The cost of energy is one of the most concerning issues that a lot of businesses face, with the body repair industry being no different.
The Energy Bill Relief Schemes ends 31st March and will be replaced by the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. Unfortunately, this scheme will provide your business with far less financial support.
Government funding for the Energy Bill Relief Scheme was around £18.5 billion lasting 6 months, whereas the new Energy Bills Discount Scheme will have a largely reduced amount of funding of £5 billion over a longer period of 12 months.
With an average spray booth accounting for over 45% of the use of energy in a body repair business, many companies are looking for optimal energy saving opportunities wherever they can find them.
This is where AGM Services can help you. Our spray booth control systems are proven to save up to 70% on the cost of your energy. Even booths purchased in the last five years can make significant upgrades, as energy was not as high on the Spray Booth design agenda as it is now.
In an industry with already razor-thin margins such as body repair, where the main productive tool is the spray booth, it’s not like being at home where you can turn your heating off or reduce the temperature. Energy prices have tripled since 2019, leaving companies scrambling for ways to make savings.
Support from the government that body repair businesses could benefit from has all but gone. The main support available is the Energy Bill Relief Scheme, which everyone on a non-domestic energy contract is allowed to use if they are on a range of contract types.
Currently, electricity bills are capped at £211 per megawatt hour, with gas bills capped at £75 per megawatt hour.
Support ends on 31st March with new support reduced by up to 85%.
With this support being withdrawn, body shops need to act now.
Energy surcharge payments from insurers and work providers are very helpful, but there’s no guarantee how long they will be around. Savings that can be made on spray booth running costs will drop on a body shop’s bottom line.
There are relatively few accurate statistics showing the number of companies on fixed-rate deals, but thus far these companies haven’t felt the impact of the increase. By failing to prepare for this huge change in spending, companies risk going bankrupt, since they don’t have the necessary protections against their potential rises. If this is you and your business, start to take steps to tackle increasingly challenging costs before they start to bite.
Chaos in the body repair and other industries is likely if companies don’t prepare.
For those not on fixed rates, or coming out of fixed rates in the next 2 months, it’s crucial to make changes now before next winter.
Automated technology is one of the most useful tools available for the cost-management of spray booths, both for working to a higher standard and working more efficiently, using less power and fewer resources.
For companies looking to save themselves money over an extended period of time, the technology in your spray booth control system could be the answer. Operating a booth takes a lot of time and energy. For example, spray booths heat up air from outside the booth to reach the necessary conditions inside, and some companies use Variable Speed Drives to reduce the amount of airflow in the booth. Other technology that makes and impact includes; LED lighting and fuel saving re-cure modes
These upgrades you can implement in your existing spray booth to get the best possible performance without spiralling costs without the disruption of having to buy new equipment.
When you’re looking to improve the way that your organisation spends its money or increase efficiency, our spray booth control system should be considered, especially as we offer a free survey and quote.
There are plenty of benefits of using our spray booth control system in your organisation, including:
By effectively managing the resources needed in your spray booth you can cut the costs, significantly. For example, when not in use the booth should be run at a low level, rather than keeping it running at full speed.
The aim gf the AGM optimal energy package is to use the optimal amount of energy – not a minute longer and not degree higher.
Maximising production time is a fundamental part of saving on your spray booth costs. After all, the less time your equipment is running per repair, the less energy it uses. The efficiency that a good control system offers saves you time and a lot of money. You use less energy on each job and faster turnaround times also mean that you can get more jobs done to generate greater revenue.
An effective spray booth control system could save your body repair shop up to 70% in terms of energy, and with energy becoming one of the biggest expenditures companies have to deal with, this could be essential to a body shop.
If you’re interested in a free no obligation survey and a quote, get in touch with the AGM Services team today to find out more and cut down on the amount of money your organisation spends on energy in these increasingly difficult times.
