BASF's Automotive Refinish Solutions business has introduced SmartTrak® III, the newest version of its software for paint and color formula management. 

The SmartTrak system is designed to improve the productivity and profitability of collision repair businesses by improving the efficiency of body shop managers and paint technicians. The newest version of the software introduces several new or enhanced features:

The paint estimate function enables the user to determine the exact amount of paint that has to be mixed for the size of the damaged areas to be repaired, eliminating costly paint waste and time-consuming remixing.

The most popular variant function allows the user to simply enter the car model and year to get a list of variants for a particular color from BASF's global database.

An enhanced inventory control function lets shop employees quickly and easily generate stock orders, manage and control inventory levels and track consumption of paint and material by repair order or technician. Orders and inventory information can be instantly transmitted via the Internet to the shop's jobber for processing.

The product and scale demos, available in many languages, provide step- by-step guides to the proper use of BASF paint and mixing scales, helping technicians and painters to quickly develop confidence and needed skills.

The new version of the software also contains small-damage repair formulas from BASF's worldwide ARCtiC color database.

SmartTrak III supports more than fifteen languages. This capability makes it easy for painters around the world, as well as foreign-language users in North America, to follow the step-by-step instructions and feel comfortable with the new system.

"Our SmartTrak system has proven itself with countless refinish businesses over the years," said Ken Marshall, global manager for BASF's Customer Relationship Management Applications group.

"With SmartTrak III we've made this remarkable tool even better by adding important features and improving existing ones, all designed to help businesses be more productive and successful."