False Creek Collision Article, April2013

7/28/2019 False Creek Collision Article, April2013

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R E G O N A LFEEFFZlx\:M BRrrrsH co,,urvrBr*

Bernhard ubbert as roughtGerman ngineeringo Vancouver.b y J i m C o g g i n s

A Commitmento Quality

661t l' dknown he challengeswould ace,"I Bernhard ubbert ays f hisdecisionoIIbuy acoll is ionepair ho p nVancouver

in2006,1mighthavethoughttwicermaybeeven hree imes."

T h e c h a l l e n g e s n c l u d e d s s u e swith suppl iers nd customers, hangesin technologyand n the industry, nd aforcedmove o a differentmunicipality. utRubbert ashandledhe challengesith acommitmento innovation ndquality ndhasbecomea significantigure n the localcoll is ionepairndustry.German EngineerRubbertdid otsetoutto una collisionepairshop. e rained s chemicalngineernhi snativeGermany ndbeganworking or BASF,

the argest hemical ompanyn he world.WhenEuropean utomanufacturerseganusingwater-based aints n the late 1980s,BASF evelopedwater-based roducts orrefinishers. henCaliforniand hen stateson the USeast oastbegan equiringwater-based aints swell,BASFaw nopportunity.Rubbertwassent o the US o promote heuseof BASF ater-basedroduct.BasednMichigan, e spentmore han hreeyearstravelling cross orthAmerica.

Whenhe returned o Germany, ASFcouldn'tprovideRubbertwith the type ofoperations osition ewas nterestedn,sohedecidedo rysomething ifferent. ehadfallen in ovewith the NorthAmerican ayof ife."Hehadvisited ancouverto romote

BASF ater-based aint(shopownershadlistened olitely ut shown ittle eal nterestandhehad acationedherewith his amily n2004.|n2006,henRubbert iscoveredhatFalse reekCollisionndowntownVancouvewas orsale, e decidedo buy t."Falsereekollisions he irstshopnCanadao offer ompletewater-basedin shng'

Thiswasno tasbiga change smightbethought.Rubbert lready new a lo t aboutrefinishing.n he course f hiswork,he hadbeen n hundreds f bodyshops round heworld,andhe had earned bit aboutwhat ttookto make nesuccessful.e hought hechallenge ouldbe nteresting.

A t t h e t i m e , h e d i d n ' t k n o whow nteresting.Moverand ShakerWhen he took over the shop, RUbberdiscovered e had to rebui ld s tra inedrelationshipsit hsuppliersndalso uild pa steady lientele. hingsweredifficultat irstbut after wo yearshe shopwasdoingwell.

Then he Cityof Vancouver roppedabombshell. alse reek ollision ason andleasedrom he city hat he cityhadownedfo r halfa century.n 2010,he city nformedRubbertha t t wa splanningo pu t a parkon th e an dand he had 12months o finda new location. n fact,as he city seemedto be encouragingndustries uchas epairshops o relocate lsewhere,he closeslocationRubbertcould ind was severamiles way nBurnaby.ThiswastillinGreateVancouver ut a long way from Rubbert'sdowntownclientele.

Thenewswasno tal lbad.The hop ha tRubbert ought n Burnabywasmaller utmoremodern nd erywellequipped.uttheclientelerom hat shopmostly ransferredoa sister hop, nd he clientelerom he old

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BernardRubbert, wner of FalseCreekCollision nd hisstaff.


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OnMarch2,2013, alse reek ollision elebratedheshop'sull conversionowaterborne.TheMayor of Burnaby,Mr. DerekCorrigan, nd hiswife,MLAMrs.KathyCorrigan, ttended hebrief openingceremony,

shopwere mostlyno t interestedn drivingout to Burnaby. ubbert ssentiallyad ostartover.

"Sincehanges nevitable,shopsust onstantlyeinnovatingndmproving."Rubbert esponded ith characteristic

innovation nd lexibility. e kept he FalseCreek ameeven hough he shopwasnowmiles rom heFalse reek rea fVancouver.Healso ecidedha t f customers ould notcome o him,he would have o go to thecustomers.esetupavalet ervice.ewouldtakea courtesy ar o the client'shome orbusiness,o iveminutes f paperwork,ndthen ake he client's ar back o hi sshop.When he carwas repaired, e would takeit back o the customerand pick up thecourtesy ar.

Busybusinesspeoplen downtownVancouver ho didn'twant o take ime offwork to go to a body shop, oved he newservice.odi dmothers ithyoung hildren.

