With three busy locations in Vernon Rockville, Columbia and East Windsor, CT, Olender’s Body Shop is an 84-year-old third-generation business. Part of their success is the fact that they’re not afraid to embrace the newest, state-of-the-art equipment to repair vehicles back to their pre-accident condition. Their “extended height” Blowtherm paint booth is expanding their total capabilities by bringing them a whole slew of new business. Their painters love it, the support is outstanding and the finished product is consistently pristine.
Olender’s Body Shop
Vernon Rockville, Columbia & East Windsor, CT
860-654-1715
www.olenders.com
Facebook: @olendersct
Twitter: @OlendersInc
Company At A Glance...
Type: Collision Repair
Facility Employees: 26 (East Windsor)
In Business Since: 1939
Number of Locations: Three
Production Space: 13,000 square feet
Olender’s Body Shop has maintained their unsurpassed reputation for generations, now servicing grandchildren of their original clients. They perform both mechanical and collision repair and are an I-CAR Gold shop. With a large and growing customer base, the high-production shop is in demand, and their Blowtherm in seemingly continuous operation.
When Olender’s began repairing cars, the most popular vehicle on the market was the Packard or a Woody. But with today’s sophisticated cars, shops need cutting-edge tools like a great paint booth. People want a paint job that exceeds their expectations, and Blowtherm delivers.
That’s why they have Blowtherm’s newest extended height spray booth at their East Windsor location, complete with premium LED lighting, and Air Speed/Waterborne hi-solid flash-off system. In their other locations, they have enhanced heat recuperation Blowtherm drive-thru and Blowtherm backout spray booths, and a Blowtherm Mix Room.
For Shop Foreman Joe Scavotto, he would agree that his Blowtherm is a world-class piece of equipment. “The fact that it is much higher and larger, we are able to paint larger vehicles such as ambulances and stretch limos.”
We asked Mark Miller, VP/ National Sales Manager of Blowtherm USA, about the need for this size spray booth in the industry. He confirmed that “Commercial vehicles are growing in the form of cargo size vans, utility box trucks, e-commerce delivery vehicles (i.e. Amazon, special courier, etc.); there’s larger SUVs and crossovers; extended dually pick-ups and trucks overall. The decision to install an extended height, width and length spray booth broadens our customers’ capabilities to service those vehicles, which ultimately increases their business.”
Scavotto continued, “The Blowtherm also provides us with a much cleaner surface, which is a must when using a paint spray booth. Our painters love it and they like to work cleaner. This is very good because it positively impacts our efficiency and improves our cycle time.”
Olender’s Body Shop originally purchased several standard automotive Blowtherm booths in 2014, but this larger booth is a whole different machine. “This new booth is considerably brighter with the LED hip and wall lights. When your painters can see better, the finished job will always come out considerably better across the board.”
Scavotto is impressed by the increased production of 30% thanks to Blowtherm’s air-speed/waterborne flash-off system. He added, “The quicker flash time is a huge deal!” Blowtherm’s quick dry air speed is known to provide shorter flash-off times between coats, provide faster removal of volatile components before the recirculation process, with zero additional energy costs.
Olender’s gives major kudos to Blowtherm’s overall excellent customer service. “The support we get from our distributor (Mike Hites, Autoquip, Newmarket, NH) is also very efficient.”
When asked what he would say to someone in the market for a new spray booth, Scavotto got straight to the point: “It’s a long-lasting piece of high-quality equipment,” he said. “By all means, buy this Blowtherm booth---you will definitely not be disappointed!”
Special Projects Manager Dave Olender is a big fan of Blowtherm’s heat recuperator system. “I can’t even imagine my fuel bill without using Blowtherm’s heat recuperator system,” he said. “Considering we’re hitting record low temperatures this winter, with the Heat Recuperation system, we are witnessing rapid temperature rise to ‘called for temps’ in the spray and bake cycles, which helps lower our fuel consumption. Very impressive.
“We looked at several other booth manufacturers but like the construction of the Blowtherm Extra. We were really sold on the Heat Recuperation and Air Speed/Waterborne, Hi-Solid Flash-Off systems. The air movement is so incredible, no extra fans or blowers are ever needed.
“We’re actually kicking out an additional four cars per day. Plus, Blowtherm’s technology is giving us a much cleaner finish. Blowtherm will remain our spray booth vendor of choice.”
The finished product is always spectacular when a car comes out of a Blowtherm booth. Here are a sample of customer reviews featured on autobodyreview.com: “Excellent job, car looks new!! Car looks great.” “Back sooner than expected.” “Excellent work and very timely. Beautiful.” “My car looked amazing. At first I didn’t recognize it. JOB WELL DONE!” “I am very completely satisfied with the outcome of my Lexus repair. I know that it was a difficult task in getting the correct paint color, but Olender’s team of professionals did the job... love it!!"
Blowtherm USA & Training Center
855-463-9872 or 262-269-6265
www.blowtherm-usa.com
sales@blowtherm-usa.com
To read more auto body shop profiles from the June 2023 Shop and Product Showcase, click here.
