Monday, August 23rd, 2010
September Networking Event
Tuesday, September 7th, 2010, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
You are invited to the Business 400 Back to School Networking Celebration. There will be a mystery networker at this event that will give away $100.00 in a cash drawing to some lucky networker. If you meet the Mystery Networker and share a business card you will become eligible to participate in this special $100.00 cash drawing. Come meet a lot of new people and build your businesses market exposure. Remember that it is not only who you know but who knows you and who they know! Door charge of $5.00 for members and $15.00 for guests.
Bring two or more non-member guests to this event and register them at the Business 400 Front desk to be eligible to participate in a special $100.00 cash drawing!
Location: The Metropolitan Club
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Upcoming Events
Business 400 offers workshops as well as our monthly networking events. These workshops provide very valuable information at a fraction of the cost it normally would run. |
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
Specialty Paint & Body Repair in Athens GA—A Recycling Specialist
by David M. Brown
20 AUGUST 2010 AUTOBODY NEWS | www.autobodynews.com
Thomas Durrence’s Specialty Paint & Body is growing — and his “green” efforts are making other things grow in the Peach State. Since 1987, his full-service shop, 11542 Jefferson Road inAthens, Ga., has been providing auto body repair in the Athens and Jefferson areas. The 13,100-square-footshop, an I-CAR Gold Class service facility, repairs more than 800 cars and trucks annually.
About 91 percent are insurance referrals, and the shop is also referred from several area dealerships, explains Durrence, who started Specialty after working in the collision industry for several years. Old-fashioned business virtues have primed his success, he notes: “Our primary goals are quality repair, fair prices, and customer convenience, and our well-trained employees are committed to quality, honesty and integrity.” At the same time, he and his 10 employees use the latest estimating and management software and advanced equipment for body repair and painting — ensuring a quality product for the customers. For instance: “We blueprint the repair for individual cars so as to minimize waste and maximize efficiency,” Durrence says. “We seek to understand our customers and give them the repair they desire as well as educate them on the repair process.” He notes, too, that Specialty Paint & Body is one of the few facilities in Athens designed as a body shop: “This allows us to repair cars in assembly-line fashion with as little down time between steps as possible.” Most recently, his shop is also thinking green, finding that Earth concern is producing not only amore efficient shop but amore economical one as well. “We are a better business because recycling allows us to reduce our environmental impact,” Durrence says. “Our recycling program keeps clutter to a minimum, which improves our efficiency, which improves our bottom line.” For one, the shop recently converted the painting system to waterborne — lessening the release of volatile organic compounds, which evaporate from liquids such as paint, paint thinner and gasoline. “We made the decision to convert to water borne paints for the health of our employees as well as the environment,” Durrence says. Because of the changeover, the shop has also minimized the amount of hazardous waste generated and has improved color match, reducing tint time, he adds. And, because waterborne paints cover better, paint-jobber bills have gone down. In addition, Specialty has been recycling post-consumer material — otherwise disposed as solid waste. His employees even compost shredded office paper for use as fertilizer; one of his employees spreads this on his organic garden. So, too, Specialty has reserved areas for recycling plastic parts,metal parts, paper and cardboard; these eventually go to an off-site recycling center. “Knowing that recycling benefits the environment motivates the employees to keep recycled materials in designated areas,” Durrence explains, adding that the specificity makes this part of the shop’s recycling systemparticularly easy to follow. “These efforts greatly reduce our trash and have allowed us to use a smaller dumpster,” he says. As a result, the company’s garbage services bill has been reduced 20 percent since the change. In addition, Specialty Paint & Body reuses the plastic sheeting from vendor parts deliveries to wrap customer parts while repairs to the vehicles are being made. For example, technicians will protect interior door panels with bubble wrap until it is reinstalled on the car when repairs are complete. In addition, Specialty reuses plastic cardboard boxes at least once to organize small parts for the technicians.After this, they are broken down and recycled. Durrence plans to bring both of his sons, Nick andAdam, into the business soon.
Besides planning future upper management, he says, “I am continuously working to improve our cycle time,market share, customer service — as well as our capability to think and act with sensitivity for the environment.” Bins outside the shop provide a place for employees to recycle properly.
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
August Networking Event
Tuesday August 3rd, 2010, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Join us for the Business 400 End of Summer Networking Extravaganza. We are inviting hundreds of people to participate in this exciting networking event. There will be hundreds of dollars in cash drawings , potentially hundreds of excited networkers waiting to meet you and some delicious food. We want to help you win in 2010. Door charge of $5.00 for members and $15.00 for guests.
Bring two or more non-member guests and register them at the front desk to participate in a $500 cash drawing!
Location: The Metropolitan Club
Directions to Metropolitan Club
RSVP for this event»
