NASTF Examines Ways To Close Tech Education Gaps During Spring General Meeting
By aftermarketNews staff
Monday, March 11, 2013
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – Four automaker (OEM)
executives presented revealing details about their requirements for
service under their dealer franchise agreements. Five aftermarket
experts followed, by examining the current status of
service-readiness among independent shops. This unique conversation
between OEMs and the aftermarket is a hallmark of the National Automotive
Service Task Force (NASTF), the group says, and unfolded
before a diverse industry audience on Friday, March 8 during
VISION2013 at the 2013 Spring NASTF General Meeting in Overland
Park, Kan.
Kelly Geist, service engineering manager for Subaru; Mark Saxonberg,
service technology manager for Toyota; Bob Stewart, aftermarket
service support for GM and Jim Von Ehr, manager, technical
information and serviceability for Nissan, each gave valuable
insight into their service department business models.
Saxonburg said, “The availability of service information doesn’t,
itself, make a tech service-ready.” He listed five additional
resources as necessary: factory diagnostic functions, product
knowledge, tech assistance support, factory parts options and a
commitment to learning.
Stewart extolled the benefits of GM’s long-term strategy in
technician development demonstrated in GM’s ASEP (Automotive Service
Education Program), which is a partnership with their dealer
franchise spanning from high school through a tech’s working career.
Geist described Subaru’s requirement of minimum tool investments
from Toughbook laptops to some 400 special tools costing about
$50,000. “We roll out about 20 new special tools a year and they are
shipped automatically to our franchise dealers,” said Geist.
Von Ehr described the Nissan MSTR (Minimum Service Training
Requirements) and showed its positive correlation to the F-1 scores
(Fixed Right the First Time Score) for Nissan dealers. In closing,
Von Ehr argued that the industry needs more than just highly
qualified techs. “We need more techs at all levels,” he said. “With
the right training requirements in place, we’ll get more
highly-qualified techs from that larger pool of techs.”
Bob Augustine of Christian Brothers Automotive, Bob Beckmann of
Beckmann Technologies, Aaron Cherrington of Identifix, JeffMinter of
Madison Technical College and Rusty Savignac of Paxton Garage,
followed the OEM Roundtable and dug deeper into solutions for
closing the service-readiness gap among independent shops.
“It’s harder today to fit all the necessary training into just a
two-year college program,” said Minter. He’s concerned that
education is too focused on pattern-failures and not enough depth in
system understanding that would be useful in developing diagnostic
skills. Cherrington pointed out that today’s techs must be
resourceful. “A 2010 Ford has about 11 million lines of software
code,” he said. “A tech today must have information partners.”
Augustine encouraged shops to develop a “training roadmap” with
compensation incentives for higher skill levels. Savignac, who
operates Paxton Garage in Massachusetts, contends that independent
shops must accept responsibility for turning tech school grads into
qualified techs. “My two best techs came from post-secondary schools
and got OJT, refined,” he explained. Beckmann is a Euro-specialist
and contracts to assist shops withservice in advanced systems not
yet mastered in their shop. “One difference that separates troubled
[shops] from successful [shops] is their attitude toward asking for
help,” said Beckmann. “The successful will reach out for help
quickly.”
“NASTF, too, needs to reach out,” said Skip Potter, NASTF executive
director, announcing his recent membership in the Automotive
Training Manager’s Council (ATMC). “It is NASTF’s strategy to engage
with them to efficiently and effectively close the education
component of the service-readiness gap. In fact, we seek
partnerships with any industry organization that has the existing
mandate and resources to help close the gaps between dealership and
independent capabilities.”
In addition to the complex service-readiness topic presented during
the Spring 2013 NASTF General Meeting, NASTF Chairman and President
of the Equipment and Tool Institute Charlie Gorman presented "Why
Automakers Should Support Aftermarket Telematics," pointing out that
quality new cars sold by today’s OEMs are becoming quality used cars
serviced in the aftermarket.
“Embracing aftermarket diagnostic solutions pays dividends because
it makes for happy owners, and happy owners have a tendency to
become loyal to the brand,” Gorman said. He described, in detail, a
technical strategy that would consolidate competing telematics
technologies into one efficient network, taking advantage of the
creative free marketplace in developing multiple solutions to
benefit the consumer.
To close the afternoon program, NASTF committee chairs participated
in a unique panel format to discuss their charters and initiatives
with the NASTF executive director and the audience. Bob Chabot
(Collision Committee), John Cabaniss (Communications Committee),
Karen Miller and Rob Morrell (Education Committee),
Steve Douglas (Service Information Committee), Greg Potter and Donny
Seyfer (Equipment & Tool Committee) and Mark Saxonberg (Vehicle
Security Committee) participated.
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