The irstyearwas ough, but Rubbertaggressively arketed he service, nd heshop sdo ingwel lagain.PioneerWhenhe came o Vancouver, ubbertwas

determinedo usewater-basedaint.No tonlywa s t better or he environment,utit wassubstantiallyetterforhisemployees'health, nd hewasconvincedt was hewayof the future.Water-basedase oatswereread i ly vai lable ut genera l ly o t be ingused.Water-based rimerwas harder oapp lyand required dapting he shop'sprocesses, ut Rubbert ntroduced hataswell.

The most recent nnovation s water-based lear oat.WhenRubbertearned issupplier, PG, asdeveloping ater-basedclear oats, e convincedPPGo let him ryusing he ne wproduct n an experimentalbasis. PG NorthAmerican ompany, adde l ibera te ly one to Europe o acquireEuropeanechnology.PP G s among hefirst n the world to developwater-basedclear oats.

The new clear oats equire hangesin processes.or ebaking ime s required,an d Rubbert dmits here s some oss nproductivity,ut hesayshe esults re reallypromising"nd theproducttselfs antastic."

False reekColl is ions he firstshopin Canadao offercompletelywater-basedfinishing.n act,Rubbert asan audaciousgoalof educingheemissionsro mhi s ho pto zero.

These reno t the only change ssuesRubbertha swrestledwith. Sincemoving,he has discoveredhat the number ofjobs handledby hi sshopha sdeclined yabout 30 percent, hich s n l inewith anInsurance orporation f BC eport hat itis receiving bout 30 percent ewer claims.However,Rubberthasalso ound that thejobscoming nto hi sshopar ebigger.He snot surewhetherthissan ndustrytrend ndif peoplegenerally regettingmajor epairsdone but arenot botheringwith cosmeticdamage. ccidentepairs ake pB0percentof h isbusiness.

"Rubbert'soalsto fferthebest roducts,hebestechnicians,andhe estervice."

With auto manufacturers singne wmetals ndplastics nd new safety ystems,repairs re often becomingmorecomplex.Rubbert asalsooticedhatdealershipseemmore nterestedn doing epairshemselvesand automanufacturersreexperimentingwith prefinishedeplacement anels ha tmaycu t nt ocoll is ionepair hops'business.

"This ndustry s very conservativendtraditionally ased," ubbert ays.People

continued on page 42 il+

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continuedrom oge 1n+don ' t l i ke change.They want to s t ickwith what they know."But sincechangeis inevitable, hops must constantlybeinnovating nd mproving.EntrepreneurOneadvantageubbert ad shi s ackground.Somecustomers avea built-in espect or

"German ngineering." orRubbert,ha t us tmeans ehas commitmento qualityaboveall."Hi sgoal s o offerthebestproducts,hebest echnicians,nd he bestservice.

"lnacompetitiveorld,you aveostandut."Thisdoes not end with waterborne

paintand he valetservice. ubbert as lsoimplementedea nmanagement,ndheha sworkedat offering ustomers oundadviceon nsurancessues.

In addition,Rubbert aspu t a strongemphasisn hir ing he ightpeople.lwant

to work with them asa team,"he says. lt'snotjustbeingwillingo earn ewtechniques.Theyhave o share he vision."Partof thisis being wil l ing o experimentwith newproducts uchaswaterborne aints.

Rubbertha sa very high profi le orsomebody who has on ly been in theindustry-or even he country-for only afewyears. ehas earned owto makegooduseof the media.Therear e wo aspectsothis,Rubbert ays.One s hat he uses t asa marketing ool-"ln a competitiveworld,you have o standout."The other s moreoutward-looking.l do not want to stay na verysmallworld,"he says.Wherehe haspositive xperiences nd knowledge suchashisknowledge f waterborne aints), ewants o share hem with others, to be aspearheador change."

Noteveryone as he mentality o runa coll is ion epair hop. lt requires ertaincapabilities,"esays.Noteveryoneando t."

" l don't regret eaving he security fthe corporateworld o be a self-employeentrepreneur,"ubbert ays.n act, o someextent,he hinks t would havebeeneasieto take he plunge t ayounger gean dhewould havehad onger o reap he benefits

Theattraction snot reedomor beinghi sown bossexactly, ince collision epaishopowner hasmany bosses-he has osatisfycustomers,nsurance ompanieand government egulators.t is more heability o makedecisions ithout having oconvince nybody ut himself, orkingwitha eam o achieve commongoal, ndbeingresponsibleor everythingn the businesWhilehe hasexperienced orechallengethanheexpected,t waspartlyhechallengethat drew Rubbert nto he business.Jim Coggins oggins.cas a writer ond editorfromAbbotsford, .C.I

A custommixof servicesto increaseourprofit4tility.-,Everyonean agree n maximizingho pprofitabit ity.uPontPerformanceervices,urvalue-addedffering il l helpdrivemorewor l

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False Creek Collision Article, April2013