WGR Reports
repair news

STANDARDS
NWRA Approved by ANSI to Become ROLAGS™ Secretariat
The National Windshield Repair Association (NWRA) has been approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a standards developer and has assumed the role of secretariat for the Repair of Laminated Auto Glass Standard (ROLAGS), effective June 18.

The NWRA’s immediate plans include verifying and updating the memberships of those who serve on the ROLAGS Committee and related sub-committees, and scheduling the group’s first meeting under the new oversight, according to a statement from NWRA.

“I think the first thing we need to do is evaluate where we are and where we left off.”
—Keith Beveridge, ROLAGS vice chair

“I think the first thing we need to do is evaluate where we are and where we left off,” said ROLAGS vice chair Keith Beveridge of Novus Glass during a recent interview with AGRR magazine. “We haven’t had a meeting in about a year, so the NWRA Board should talk about direction and where we want to quickly and decisively go, and try to figure out how to move the standard forward.”

He added, “The standard is ready to be updated yet again.”

NWRA president Mike Boyle of Glass Mechanix advised attendees during a recent ROLAGS Informational Session that one major goal for the standard will be marketing it to customers.

“There hasn’t been a lot of traction with our customers and that’s one of the things we’re going to work on,” said Boyle.

The NWRA had joined ANSI as an organizational member in late February and had submitted its application to become an ANSI-accredited standards developer in early-March.

The National Glass Association previously had served as ROLAGS secretariat, but had announced earlier this year that it would be transferring this role.

The two associations developed the original standard together and it was accepted as an ANSI Standard in June 2007.

COMPANY NEWS
Two Windshield Repair Companies Struck by Disasters
Two windshield repair companies have endured disasters in recent months. A Fas-Break store in Billings, Mont., was destroyed by a tornado in June, and a Novus Auto Glass shop owner in Sequim, Wash., lost his shop to a fire in early July.

“This is Montana—we don’t get tornadoes,” said Kevin Massick, owner of the business, in a recent interview with AGRR magazine.

Massick’s family was preparing for a barbecue at his home in Billings, about 2 miles from the store location, when he said he began to see dark clouds forming in the sky, followed by hail.

“My brother called me as he was driving to our home and he was going by the Metra, a big civic center and concert hall, and he said, ‘the roof is off the metro hall,’” Massick said. Shortly after the storm hit his shop.

Brent Larson, co-owner of the Washington business destroyed by fire, remains upbeat.

“You kind of roll with the punches,” he says. “I have a house to go home to, and it didn’t spread to the other nearby facilities at all.”

Larson’s facility, which he was leasing, caught fire on June 24 after he had left for the evening.

“I was working on [an] old car, doing some welding,” he says. “I thought it was done and obviously there was a spark that smoldered for two, or two and a half hours.”

“The firefighters got there pretty quickly, but it was fully involved,” he says. “Another 10-15 minutes later it would have been a whole lot worse.”

All of the glass the business had on-hand, along with two vehicles, including a classic 1966 Econoline pick-up truck that was scheduled to be in a car show shortly after the building was destroyed.

Larson also had two customers’ vehicles in which he was installing classic windshields in the shop, but both were only smoke damaged.

“I was more worried about the customers’ cars than mine,” he says.

BRIEFLY...
NOVUS Glass has a new franchise in the Charlotte, N.C., area. The franchise is owned by Jeff Guinan and Kristy McIntyre, who recently re-located from Long Island, N.Y.






AGRR
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