Symposium Proceedings Report – Global Interchange

 With the theme of 'Global Interchange', the Symposium Proceedings Report for the eighth International Bodyshop Industry Symposium - IBIS 2008 – will shortly be available. This year's Report contains complete transcripts of all speaker presentations at the six sessions making up IBIS 2008 (outlined below), together with consolidated statistical market data for most of the key refinish markets around the world. The pre-publication special offer price of the IBIS 2008 Proceedings Report is GBP375 including postage and packaging (see below for ordering information).  

Opening presentation – Vehicle manufacturers and the repair sector – on a collision course?
Speaker: Chris Mann – Chairman, IBIS 

Session 2: What's happening in the world's motor industries? - Implications for the collision repair market
Speaker:  Dr Peter Wells – Reader, Centre for Automotive Industry Research, Cardiff University

Dr. Peter Wells of Cardiff Business School's internationally renowned Centre for Automotive Industry Research sets out key findings from their important new research report on the world's automotive markets, post-millennium, which was launched to coincide with IBIS 2008.
Wells focuses on core changes which are radically realigning the automotive industry and identifying the implications for the collision repair sectors.

 Session three: Technology - Vehicle safety systems and their impact on reparability
Lead speaker: Michiel van Ratingen – Secretary General, Euro NCAP
Panellists: Richard Krueger – Manager Publications – Safety, NVH, Testing, Durability, Daimler AG

Thilo Remus – Manager, Collision Repair Programs, Daimler AG
Andrew Marsh – Advanced Data & Methods Operations Manager, THATCHAM

This session investigates how vehicle manufacturers plan for repairability at the design stage, reveals whether what they are doing is appropriate or adequate and identifies what can be done to improve matters. We also look at what are likely to be the next stages in vehicle technology as well as the electronics and safety systems to be introduced over the next five years and their implications for the collision repair sector. 

 Session 4: Staff - Resourcing for an unknown future
Lead Speaker:  Glenn Gibson – Global Chief Strategy Officer, Crawford & Company
Panellist: Sarah Sillars – Chief Executive, Institute of the Motor Industry

Collision repair markets around the world are finding it increasingly difficult to recruit top-level staff, whilst an explosion in training needs is placing further pressure on the repair sector.
This session looks at exemplars, in the collision repair sector and beyond, to see what can be learned and what structures can be put in place to provide the staffing resources needed by the industry today - and in an unknown future.

 Session 5: Improving the repair process - Can 'Lean' work for repair industry?
Lead speaker: Gary Steele – Partner, Muradi LLP
Panellist: Warren Farrar – Assistant Vice President – Claims – State Farm Insurance Companies

This session of IBIS 2008 focuses on the repair process itself and analysing why many of the "standard practices" that have evolved over the years may no longer be relevant in a fast-changing repair environment.
The session looks at why we need to look at improving the current model and identify possible options for improvement, drawing on the existing experience of process innovators around the world.

 Session 6: Insurer/repairer relationships – Repairing a dysfunctional market
Lead speaker: Christopher Macgowan – Vice Chairman, Motorists' Forum
Panellists: Vikram Sinha – Head – Customer Support, Tata Motors Limited
John Matthews – Development Director, FIX AUTO UK

Exacerbated by the growing problems of vehicle repairability, the disconnect between insurers and repairers is unquestionably the biggest barrier to progress. It is costing all sides of the industry literally billions in unnecessary expenditure, disadvantaging stakeholders and consumers, damaging our industry economically, and in its public perception. Is this dysfunction an unwanted but unavoidable cost of doing business or are there working models out there with the potential to overcome the problems and inefficiencies previously accepted as inherent to the market? How can the conflicting needs of each of the industry's stakeholders be reconciled? What are the barriers and how can these be overcome?

The IBIS 2008 Symposium Proceedings Report is available in CD format (including audio versions of each presentation), compatible with most personal computers. Purchase your copy now for AU$995.

To purchase your copy of the IBIS 2008 Proceedings Report, please contact Michel Malik on (02) 9826 7777 or via email to michel@bodyshopnews.net. Copies will be dispatched immediately on receipt of payment, subsequent to publication.