RESTORING E FAIT
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A hold investment has paid dividends for a North Yorkshire crash repair company. Bryan Jarvis visits the pristine and high-tech new Quix CV bodyshop.
State-of-the-art is a trifle overstated, but Quix's pristine truck bodyshop in Thirsk isn't far off the mark. With not a paint smudge or oil patch in sight, it's fully equipped, well-staffed and ready to rumble.
The best time to invest for the future may be during a recession, but it still takes a tremendous act of faith to plough 22m into a huge new commercial vehicle repair shop, especially one located deep in an area of North Yorkshire that has been ravaged by foot and mouth. But a closer look at the Quix truck bodyshop shows it to be a well-calculated gamble.
Four years ago, local Scania and Volvo truck dealers pressed Mike Wernyj to take on more panelwork when the spray booth at his previous crash repair company Thirsk Car Care could barely take a panel van.
Realising many local commercials were travelling long distances for valuable refurbishing work, he wound down his struggling car repair business and with financial backing from his industrialist father-in-law David Quick, Wernyj set up the new CV bodyshop.
Local development engineers Severfield-Reeve designed and built the new Quix bodyshop, (a Manchester motor group owned the Quick title) and another contractor, Beta Automotive, supplied the internal equipment.
Workflow
With a target market of fleet livery changes, truck and trailer refurbishment and crash repairs, Quix contacted many dealers, fleets and insurance companies and now has work in progress and much more in the ppeline.
Deliveries of damaged vehicles for repair will be sub-contracted to the likes of S&H Recovery, Link of Northallerton, CS (Tadcaster), Alan Sewell of Bishop Auckland and local man Richard Lawley.
Handling such a mixed input requires a simple workflow through the shop, but each job is always preceded by a fast, efficient clean-down.
An LPW Fleetwash unit, used at the early preparation stage will clean, degrease or de-wax vehicles, and can also be used for pre-delivery valeting at the end of the work.
Quix also uses a Farrow low pressure jetwash/sand blasting trailer, which uses a mixture of air, water and sand to get at the grime. baked mud and surface rust. The water evaporates as it leaves the nozzle, so corrosion isn't a problem according to the manufacturer.
Inside, the real work begins in the 'crash lane' where the examiner can use Haweka laser alignment equipment to assess damaged axles, chassis and body damage, Once assessments are agreed with insurance companies like Norwich Union and clients, the straightening work commences.
Next to the crash lane is the awesome 12.5m Blackhawk Power Cage, which easily accepts two tractive units, a full length trailer or a large coach.
The cage has 10 pods, each with 25t
pulling power, so removing nasty kinks ii a large truck or 12.2m trailer frame i easily accomplished using the familia 'push and pull' method.
"The big Blackhawk system allows u to cold pull a damaged chassis," say Wernyj. "We believe that using heat wi only compromise the integrity of th, chassis structure."
He's also invested in a cab jig, an whether it's used in isolation or bolte onto the Power Cage's mainframe, it ca straighten a severely twisted, big sleepe cab very accurately. "With the skills an equipment we've assembled at Quix, we' only replace when absolutely necessary, says commercial director Tony Wales.
"From an insurance point of viev instead of re-cabbing for around 210,00( we'll get more hours through th bodyshop, but the insurer's bill will b greatly reduced."
There are Mig and Tig panel and spc welding stations along with a Power TEl Miracle panel pull system and GRP repa kits. Again, the idea is to repair accider lamage and wherever possible, avoid ;ostly panel replacements.
To keep the air inside clean, Quix uses in extensive Minden dust, fume and ixhaust extraction system. Backed up by win compressors and large air receivers in the upper floor, it removes all impuriies from the atmosphere while grinding, ianding and other refinishing work is going sr, much like a giant vacuum cleaner.
Once repairs are completed, vehicles inter the paint and preparation lane, vhere four Stanner lifting towers enable echnicians to carry out any prep work, iuch as stripping, masking or small local epairs, safely at heights up to 4.0m.
With its central, motorised dividing loon, the 19.3m (65ft) USI Italia paint bay s big enough to take two tractive units or, vhen moved aside, a large trailer, horsesox or touring coach.
To make the sprayer's job easier and .ater, there are lifting, travelling plat
forms that run along each inner wall plus a floor pit in each section, for painting awkward chassis sections.
The spray booth, believed to be USI Italia's largest in the UK, can change around 92,000ft3 of air per hour, and its upgraded heating equipment can attain operating temperature in both sections extremely quickly.
Energy efficient
To meet all contractual requirements, Quix decided on using two paint mixing schemes, both two-pack: Spies Hecker 650 series of 'high solids' for the top-end of the finishing market and Akzo Nobel's Sickens and Masons products, which allows it to compete for fleet refurbishment work.
First through the booth was a Volvo tractive unit from nearby Crossroads Truck & Bus for the Wolseley Centre fleet. Supplied in white and grey, it was transformed into Spies Hecker 650 midblue with the sort of high quality finish normally found in a car showroom.
"Cur painters don't just mask everything in sight," says Wernyj. "They'll strip more from the inside than other CV repairers: from floor and doors, cappings, aperture seals, binges and so on. You won't find any white bits or smudges anywhere."
Quix's 10 tradesmen are trained in every department, but being in a busy industrial area that includes Plaxton's and many large commercial truck dealerships, recruiting extra top-class tradesmen isn't too difficult. Staff facilities are better than most, with a small but wellequipped canteen, changing rooms, lockers and a washroom with showers.
Opening the new energy efficient bodysbop, Mike Monaghan, managing director of the Motor Vehicle Repairers Association, believed it to be the most modern CV repair facility in the country. 'However, making a business like this work doesn't come cheaply,' he said. "You have to deliver a high quality service and at a competitive price."
But he also warned the insurance industry needs to understand the broader business issues when dealing with commercial vehicle repairs. "They must bear in mind the many variations in body and equipment sys
tems, such as refrigerated vehicles, multi-decked trailers and curtainsiders."
Building an ultra-modern CV bodyshop beside the North Yorkshire moors may not sound like a good investment, but Quix's management team has done its homework well, The catchment area is large and includes the busy Al, A19, A168, Al(M), plus lots of Teesport traffic to the Ml, M62 and MS motorways linking Humber and Merseyside.
"The commercials in that area add up to a huge cake," says Wernm. "But we don't want it all—just a fair slice."