St. Cloud, MN, who recently adopted the NSF Certi- fication. Business policies, practices and procedures should be the focus. “NSF spoke to us as leaders and to our management and employees, and that trans- lates into sales,” said Mike Meyer, Pam’s CEO. “It was really wonderful. It improved recruitment, retention, and employee onboarding, with safety at the highest level highlighted.”
According to its website, NSF International addresses industry-wide concerns about identifying high quality automotive aftermarket collision parts through an Au- tomotive Parts Certification Program. They compare aftermarket parts to their OEM service counterparts to ensure that the aftermarket parts meet the OEM parts in form, fit and function. Certified parts that bear the NSF mark signifies that the part and the facility have met the program’s stringent requirements. “We need all auto recyclers to embrace some level of certification. ARA is positioned to guide the industry through the next phase,” says Robertson. Included in advancing parts certification as an in-
dustry standard, the concept of understanding the customer was another topic raised. “An idea for the future that we should evaluate is incentive pay for a re- pairer to use our parts,” said Lieberman. “We need to analyze what is the ‘profit motive’ for our customer.”
ARA in the News
Significant news from ARA was announced by Ex- ecutive Director Sandy Blalock, who reported that the mortgage on the ARA Headquarters in Manassas, VA is paid in full. She thanked the group of Past Presidents who made purchasing it a possibility, and celebrated that the note had been paid off earlier than expected. She also shared that the ARA leadership is exploring new programs and benefits to streamline productivity and provide enhanced member benefits. In the coming year, the ARA Technical Committee is presenting ongoing webinars, in order to create a train- ing library for ARA members and their teams. “There will be single topic monthly podcasts or webinars, pre- sented by experts and directed toward the techs and employees of facilities,” says Andy Latham, chair. “We recognize that owners and managers attend conven- tions and conferences, and they need help getting the information to their teams at the facility, who should also benefit from ongoing training. This will help take the load off the top level management to do it.” The ARA Educational Foundation (ARAEF) will also focus more on cutting-edge training and en- hanced content with the announcement that ARA University (
arauniversity.org) will be a Direct Member benefit to all members, not operating under the AR- AEF. This allows the ARAEF to focus on content and less on recruiting participants to the platform.
AUTOMOTIVE RECYCLING • January-February 2019
As a pilot program, the Virginia Automotive Recy- clers Association signed a contract with ARA to man- age their state association affairs in order to make it more viable for state members. It is hopeful that this test might allow smaller Affiliate Chapters to combine resources with ARA to thrive in the future. Along those lines, the Gold Seal Certification pro- gram will merge with the Certified Auto Recycler (CAR) program, and a new Certification Committee has been assembled to “restart” the certification pro- grams in general. The Committee is looking for new members, and new ways to offer certification, such as the NSF Standard mentioned earlier. Chair Shannon Nordstrom, Nordstrom’s Automotive Inc., says, “These ARA standards have been important to our facility, and its growth. We are looking for ways to tie it all together to have a greater impact for the entire industry.” As a way to build industry awareness, ARA has launched a cooperative advertising agreement with the 10 Missions Media, who produce Fender Bender, Rachet + Wrench and other publications. ARA is creat- ing a customized 20-page insert about auto recycling in an the April issue of Fender Bender. It will highlight the benefits of working with automotive recyclers and using recycled auto parts in repairs. This is a first step to create industry awareness directed at the collision repair industry. “With everyone’s combined effort, we are as strong as ever,” Blalock says. “The only constant going for- ward is change. Some of it we can control, some of it we cannot. Through effective dialogue, idea-sharing, collaboration and partnerships, we can get to the next level as an organization that is ready to help profes- sional automotive recyclers benefit from change.”
It’s All in a Session
The ARA educational track was full of insight, dis- cussion and mentoring that left attendees with plenty to take back home to consider. Here are some high- lights from various sessions.
75th Annual Convention & Expo Sponsors Hollander
Special Thanks to the
Car-Part.com Copart
Insurance Auto Auctions Peddle URG
Brock Supply Co. Fenix Parts
Northlake Auto Recyclers
Phoenix Automotive Cores RAS Cores CCC Pinnacle Dorman
Legend Smelting and Recycling
Auto Data Direct, Inc. GJS Insurance Company NSF International
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