Coatings World - July 2015

also have a strong retention rate due to
their high levels of technical training and
service.”
Formed in 1933, Colortone has been a
ColorSource distributor for 20 years and
has been family-owned since 1979.

“We are humbled and honored to re-
ceive this award from BASF,” said Sandy
Reshes, co-owner of Colortone. “I work
with a great team of people and it’s be-
cause of their efforts that we were able to
achieve this milestone.”
Paul Whittleston, vice president of
BASF’s Automotive Refinish business
added, “Our ColorSource community
grew their paint business by more than
14 percent in 2014. This growth clearly
demonstrates that with great partner-
ship and focus comes great rewards. We
look forward to growing and expanding
ColorSource in 2015.”
ColorSource PREMIER is a program
designed by BASF exclusively for single-
line distributors of BASF refinish paints
and coatings.

Raytheon Teams up with
Axalta Coating Systems for
UK Apprenticeship Program
for Body Shops

Raytheon Professional Services, a long-established company offering training solutions to government agencies and commercial organizations worldwide, has joined forces with Axalta Coating Systems in the UK on its Paint and Refinish Apprenticeship Programme for body shops.

Anthony Cashel, marketing manager
for Axalta Coating Systems in the UK and
Ireland, said, “We approached Raytheon
because it has a huge amount of experi-
ence in training and also working with
the automotive industry. This combina-
tion made it the ideal partner to help
make the apprenticeship program for the
U.K. body shops stand out from the rest.”
The Axalta Paint and Refinish
Apprenticeship Programme has been de-
signed to help apprentices working in UK
body shops develop valuable new skills,
techniques and technology ex-
pertise that will help them to
work quickly and productively.

The three-year program gives apprentices the opportunity to achieve Level 2 and 3 full framework qualifications. In the third year they are also assessed for ATA at Senior Paint Technician Level.

“We believe the training we are pro-
viding to body shop apprentices will meet
and exceed industry requirements for
today’s technicians,” said Cashel. “They
should then be able to fill skills gaps in
the workforce, and introduce in the body
shops in which they work new techniques
and technology that are designed to in-
crease productivity and to help provide a
competitive edge.”
Apprentices are currently being in-
vited to apply for the 2015 training
program. Any UK body shop interested
in taking on an apprentice, or anyone
wishing to join the training scheme,
can register their interest at www.