Whether a collision repair shop operator is looking to lower costs, attract and retain top talent, or position their business for long term success, sustainable practices can help get them there.

Cinthia Gutierrez is premium segment manager of the Americas for Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions at BASF. She stopped by The Collision Vision podcast, driven by Autobody News and hosted by Cole Strandberg, for an episode in its “Sustainability in Collision Repair” series.

“Sometimes people think that sustainability and profitability are two very different topics that are mutually exclusive, but that’s not the case,” Gutierrez said.

Strandberg pointed out the technician shortage is “top of mind” for the entire collision repair industry, and asked Guttierez how that ties into sustainability.

BASF worked with the TechForce Foundation to field a survey that found younger generations are prioritizing sustainability when thinking about their career choices.

“We were very surprised to see that two thirds of the respondents said that, yes, that’s very important to choose their workplace, the place where they want to set some roots. And for one third, it was less important, but still important,” she said.

BASF then wanted to learn why it was so important.

The answer: sustainable practices demonstrate an employer is forward thinking and cares about the community and the environment.

“It’s in their core values,” Gutierrez said of the survey respondents. “They said, ‘I’m someone that cares about my family, my team. And if I’m working for someone who also cares about me, then that’s a workplace that I want to grow with.’”

Considering that sustainability practices also contribute to the health, safety and well-being of the employees, they lead to an increase in workplace morale. “There’s going to be a positive environment. The employee will feel appreciated,” Guttierez said.

Those practices also enhance the shop’s brand within its community, which in turn further contribute to creating a “sense of belonging” for employees. That leads to employees staying with the company longer, which reduces the amount of time and money the shop owner has to spend on recruiting and onboarding.

Insurers and automakers are also growing increasingly aware of sustainability efforts.

“We see already some changes,” Gutierrez said. “For example, BMW looking at waterborne coatings — how they want to position themselves in terms of sustainability, their practices not only in-house, but how they deal with the value chain, not only what they buy, but also what comes afterwards. That’s the footprint.”

That leads to a “domino effect” when the automaker also demands companies that work with them to follow accordingly.

BASF defines sustainability as “the ability of being successful today without impacting our ability to be successful in the future,” Gutierrez said.

Everyone has experienced the effects of climate change, she said, regardless of where they live. There is also evidence of natural resources becoming scarcer.

“BASF would like to contribute to a better quality of life and also to empower our customers, through our solutions, to go through the green transformation. We want to be the partner of choice for sustainable solutions,” she said.

BASF aims to go far beyond what is required by regulations. “We want to do much more,” Gutierrez said. “For example, we are reinventing the way we do chemistry.”

The company is launching biomass balanced products, which are produced using renewable feedstock, leading to lower carbon emissions. The products perform just as well as those created using conventional chemistry.

“We call it ‘eco effectiveness’ — the ecological or the sustainable component, but also the efficiency for the shops. The best of two worlds,” Gutierrez said.

BASF is also employing “chem cycling,” in which it uses feedstock from waste to create new products: “For example, tires that we are using to produce clearcoats. This is new technology in this industry. I’m very proud to say that we are the first ones,” she said.

BASF’s Green Academy offers training to its partner shops on technologies, products and procedures to increase sustainability and improve working conditions for technicians and painters.

BASF offers consulting services to help shops implement sustainable practices, Gutierrez said, but there are steps shops can take on their own, like using digital tools or switching to a waterborne or low VOC paint product.

“Sustainability can be a broad topic, but let’s select an area where [shop operators] would like to focus,” Gutierrez said, such as operations.

She said taking these steps can be seen as just an additional cost, but encouraged operators to consider how those first steps will lead to more efficiencies, which add up to impact the shop’s bottom line.

For instance, switching to a digital paint-mixing solution decreases product waste by more precisely measuring paint, but it can also speed up the mixing process so painters can finish more vehicles than before.

“Please see the value that comes after implementing it, throughout the journey — the gains that you are getting that might be represented somewhere else and not specifically there,” Guttierez said.

Guttierez said everything in BASF’s pipeline has a sustainability component, as well as increasing efficiency for shops – not only in its paint products, but also in its digital solutions and training.

“We are continuously looking at ways to reinvent how we do chemistry and, with the biomass balance, with cycling for circular economy and so on, and you will see more and more products that you see made out of a sustainability reason,” she said.