No matter the industry you work in, spiralling overheads are one of the biggest threats to your financial security. Energy costs have risen rapidly in the last six months, so read on to learn why these costs are spiralling, what the government is doing about it and what this means for the vehicle repair industry.
We completed research and development and found that we could save up to 70% energy running costs for a Spray Booth with no existing energy saving technology. This could represent up to £53 per job of profit saved.
Energy prices for businesses have never had the protection of the Ofgem price cap, and this means that energy prices can be incredibly high. With the war in Ukraine continuing to affect the supply of gas to Europe, the cost of energy production keeps spiking higher and higher. Wholesale costs have been capped at £211 per MWh for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas by the Government, but that doesn’t include non-energy related costs such as delivery, distribution and taxes. This support only runs until April 2023, and forecasts are showing no signs of costs reducing while the conflict in Ukraine continues.
This has a severe impact on the way the vehicle repair industry works. It is important to remember that whilst homes and domestic customers pay a limited amount for their electricity, there is no price cap on the amount that commercial users pay for gas and electricity. Instead, suppliers charge what they need to in order to cover the wholesale cost of energy production, alongside any profit that the company decides it wants to take.
This means that the vehicle repair industry could really struggle. Without support, some businesses could be forced to shut for certain days over the winter months, or even stop offering certain repairs. After all, the Spray Booth dependency within vehicle repair bodyshops is very high. Turning Spray Booths off for good would save companies a lot of money, but simply isn’t practical as heat is needed to apply and dry paint on cars.
If you’re looking to make further energy cost savings, AGM Services retrofit technology to existing spray booths to offer both savings in energy used and process times of anywhere from 10% to 70%. To protect your business long term from the effects of energy inflation, contact the AGM services team today to find out the support we can offer your organisation.
AGM Services’ Sales Director, Wesley Young, has been featured in the popular industry publication, ABP Magazine, where he has written an article giving advice on how bodyshops can reduce energy bills during the current rise in prices. The article also covers how to take advantage of government tax incentives to try and further reduce energy costs.
There are a number of ways in which businesses can reduce energy costs when operating spray booths and it has never been more important to address ways in which a business could be wasting money. With energy prices and inflation rising significantly, it is the perfect time for businesses to take stock of both spray booth machinery itself as well as certain processes, to make sure that there are no areas in which they could be wasting energy and therefore, money.
The article, which was published in the spring edition of the Auto Body Professional Magazine, covers simple techniques that spray booth operators can instantly put into practice, such as making sure to turn the spray booth off when it is not in use, turning lights off as well as a reminder that certain spray booths can be very fuel inefficient.
The article also highlights that, although many older spray booths may be fully functional in their current state, they may cost thousands of pounds more to run per year than more modern, more fuel efficient models. If you decide to make your spray booth more fuel efficient by upgrading its parts, or even replacing it entirely for a more fuel efficient model, you will be eligible for the Super Tax Deduction.
With the current price rises in energy putting pressure on individuals and businesses alike to cut costs, these suggestions could be very useful for many spray booth operators to save money both in the long and short-term.
You can find the full article here.
While there are certain things you can do yourself to cut energy costs in your bodyshop, much of what can be done involves upgrading your equipment. AGM Services has upgrade options that will improve older equipment and make your bodyshop run in a more energy efficient manner.
AGM Services is here for any spray booth service needs you may have and our spray booth engineers are placed all over the UK, so we can react quickly should you have an emergency. Contact us today to see how we can help.
As the year draws to a close, the team at AGM have been preparing for a number of events within the auto body industry.
First up was the largest bodyshop awards in the world, the ABP British Bodyshop Awards. Held at the impressive Intercontinental London – The O2, on Monday 11th October. Taking a full complement of staff as reward for their hard work during a very tough 18 months, the night was a fun filled, glitzy affair with lots of networking enjoyed by all.
The next event AGM will be attending are the 14th annual ABP Club Annual Convention during the day and the 13th annual Night of Knight awards ceremony on 9th November, once again held at The Vox at Resorts World, Birmingham. With these awards being solely decided by the ratings provided by UK bodyshops, they have fast become THE most sought after award. Sponsored by huge industry names such as Solera Audatex and OEC, it’s set to be a night to remember.
