MPI opens cutting-edge auto-repair training, research centre

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/10/2017 (3035 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba Public Insurance put the pace of change in automotive repair on display Tuesday as it opened its new centre for automotive repair and training on Plessis Road.

In one room, there were some classic cars from a time when the ability to bend steel and spread body filler was nearly the extent of qualifications for repair. In another, a BMW i8 with a carbon-fibre body and electrical system that could kill an untrained technician.

“The velocity of change is unbelievable,” said Dan Guimond, president and CEO of Manitoba Public Insurance.

“Things go so fast that sometimes (an automaker’s) repair procedures can have a lag of up to six months. It’s six months after the release of a vehicle where they’re providing the repair procedures.”

Guimond estimates the $6-million facility will generate $5 million a year in savings.

“It’s paid for itself already.”

The centre employs 80 staff and will serve as a hub for training auto body technicians in Manitoba. It will host technical trainers from manufacturers and materials and paint suppliers coming to Winnipeg instead of sending technicians out of province or abroad for training.

For Steve Chipman, president of the Birchwood Automotive Group, which owns Birchwood Collision Centres, that represents a large saving in staff training costs.

“It’s fantastic. It allows us to have our technicians get training here in Manitoba,” he said. “Most training required by manufacturers is done in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and we’re losing those people as productive, plus there’s a cost to sending them away.”

“We think it’s a great idea and great innovation by MPI.”

Chipman doesn’t foresee the pace of change easing going forward.

“It’s just going to get faster. The technology is just coming at us so fast, it’s tough to keep up.”

Guimond said the centre’s primary goal is ensuring repairs done in Manitoba return the vehicle to the same safety standards as when new.

“It’s about making sure nobody dies or is injured because the vehicle wasn’t repaired properly,” he said.

The new centre is integrated into the JW Zacharias Physical Damage Research Centre, itself an innovation when it opened in 25 years ago.

And the man for whom the centre is named was on hand Tuesday.

“In our early days, we too often found ourselves in the position where the repair shops were bickering over the best way to repair a vehicle,” said Jack Zacharias, who was president of MPI from 1994 to 2004.

“It quickly became apparent we had to become the experts in vehicle repair.”

Gary Lin, collision repair program specialist for BMW Canada, highlighted the pace of change with the i8, an i3 and a stripped-down carbon-fibre unitized body of the i3.

“In Canada, only five shops can repair this vehicle,” he said, pointing to the i3 chassis.

None of those shops is located in Winnipeg, yet. The two Birchwood Collision Centres and Don Vito Auto Body are in the process of certifying at BMW’s U.S.-based training centre. Birchwood BMW will soon be certified as a dealer for the i3, i8 and future i-series cars.

Lin said while repair training won’t move to the Plessis Road centre, the facility will host BMW as it trains adjusters and body shop technicians how to estimate repairs to the i3 and i8 vehicles.

David Adams, president of Global Automakers of Canada, said the research centre is a feather in MPI’s cap.

“You need significant expertise in order to repair those vehicles properly,” he said. “So I think the centre provides the venue for people to be trained and also it becomes a hub for state-of-the-art technology for industry.”

kelly.taylor@freepress.mb.ca