribution business of P-G Products Inc., based in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Indiana Distributors, Inc., an aftermarket collision parts business based in Elkhart, Indiana, as well as a greenfield operation established in January in Oklahoma City.

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PPG Industries has won an "e-Learning Success Award" from e-Learning Magazine for its fast, cost-efficient efforts in training employees around the globe. PPG was among three U.S. corporations, three government and four educational institutions to be recognized in the program.

PPG received the award during the e-Learning Exposition and Conference in Washington, D.C., Convention Center in the "corporate quick training" category for its global "Quality Quest" training initiatives. Entries in the 2-year-old e-Learning Success Award program were evaluated by a panel of judges composed of Fortune 100, government and higher education professionals.

More than 2,000 managers across PPG's operations in 120 countries last year received 24 hours of in-depth training on how to better align goals and use the company's "Quality Process" to make sustained improvements in their business units and staff functions.

PPG's award-winning e-learning efforts came in response to a global management needs-assessment, according to Christine Camsuzou, PPG's director of corporate quality.

"Our e-learning efforts were strategically focused on quickly delivering crucial training worldwide," she said. "It augmented face-to-face classroom instruction and, in some cases, provided training in some areas that we otherwise would not have been able to physically reach."

QualityQuest training enabled PPG to provide fast, clear, concise communications across its business units. The online initiative resulted in a savings of nearly $3.5 million last year in delivery of global training, reduced training-development time by about two-thirds and netted praise from all corners of PPG's worldwide operations, Camsuzou said. More important, it also resulted in tighter alignment of business plans and strategic goals.

"QualityQuest training put a sharp focus on alignment of goals at all levels and greatly improved the communications and corresponding linkage of our business planning," said Richard Zahren, vice president of PPG's automotive coatings business unit. "Thanks to the e-learning initiative, we have better operating plans with less churn."

"QualityQuest is a timely, cost-effective forum for delivery of concepts that are crucial to our packaging coatings units' success," David Hughes,human resources director for PPG's packaging coatings business unit, said. "We are now able to easily communicate the role of the individual employee in attaining local, regional and global goals.

"For the first time, our employees are able to understand how they fit into the broader picture and see clearly how their efforts help to drive our business success. QualityQuest enables us to speak the same language about quality."

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