December sees AGM Services attending the first ever ABP Annual Merry Little Christmas party, held at the Royal Armouries Leeds on the 8th December. With a Red Carpet arrival drinks reception, three course Christmas dinner, a DJ, photo booth, Casino and a Cocktail bar, it looks to be a very popular evening and one that the AGM Operations team is certainly looking forward to.
AGM Services are also set to attend the Bodyshop Magazine Awards 2021 on 17th December, alongside a host of partners, such as 3M, Enterprise: rent-a-car, and iRG, not to mention many other prestigious names within the industry. The night is set to be a busy one as it’s the first time back at the ICC Wales in Newport since 2019!
With opening drinks sponsored by CAPS and a three-course dinner with wine, kindly sponsored by Car-O-Liner, the night’s itinerary is one to match. Starting with a celebration of Bodyshop’s 30 under 30: rising stars, hosted alongside a drinks and nibbles opening cabaret.
The night then shifts to the main Bodyshop Awards 2021 ceremony; Representing AGM we have Oxford based engineer, Conor Rochford, who won the 30 under 30: rising star award alongside 29 other up and coming names within the industry.
Of Conor’s achievement, Sales Director Wesley Young said “ We noticed his potential very early in his career with AGM and have provided various forms of additional training and at every opportunity he has thrown himself into the course.”
The night doesn’t end there, with full access to a DJ set, and a networking lounge featuring the gin-bar sponsored by Vizion Network. It’s fair to say we are excited for this one!
Are you going to be there? If so, come say hi, we’ve got loads we want to talk about – it’s been a busy year for all the staff and engineers at AGM. If you want to find out more about what we get up to at AGM, take a look at our case studies to see how we can help you with spraybooth technology. You can also get in touch with a member of our team, or email us on sales@agm-services.co.uk for more information.
The Bodyshop magazine (Plenham Ltd)’s 30 under 30 publication has gone live this morning and we couldn’t be prouder of our very own Conor Rochford.
Conor began his AGM career last February but even with such a challenging start, he has consistently shown enthusiasm and a willingness to learn more and more about the industry.
Sales Director, Wesley Young said “Despite Conor’s young age, he has a mature understanding of each situation he faces and is able to quickly process what options are available to him; he is also able to clearly communicate this with the bodyshop customer.”
Congratulations Conor. We’re excited to see what the future holds for you!
AGM Services have always had a commitment to customer service, quality and the environment throughout 28 years of servicing Spray Booths across the UK motor repair industry.
AGM are now further enhancing that reputation by committing to becoming carbon neutral in the Summer of 2021 and aim to be the first company in the Spray Booth service sector to achieve this accolade.
Partnering with energy and carbon specialists – ECA Business Energy, AGM will be working towards the PAS2060 standard for carbon neutrality.
This involves measuring the company’s carbon footprint across all 3 scopes, implementing a detailed carbon management plan and offsetting emissions using high quality carbon credits.
Based in Heywood, Lancashire, with a network of 15 engineering service teams located strategically throughout the UK, the company has always had the mindset to combine environment considerations with providing a top class service to its customers, leading with preventative maintenance policies to avoid costly downtime.
AGM already have a number of upgrade features to complement the service packages that can be tailored to suit customer requirements, such as LED lighting and it’s unique environmentally friendly award nominated Spray Booth extract filter, PolyMat EX.
