New technologies that will affect the paint and body shop

Paint and body shops are little by little adapting their work processes to new technologies in order to get better results in their repairs.

Nexa Autocolor, a brand of PPG Industries, explains how new technologies such as nanotechnology, drones and virtual reality will affect the paint and body shop.

“Nanotechnology is a way for research and development labs to experiment with the design and manipulation of matter, at the atom or molecular level, with industrial purposes,” a spokesperson for Nexa Autocolor says.

“In this regard, for example, certain specific products could protect car bodies from ultraviolet rays, which directly fall upon them when parked outside.

“This is an important aspect regarding vehicle maintenance, since a prolonged exposition to these rays damages the paint and reduces its colouring degree by at least five per cent each year.”

The spokesperson says another element that seems futuristic, but is already used in some facilities, is the use of drones to review the damages of vehicles and transfer this info to a computer, where an expert can check that everything is correct in order to perform the repair.

Nexa Autocolor also highlights artificial intelligence for body examination. For example, some systems that detect cracks in parts during the compressing process have been designed.

The spokesperson concludes: “With these first few steps in new technologies, experts do not rule out that soon some applications in a smartphone could be used to calculate the amount of paint, and also its exact colour and number of coats needed to perform a precise repair.

“In addition, the pandemic has made clear the necessity for tech tools that allow reducing human contact as much as possible. In this sense, virtual reality becomes a possible alternative for the paint and body specialist to detect the damages on the body of the vehicle.”