By Erin McLaughlin
Calgary, Alberta — July 16, 2017 — Concours Collision has been providing repairs for the city of Calgary for 36 years. Since its initial opening in 1981 it has grown to four shops. Concours Collision, and its owner Ken Friesen, are known for many achievements. Friesen is recognized as an innovator in the industry. He was a founding father of the Canadian Collision Industry Forum, as well as its first Chairman. He is an innovator in lean strategies (in fact, Concours Collision is typically recognized as the first Canadian shop to have implemented lean), and a strong supporter of various apprenticeship programs.
As of late, Friesen has turned his attention to the next big thing: getting certified. “Certification is the future of collision repair,” said Friesen. “We need to be certified moving forward to ensure cars are getting repaired properly. It’s a business strategy that keeps our facilities viable in the future. With certification comes training. It’s an investment in your people and leads to better trained staff.”
Two of Friesen’s four Concours Collision facilities are Toyota certified, and one shop is Nissan certified. He also has shops that are Chrysler, Lexus, Fiat, Honda and Ford certified, and has additionally attained Acura Pro First Recognition.
Concours is very much focused on working with insurance companies, dealers and manufacturers, as it’s advantageous to work with all groups in the industry,” said Friesen. According to Friesen, getting his shops certified has been a win-win-win. It not only improves your shop and your relationship with these people, but it also benefits the end user customer.
Friesen’s plans for the future will largely involve working toward even more certification. “It’s important that we’ve achieved this recognition, and I really believe certification is the future and vital considering the complex vehicles of today,” he said.
For more information, please visit concours.ab.ca.