Sales Director at AGM Services, Wesley Young, said “This is an incredibly exciting and important project, we’re very grateful to Steve and his team at ECA for the guidance they’re providing. We see PAS2060 as “Win-Win-Win”, as well as both the bodyshop and AGM benefitting from the changes implemented, the environment and society as a whole benefits. In addition to the PAS2060 standard we’re also working on a green Spray Booth service package specifically aimed at cutting carbon emissions for bodyshop customers that will help them on their own journey to net zero whenever they’re ready to make that step”
Steve Silverwood – MD, ECA Business Energy goes on to say, “in our short time working with Wesley and the team at AGM, it is clear they have a passion for doing the right thing, for their teams, their customers, supply chain and the environment. They have a short, medium and long term strategy around how they become not only a carbon neutral organisation but a net zero one. We look forward to working with them to help them reach their sustainability goals over the coming months and years.”
Any bodyshops interested in further information as to how to reduce their scope 3 emissions in relation to Spray Booth service, filters and general energy use should contact us on 01706 363585 or e-mail wesley.young@agm-services.co.uk
PolyMatEx is our latest offering of extract filtration, providing an effective replacement for fibreglass and the existing duplex filtration system.
AGM Services are a specialist in Spray Booth maintenance, repair and spares provision. Supplying the spray booth industry for over 25 years, AGM Services have always been committed to providing customers with the right services and tools to enable them to run their Spray Booth equipment at peak performance, all day every day.
In response to the ever-changing needs of the automotive repair market, AGM have led the way in terms of innovative solutions for maintenance for Spray Booth equipment using their diverse technical expertise to constantly guide their thinking and strive for continual improvement.
“We are fortunate that we can draw on our experience to continuously bring new products and services to the market for our customers.” Says Wesley Young, Director of AGM Services.
“As economic pressure and legislative and environmental requirements continue to increase for everyone, it’s more important than ever to ensure businesses can remain compliant, operational and efficient for as long as possible. Which is what drove our latest innovation.”
AGM, working in partnership with their key European filter manufacturing partners spent much of 2018 and 2019 developing and testing a number of potential new extract filter products that have resulted in the latest offering that will provide spray booth users with up to 60% longer timespan between filter changes.
Spray booth filtration has evolved over the years from cardboard filters to the existing filtration system known as “duplex filtration”. Duplex filtration, commonly used in most spray booths, comprises of a primary fibreglass “paintstop” filter, which acts as protection to a secondary synthetic filter. Fibreglass is a relatively cheap and easy filter to transport so has been the standard solution for automotive repair Spray Booths for some time. But rising prices and developments in synthetic filter media are seeing a new generation of Spray Booth extract filters coming through.
One of the main considerations for any company running a spray booth is ongoing maintenance. As a maintenance provider, AGM are able to assess the most common causes of equipment breakdown and consequent downtime.
Wesley continues; “We are always mindful of minimising equipment downtime for our customers, but it’s very important that a Spray Booth is thoroughly serviced periodically to reduce the possibility of breakdowns. Quality and compliant filtration is essential to the optimum performance of a Spraybooth, and extract filters need to be changed at correct intervals in-between services to ensure spray booths continue to remove overspray from the spray booth cabin effectively.”
Recognising the impact that filters have on this situation, there were 2 main driving points behind AGM seeking to improve the quality of filter offering to the automotive refinish market;
Presenting PolyMatEx, a polyester extract filter that holds significantly more overspray than duplex filters before clogging, thereby reducing both the impact on the environment and greatly cutting down the internal damage to the spray booth air handling plant.
PolyMatEx is more environmentally friendly because it’s made from recycled material, there is less media required and it needs changing less frequently. There are also no fibre glass irritants present so is more user-friendly to handle for painters.
The key to this product and its capabilities is the innovative structure and composition of the polyester materials used. The filter composition starts with coarse, open fibres at the top of the filter and gradually changes to finer fibres at the bottom.
When paint overspray hits the coarse synthetic fibre, it doesn’t compress under the weight of the paint overspray like fibreglass, which means that it doesn’t close off the airways, progressively loading to maintain a good airflow through the filter to ensure the pressure drop inside the spray booth is minimal. This unique design means the Spray Booth continues to operate under negative pressure for longer, still clearing overspray effectively, extending filter change intervals leaving painters free to paint!
