Needing to replace an aging paint booth at one of his body shops, Jesse Jacobson sought a booth manufacturer that could provide reliable service and support in a timely manner. He found peace of mind with Global Finishing Solutions (GFS) and local distributor Platinum Equipment, and the new Ultra XL Paint Booth at Heppner’s Rivercity Collision Centre (Hudson, Wisconsin) has increased throughput, improved efficiency and created new business opportunities.
“We have 93 employees at six locations, and we’re still trying to add more. We’re a family run business that has been in operation since 1956. We have a lot of employees who have been with us 40 years. We like to think that we treat our employees well, and we give them a lot of flexibility. We try to support their families and careers as much as possible. We’re always talking to employees and making sure we value everything they do.”
“It’s not so much about the paint booth. It’s the service you get after the booth purchase and the responsiveness and quality of the product. That’s why we chose GFS. When you start looking at parts and service, knowing that GFS is right down the road, that’s really helpful. I was also very impressed with the contractor that GFS used for installation. The startup went well. The control panel is very simple and easy to use. With other systems, it’s broken out with the blowers not integrated as well in the control panel. The simplicity definitely helps the painters.”
“We repaired some HVAC vans in our old paint booth but it was really hard to spray properly if there was roof damage. Our new GFS paint booth is 12 feet high and 31 feet long. We extended the height of the booth and made it longer.
“You’ve got to go bigger now with paint booths. In Wisconsin, this is truck country. With the size of trucks these days, plus the growth of the Amazon vans, if our painters can put a truck in the booth and fit panels in the booth, that’s more you can spray in one cycle and greater efficiency. In our first cycle with the new booth, we fit parts from six jobs in the booth.”
“We have one more shop to put a new paint booth in, possibly two shops. After this experience, we will definitely be looking at GFS. We are considering flip flopping the body shop and the paint department. It’s nice to have big, long booths. We just have to see what space is going to work best for us. We want to continue to grow and acquire shops in the future, but we want to make sure what we have is running well.”
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