When I-CAR's new "Waterborne Products, Systems and Applications" debuted this spring, the training organization reported the 4-hour course was slated to run more than 120 times in locations across the country in the first 30 days alone.

For Jeff Peevy, director of field operations for I-CAR in North America, that number represents two accomplishments. First, he said, it shows I-CAR has come a long way internally in terms of getting its instructors trained and ready to teach a new class at the time of its launch. Secondly and more importantly, he said, it shows I-CAR is rolling out a class for which there is tremendous interest in the industry.

“The industry has made it clear to us they want timely and relevant training programs,” Peevy said. “This class and the response it is getting shows we are certainly working to deliver that.”

The waterborne class is among the first that I-CAR has developed under a new system that relies more heavily on industry input to define the topic and structure of new classes, Peevy said.

“We're spending more time doing industry surveys and holding industry feedback sessions to determine what the industry says is important to them in terms of training,” Peevy said. “Once we gather that data, we present it to our three industry advisory councils: one for the OEMs, one for insurers and one for collision repairers. They give us a lot of coaching and direction around what the program should be and what it should not be.”

In the case of waterborne basecoats, Peevy said, the advisory councils were clear that the paint manufacturers do a good job of training technicians on the use of their specific products.

“But what they felt was needed was a program for shop owners, managers and technicians who are considering or foresee a conversion to waterborne at some point and want an overview of the things they will need to consider,” Peevy said. “Even if a shop feels like it may be a year or two before they will convert to waterborne, this is a class they will want to take. We tried to make it a class that would not compete with the refinish companies' training but if anything, be something that would lead up to it.”

Peevy, who was a refinish technician and later a tech-rep and direction of training for a paint company before joining the I-CAR staff about 11 years ago, said I-CAR also was able to use some first-hand experience in developing the waterborne class. I-CAR recently converted its Technical Center in Wisconsin from using solvent-based to spraying waterborne basecoats.

“We used that conversion as a platform from which we built the training program,” he said.

So what does the 4-hour class (including a written test) offer those who attend? Peevy offered the following highlights:

• Mixing system differences. “There are several areas in which waterborne is not ‘business as usual,'” Peevy said. Some paint manufacturers' waterborne system use a mixing bench that automatically keeps the products stirred, much like the current solvent-based systems. Others do not. “Some require reduction and some don't,” Peevy said. “There's a host of differences. What this class really does is highlight those differences.”

• Surface preparation. “Everything that a refinish tech has traditionally been taught about proper surface preparation is really magnified when it comes to waterborne,” Peevy said. “You really need to make sure you're doing all the things you were taught to do: paying attention to the proper sandpaper grit, using the surface cleaners properly. All of those basics apply even more so because for the most part waterborne technology is a little less forgiving on the preparation side.”

• Storage and waste disposal issues. Freezing of the product during storage is a concern with some waterborne products, Peevy cited as one example of an issue covered in the class.

• Equipment requirements. Conversion to waterborne may require retrofitting the paint booth to increase air flow, as well as using proper spray guns and gun cleaning systems, Peevy said. The course looks at not just at one or two booth retrofit options, for example, but a broad spectrum “so you can make informed decisions,” he said.

• Common mistakes. “When you retrofit a booth with, say, new overhead fans, it may be very tempting for a painter to want to use that new air movement equipment on conventional clearcoat because it would cause it to flash quicker,” Peevy said. “But that also could lead to skimming, solvent popping and die-back. We try to highlight in the class things like that that painters and managers need to be very aware of, so they don't assume things are the same when they're not.”

Although I-CAR classes generally do not discuss cost issues, Peevy said the waterborne class does try to describe “ways to get the material to be equally as efficient” in terms of production as the use of solvent-based basecoats.

Peevy said I-CAR has set a goal of developing six new classes a year – up from two a year in the past – and has improved its internal processes used to launch those classes. In the past, he acknowledged, I-CAR would sometimes have a class ready to go but not have enough of its instructors trained on the material in order to begin offering the class right away. But I-CAR had more than 138 of its instructors qualified to teach the waterborne course at the time of its release, which is why it is being offered in so many locations immediately after its release, he said.

“And the response we're getting so far from the instructors about the class has been very positive as well,” he said.

I-CAR's in April also launched another new class that Peevy acknowledges is "a little venture away from the typical technical programs" I-CAR has traditionally developed. The topic: cycle time. As with the waterborne class, he said development of the cycle time class was based on the level of interest in the topic I-CAR has heard from its advisory committees and the industry.

“Again, we're not trying to compete with all the good cycle time and lean process management training that's available,” he said. “Rather, this overview class will support that other training by helping technicians better understand where management is coming from when they come at them with measurements around cycle time, when they come at them with lean processes, so they have a better understanding of what the purpose of it is and the advantages for them. We like to consider ourselves the technicians' training organization, and in this case we're true to that. ”

Peevy said the course follows a repair job moving through two shops to show how small differences in process can result in significant cycle time differences.

He said he believes the new waterborne and cycle time classes are indicative of a new generation of classes I-CAR will develop and offer.