Manitoba Public Insurance’s J.W. Zacharias Physical Damage Research Centre. (CHRISD.CA)
WINNIPEG — A new automotive research and training centre will allow Manitoba Public Insurance to collaborate with the auto repair industry to adopt new methods of vehicle restoration when collisions occur.
The J.W. Zacharias Physical Damage Research Centre on Plessis Road is a 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility that will act as a training hub for new and emerging vehicle repair technologies.
The centre will allow for collision repair shops to keep their technicians locally instead of sending them out-of-province for training sessions to learn how to properly repair vehicles back to original equipment manufacturer (OEM) standards.
“This facility and the staff within it will ensure that the auto body technicians in Manitoba remain highly skilled and able to respond to rapidly changing vehicle construction and repair techniques,” said Dan Guimond, MPI president and CEO.
“It’s expected that by next year, half of the Manitoba fleet will represent vehicles with complex materials, many of which require specialized training, tooling, equipment and facilities to ensure these vehicles are repairs safely back to manufacturer standards.”
The centre is also hosting delegates from around the world this week for the 2017 Research Council for Automotive Repair (RCAR) Conference.
MPI is the only Canadian member of RCAR, which is an international body of automotive research centres.
