AAAE: Faster, safer collision repair from Sape

CLEVER tools for the aftermarket and collision industry are making workers safer while increasing efficiency, with both contributing to better business returns.

Speaking to GoAutoNews at the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Expo in Melbourne this week, director of SAPE (Sydney Automotive Paints and Equipment) Group, Paul McMartin, said that workshop equipment has evolved to boost efficiency and ensure employees are protected while working.

The company, which through its own outlets and through agencies covers Australia and New Zealand, is known predominantly as a paint supplier but has expanded its portfolio.

It now includes products such as bodyshop installation equipment for specialist prestige and luxury repair businesses around Australia, including Cellette computerised chassis aligners and IRT automotive paint ovens.

Mr McMartin said SAPE Group now provides an incredible range of workshop equipment but increasingly, the focus is on working with new alloys and composite materials.

Some of the workshop cleaning and filtration equipment available now is geared towards creating a safe working environment and eliminating hazards such as fire risk. 

Mr McMartin said the sophisticated tools and equipment now available for collision repair are designed for increasingly common composite materials and allow for a clean workspace for the repair of such specialised materials.

He said one the latest mobile vacuum system from Wielander + Schill was of particular interest to workshops repairing vehicles of mixed construction as it is explosion proof, and suitable for the extraction of aluminium and plastic dusts, as well as welding fumes.

“The Wielander + Schill mobile vaccum system has a lot of useful features that improve operator safety, such as a boom arm that is designed so you can position the tool right where you're grinding, so you don’t have to hold a vacuum or have a second operator hold it for you,” he said.

“Perhaps more importantly, it also has a spark arrestor that stops any sparks from getting through (to the collection bin), and calming tube that runs around the outside of the machine that is TUV tested to ensure that nothing that reaches the bin is at a temperature that can cause ignition.”

Mr McMartin said the other factor when vacuuming with mixed material is always to keep things as clean as possible and limit the dust.

“We’ve made it easy to change the vacuum bag,” he said. “Normally we open up the top and pull the bag and dust ends up going everywhere, and that kind of negates the purpose. So, we want to make it as easy as possible for technicians to remove that potentially explosive mix from the environment.”

Some of the brands on display at the Sape Group’s stand at the show include Cam, Juice, Sika, Roar, Devilbliss and Scangrip, the impressively large stand even featuring a life-size Spanesi spray booth.

Mr McMartin said there the majority of equipment and supplies available for customers was from European sources, with some US products, as well as other quality brands including Roar polishes.

The workshop equipment covers everything from spot welders and lifts, air compressors and dust and fume extraction units, through to steel and aluminium dent pulling equipment, including the impressive new 5000kg Electro Puller from Spanesi.

The SAPE Group is one of Australia’s biggest suppliers of automotive collision repair equipment and consumables. It is the sole importer for international brands such as GYS, Autorobot, Jollift, Cellette, Car System, Innovative Tools, IRT, Scangrip and Wipe New.

The SAPE Group deals with most of the country’s leading collision repairers with size ranging from a one-man garage to a production facility repairing 60 plus cars per week.