Paint overspray is a hazardous product that needs to be disposed of safely, Spray Booth owners have an obligation to the environment as well as their employees.
PolyMatEx provides incredible levels of filtration to under 4mg/mᶾ, and the reduced amount of filter changes, as well as only one filter required reduces the amount of waste produced. Less filter changes = less filter used waste. As all businesses are becoming more and more aware of their impact on the environment, PolyMatEx will help to reduce a body shop’s Carbon Footprint.
It’s important not to underestimate the human factor element in providing an effective filtration system. Fibreglass is unpopular to handle and causes irritation if not handled properly.
After extensive testing at one of AGMs largest group clients, the feedback from those responsible for changing the filters was exactly as they’d hoped. They hugely appreciated how easy it was to handle stating it was “much quicker to change with only one filter that cuts easily, and now my hands don’t itch all day after a fibreglass filter change”.
Simon Barton, Technical Service team member from Direct Line Group had this to say.
“PolyMatEx has greatly reduced downtime across the whole group. On average, filter changes have reduced by between 50-60% but more importantly, the spray booths, which are a critical asset in our body shops are being protected from overuse or abuse. We’ll see their total life operating costs reduced significantly as a result of implementing this innovative product.”
PolyMatEx is a Finalist in the 2020 Bodyshop Awards under the Innovation category and is available exclusively from AGM who are happy to provide a product demonstration in any site in the UK, for more information contact us on 01706 363585.
As one of our industry’s leading publications, we are extremely proud to say that Sarah Fearon, our Operations Manager North here at AGM Services, has won bodyshop magazine’s prestigious 30 Under 30: Rising Stars award. Well done to Sarah!
The award recognises young, talented and ambitious figures in the UK’s automotive and collision repairs industry, The 30 winners embody the future of the collision repair industry and suffice to say Sarah will be in very good company with winners from the likes of Thatcham Research, 3M UK, and more.
As we rarely run out of good things to say about Sarah, here is our Sales Director, Wesley Young, with a little bit more:
“Sarah has demonstrated an outstanding level of customer service and personal development throughout the past 12 months.”
We’re all very excited to say the least! If you would like to find out more about the ceremony, or enquire about our services in general, then please get in touch here.
The ceremony will take place on Thursday, 29 April 2021 (formerly 15th December 2020) at the ICC Wales, near the Celtic Manor Resort.
Book your seats at the ceremony by calling Suzie Scott on 07545 068455 or emailing suzie@bodyshopmag.com. Let’s get behind Sarah and AGM Services – it’s going to be a great night and well worth the wait.
We’re proud to announce that Bodyshop Magazine have recognised AGM Services with an awards nomination at this year’s bodyshop Awards 2020. After judging almost 300 submissions from within the industry, a 15-strong panel announced that AGM Services would be among three other finalists in contention for the coveted Technology & Innovation award.
In recognising the work we have done in launching our new spray booth filter PolyMat EX, bodyshop magazine are also recognising the talent, dedication, and knowledge on display at AGM Services. There have been years of research and development into PolyMat, so to receive this nomination makes us very proud of the team.
Other finalists in our group include Opus IVS, PPG, Volkswagen Group UK, so we have some stiff competition! It’s an honour to be recognised among such big corporations, but we believe that shows just how great a product the PolyMat EX filter is.
This new filter has already helped countless customers save money on their filter changing costs and Spray Booth productive downtime, as well as protecting the long term health of their Spray Booth, it looks set to revolutionise the Spray Booth filter industry.
Make sure you book your place at the bodyshop Awards 2020, which will take place on 29th April 2021 at ICC Wales. All you need to do is call Suzie Scott on 07545 068455 or email suzie@bodyshopmag.com. Come and show your support!
If you would like to find out more about the ceremony, or enquire about our services in general, then please get in touch here. You can also get more information about PolyMat EX here.
Contact a member of our team for more information about our services and accreditations, or for more information on how AGM Services can help you and your business.
01706 363 585 sales@agm-services.co.uk