Zerby Automotive increases efficiency, productivity with new paint booth – Canon City Daily Record

After purchasing Zerby Automotive in January 2021, new owners Ronald and Rachael Lutz set about expanding the already-successful business by pursuing a state-of-the-art upgrade for the shop.

Zerby Automotive consists of both a mechanical repair shop but also a complete body shop–a fact few people in the community may know. To increase production and quality of work in the body shop, the couple decided to pursue the installation of a brand new paint booth.

The Lutz’s decided to start work on the project in early 2021 and, after combatting successive installation and production issues, were grateful to open the booth in late March. The new paint booth now has a downdraft system and a bake cycle, so what used to take a couple of days for a panel or a car to be ‘cured’ now only takes several hours. The 27’ booth is designed to produce a high-quality finish very efficiently. The booth takes filtered air that flows through the booth to an exhaust filter system at the other end of the booth. The AMU (air makeup unit) can heat, or ‘bake’ surfaces up to 190 degrees.

Automotive Refinish Specialist, Aaron Lucero, works to mix the correct paint color from a myriad of colors, shades, and variations and works within the booth, and production has already improved. Whereas the body shop team previously finished roughly eight cars in several days, the production has more than doubled due to the advanced technology used by the new booth.

However, the Lutz’s look forward to continuing to expand the business and continue to refine both the mechanic and body shops.

“We just care so much about our business and our employees that everything we do is just put back into them and into it,” Rachael said. “We have visions and we have plans to grow even further. We’re just going to continue to make it grow and be successful.”

Who knows what new advancements may be on the horizon for Zerby Automotive? Only time will tell.