The collision repair industry recently had the opportunity to attend the Society of Collision Repair Specialists (SCRS) open board meeting, held virtually in July.
“The open meeting was for anyone wishing to learn more about the current state of the association’s activities and pressing industry topics,” said Aaron Schulenburg, executive director.
Open to association members and non-members, the meeting included updates and presentations from SCRS staff and committees outlining current initiatives. The agenda also featured guest presentations and comments from industry colleagues.
The following is a summary of some of the highlights from the meeting, which included a presentation about GM’s ADAS document, information about data privacy and the SCRS award-winning Blueprint Optimization Tool (BOT).
At the start of the meeting, Schulenburg announced SCRS would be holding a live electronic vote of board members for the first time. Following the meeting, the winners were announced. They included the incumbent, Amber Alley of Barsotti's Body and Fender; Tony Adams of Weaver's Auto Center; and John Mosley of Clinton Body Shop. All three will sit on SCRS’s board of directors for the next three years.
“We had five outstanding candidates,” said Brett Bailey, SCRS chairman of the board. “The wealth of knowledge that each of them has is off the charts. Whoever wins the election in those three spots will do a great job.”
Since the start of the pandemic, Schulenburg said the situation has impacted every one of its member businesses. As a result, the organization has strived to offer guidance and assistance to members.
“It certainly has been something that has taken a significant amount of focus,” he said. “We all feel fortunate that SCRS has a role of support for its members and we have taken a lot of great pride in doing that.”
During his executive director’s report, Schulenburg shared some of the COVID-19 resources the organization provides on the SCRS website, which includes information about workplace preparation and health, and financial aid and relief.
He also mentioned the organization’s involvement with other entities and industries to help drive the industry forward. These include notable groups such as the American Society of Association Executives, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business, as well as newly-formed coalitions like the America’s Recovery Fund Coalition.
“We are working to identify ways to help the small businesses we represent and the information we could bring to the marketplace,” he said.
During the open board meeting, John Eck, collision manager at GM, and Chris Blackmore, GM program manager, shared information about GM’s Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) support document and post-collision inspection.
The four-part ADAS document outlines the answers to questions that arose as a result of GM’s attendance at the VeriFacts Automotive summit in February. The sections include system description, component location, calibration and slow calibration.
“Several in the industry pressed us to help identify ADAS terminology, abbreviations and component locations as well as how to calibrate,” said Eck.
This technical document, Document ID #5577683, is available with GM Service Information (SI) and also as a free PDF document on GM’s website.
Blackmore then talked about GM’s collision inspection process.
“We recognized that the requirements process we laid out for a collision are extremely labor-intensive and vehicle invasive,” he said. “We’ve been working on reviewing that process and document since January.”
This involves talking to other OEMs and working closely with GM’s internal engineering team.
He outlined GM’s draft concept in regard to post-collision inspection, which includes the steps for visual inspections and affirming diagnostics. If approved, a final document will be available to the industry with details and photos.
Schulenburg said SCRS fields numerous concerns from members in regard to data privacy.
“Data protection is a very important issue right now,” he said. “We believe that electronic commerce needs to take place, but we should be able to count on the companies that we are working with that it takes place responsibly.”
He then introduced Brandon Laur, vice president of business development and client experience at ClaimsCorp., who talked about the proactive steps businesses can take in regard to data privacy.
Laur offered tips on how shops can protect their businesses. First, he stressed the importance of always asking for consent and authorization from customers. Next, he said companies should evaluate their solution partners. This includes asking solution providers where the data is stored, who has access to it and how it is transferred.
Laur recommended leveraging data storage providers for multiple solutions and carefully reviewing all agreements that require data sharing.
“You want to make sure that the right security wording and legal documentation is in place in all those agreements to not only protect your collision center, but all the vendors you work with, the customer and the data provider,” he said.
He advised shops to look at what he referred to as security detection and response capabilities.
“You want to work with partners who are proactively looking to ensure that there is nothing egregious taking place, data is always being protected, and providers have a security officer in place or are audited by a third-party organization to make sure data security is the No. 1 priority,” he said.
He then offered recommendations on what to look for in a security partner:
- Third-party certification
- Annual investment in enhanced security
- Storage solutions that abide by GDP laws
- Team members dedicated to security
- Full transparency of data usage
- Deletion practices
- Auto Claims Economy industry knowledge
- Strong data transfer and protection processes
- Data usage agreements
At the close of the meeting, Schulenburg shared information about the award-winning SCRS Blueprint Optimization Tool (BOT), powered by NuGen IT, an OEC company.
“We worked with NuGen IT due to their tremendous development resources and shared vision in what we could accomplish with the BOT,” said Schulenburg.
The BOT was the recipient of a 2020 SEMA New Product award and 2020 SEMA Global Media award. Schulenburg said the windows-based application is an automated version of the Guide to Complete Repair Planning, providing collision repair facilities with an intelligent, easy-to-use estimate analysis tool.
“It immediately identifies labor operations, line items and customizable charges that could be overlooked on an estimate,” he explained.
“Based on the feedback and insight we’ve received, we’ve identified a very successful utilization of the tool in identifying the opportunities being missed and the financial impact for the end user,” said Pete Tagliapietra, business development leader of NuGen IT.
Live demos of the BOT are being held every Wednesday at 2:30 EST. An access code is available on the SCRS website.
Visit this website to learn more about the next SCRS open meeting, and click here for membership information.
Stacey Phillips Ronak