The GPI Group is made up of eight Australian companies, uniquely diversified with the origins of the company dating back to the 1st of February 1978, when Colin Edwards commenced operations in the Automotive Refinishing Industry. Since that time, the organisation has achieved enormous growth, operating out of branches in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Launceston, and employing over 190 people in the following fields:
The National Collision Repairer sat down with Colin in 2008 when GPI celebrated its 30th anniversary. Before we catch up on Colin’s past ten years, let’s review his first 40 years in the automotive industry.
In the early days, there was only Colin, a woman sewing buff pads and another woman spending half her time on office work and the other half labelling cans and cleaning buff pads – that was the extent of the operation. “I used to make the body filler at weekends and evenings, cut up the sheepskins to make the buff pads and then go out and sell the product range during the week.”
