Carbeat, AkzoNobel’s state-of-the-art digital body shop workflow control solution that enables automotive body repair shops to track their work in production and thus operate more efficiently, has been awarded an industry patent.

United States Patent No. 10,289,101 protects the system’s intellectual property.

The U.S. Patent Office found the Carbeat system inventive based on several outstanding features, including its use of drag-and-drop functionality that also helps determine the duration of specific repair jobs, and its identification and use of trend data for more efficient body shop planning.

AkzoNobel’s Vehicle Refinishes business launched Carbeat in 2017 as the industry’s first such digital solution that helps improve production efficiency and communication. Through the system, managers, team leaders, technicians and third parties can follow vehicle repair status information with real-time overviews and thus ensure the entire shop is in sync.

"We are very happy our software fulfills the strict requirements for this patent, and this shows how beneficial our Carbeat application is to our customers,” said Mike Sillay, product manager services, AkzoNobel. “Technology is playing a growing role in our industry. Our mission is to help collision repair professionals save time and money, and we are proud of the system our team has created to help achieve that.”

In a case study involving 85 collision centers in North America, AkzoNobel found that Carbeat helped body shops reduce cycle times on average by about 10 percent just a year after the system was put in place. First introduced in North America, the application is now also offered in Europe and has been pilot-tested in India and China.

To date, Carbeat is being utilized in 15 countries and is available in 17 languages.