Hemi Popata

I joined Bodyworks Panelbeater’s as there Head Painter. Working closely with the paint shop team to head towards cohesiveness. As paint shop foreman I am responsible for the quality of work that leaves the shop whilst also achieving a streamline process to provide a quick turnaround for customers. Paint application, masking, booth maintenance, product usage and polishing are all attributes I use on a daily basis for this company.

Automotive Colours are an automotive paint distributor selling out of Auckland. I worked for this progressive company as a Sales and Technical Representative. During my time here I provided an immense amount of Technical knowledge and support to our exisiting clientele, including helping match complex factory colours, addressing certain product failures and training customer staff members on applications of the latest PPG technology.

BM Automotive taught me a lot about hard work and attention to detail. As a worker for this company my tasks included :

- Full Bare metal resurfacing

- Light Fabrication and rust work

- Applications of a vast range of paints, primers etc

- Senior position

As a part of this team we started and completed some amazing projects and it helped develop my existing skills and take them to the next level.

Gained 2 national certificates during my time at Murphy Panel & Paint. Spent 5 years as an Automotive Refinisher achieving tradesman status in 2020 and from there transitioned to a Panelbeater’s role which took another 2 years of bookwork to finish off my second qualification. Being able to switch between both aspects of the collision industry helped me gain a true understanding of the depth of the trade.