Bill Hatswell is the President and founder of Craftsman Collision. He first got the idea to expand into the Chinese market during a trip last February.

 

“We were at a trade show in Beijing, and we took the opportunity to travel around China, visiting dealerships and looking at their operations. Des Chan (President of Wedge Clamp Systems – Ed.) was with me on this trip, and he has a distribution centre in the city of Suzhou, just west of Shanghai. He showed me a building that he thought would be perfect for Craftsman.”

 

Of course, there’s more to opening a new store than just finding a building. More research was needed before the project could go ahead.

 

“We met with the fourth-largest insurance company in China, and they explained to me how their system works,” says Hatswell. “They said, ‘We believe your model and your timing are perfect.’”

 

Collision repair facilities are assigned classifications based on the sorts of work they perform. A  4S (denotes Sales, Service, Spares and Survey) store is a car dealership, and primarily does repairs to its own brands. The new Craftsman Collision location will likely be a 2S, an independent collision repair business that also offers a certain percentage of mechanical services.

 

The new Craftsman location will occupy the 20,000 sq.ft. first floor of the building, and the second floor will be leased by Wedge Clamp.

 

“Des and I have been friends for many years, and we’ve worked closely together on several projects,” says Hatswell. “All of my 33 locations are Wedge Clamp equipped, because I believe in the efficiencies and compactness of Wedge Clamp. Their equipment has a small footprint, and if space in the location is tight, you can use every square foot in the building.

 

Wedge Clamp already operates its main branch out of Suzhou, but the company’s lease is ending shortly, and leasing space in the same building as Craftsman Collision seems a natural fit.

 

“We’ll be moving our operation into the second floor of the building,” says Des Chan. “It will have our offices, distribution and we’ll also conduct classroom and hands-on shop training.”

 

In addition to the space on the second floor, Craftsman Collision will include one Wedge Clamp fully equipped stall on the production floor of the facility, to be used for product demonstration and training purposes.

 

Cars are not as common in China as in North America, but a booming economy has seen more Chinese citizens behind the wheel than ever before. China surpassed the U.S. in total annual passenger vehicle sales in 2010 with 13.9 million cars sold. According to the insurance company, three out of every hundred people in China is now a motorist, and roughly 75 percent of them are new drivers that are involved in accidents within the first year. Numbers like this indicate that collision repair may soon be a growth industry in China. The new Craftsman Collision location is planned to open in May of 2012.