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• Future-proofed: Training technicians for the long-term  

  While experience in the day-to-day activities of a workshop is vital in building a technician’s knowledge and skills, it is only one piece of the puzzle. For example, a technician who has been servicing solely petrol and diesel vehicles for the past 15 years will unlikely be able to help a customer with a hybrid or electric vehicle. What’s more, given the safety concerns involved, it would be dangerous for them to try. What about servicing the latest safety-critical systems, like ADAS? Certainly not a worthwhile risk without the appropriate knowledge or equipment.
  
  Systematic training in new technologies is, therefore, the best way to ensure a workshop will continue to successfully serve aftermarket customers, even in times of rapid change.
  
  “The Auto Education Academy portal from Euro Car Parts brings IMI-approved online and practical courses together with a database of over 500,000 resolved technical queries, with an average of 600 new repairs added daily,” observed Adam White, Workshop Solutions Director at Euro Car Parts. “It provides technicians with one of the largest technical training and knowledge resources in the independent aftermarket.”
  
  “Training is an integral part of ongoing success in this industry,” continued Adam. “It allows technicians to further their career and workshop owners to develop a highly-skilled team of professionals.”
  
  While many would agree to education’s importance in principle, it can be difficult to carry out a training plan and accept lost revenue in the short-term. Online learning can provide the flexibility to bridge that gap.
  
  “Repairers can login to their own skills portal to view the content of more than 75 different courses, registering and booking their place on training workshops all over the country at the click of a button,” said Adam. “They can also assess their strengths and identify weaknesses in nine key areas: Petrol engines, diesel engines, engine management and emissions, vehicle electronics, hybrid and electric cars, brakes, powertrain, tyres, steering and suspension, as well as air-conditioning.
  
  “Results are automatically added to an interactive skills diagram, illustrating a repairer’s current skillset and enabling them to set their own training and development targets. Where gaps exist, the learner management system intuitively recommends Auto Education courses that can help increase knowledge in those areas.”
  
  Invaluable
  “The platform has been designed so that anybody can complete a skills overview,” pointed out Adam. “This makes the tool invaluable to workshop managers looking to monitor staff skillsets or test potential hires. Our new learning portal represents a significant investment by Euro Car Parts in helping to nurture the knowledge and skills of technicians across the country.
  “As with any profession, it is important for technicians to continue professional development throughout their career. It is also the role of managers to identify gaps in their team and commit staff to training that will address shortcomings in the workshop’s capabilities. For more immediate solutions, the programme features a technical helpline that provides fast responses to troubleshooting, repair, diagnostics and technical information queries on any vehicle, from any manufacturer.”
  Adam concluded: “For those with an eagerness to learn and evolve, it is an exciting era for the independent aftermarket. “We consider the success of technicians and independent workshops as the foundation of our industry and believe nothing plays a greater role, or makes more of an impact, than education.”
  
  

• Free registration opens for Automechanika Birmingham 2023 

  Visitor registration for Automechanika Birmingham has opened, so techs can now get their hands on their free tickets, access the free parking on offer and line up a free breakfast too.

• Autotech Training launches ADAS course  

  Autotech Training is now offering one-day IMI-accredited ADAS training for the automotive industry, just ahead ahead of the Insurance Industry Requirements (IRR) coming into force.

• Loud and clear  

  Bright sunshine, blue skies, and 25°C. You could not have picked a better day for a live automotive event, featuring outdoor demonstrations of equipment, and more pertinently for readers of Aftermarket, the launch of a new ADAS solution. That is what Autoglass had on offer, when it launched its ADAS Total Calibration solution featuring what it describes as 'over the air' support at its Autoglass Live event in July.   
  
  You couldn't pick a better setting either. Parent company Belron International's Milton Park HQ, just off the M25 near Egham is an impressive modern venue. Something had to give though: "In preparation for this event," said Autoglass  Sales and Marketing Director Neil Atherton, "we made a request to our head office colleagues that they work from home today. So a big apology to them, as I think Thursday is Yoga and Pilates day." You can't have everything then.
  
  200 decision makers from across the insurance, fleet and automotive industries were there instead, on hand to see a number of presentations from the glass provider. These four sessions divided into zones looked at the customer journey, the aforementioned Total Calibration Solution that we will go into in more depth later, operational excellence, and minimising risk. It was here, in zone 4, that Aftermarket started the day.
  
  
  Minimising risk
  For us, the most interesting element was the ADAS side. The purpose of this session was to look at the trends impacting on vehicle glass, no pun intended. It also looked at the risks around quality and safety. This included the effect of increasing glass complexity, and of course the ADAS factor. "Windscreen repair is more important now than it has been in the past," observed Eddie Irvine,  Operations Director, Franchise Markets, at the start of the session.
  
  Autonomous driving will also have an effect. "On the 1-5 scale of autonomous driving," said Ernst Bakker, Sales Development Manager, "we are around level 2. Here we have cruise control, emergency braking etc, all the systems that help the driver. At level 5 you no longer have a driver, you have passengers."
  
  Eddie observed: "This is being driven by the need for safer cars, which is why we are seeing more and more ADAS penetration. To get a EuroNCAP 5 star rating, a vehicle has to have a minimum of one ADAS system.
  
  "The ADAS market in Europe is expected to double by 2025. This causes the automotive industry some real challenges to move towards safer cars. About 9% of the current UK car parc is fitted with a forward-looking camera. SBD predict that by 2024 it will be 29%. That's massive growth, and will be linked to windscreen replacement."
  
  Glass thickness decreased greatly over the last 15 years, while the size of windscreens has increased. With ADAS sensors being placed in windscreens, there is more strain on a larger, thinner component that is being asked to do  more than ever before. This makes proper bonding of replacement windscreens vital for safety on a number of levels, as well as the right glass. This session included a demonstration of how windscreens can be scanned to check it is correct.
  
  This all helped to build a picture of how central ADAS is becoming to any number of sub-sections within the broader aftermarket.
  On our way to finding out about the new offering, The next session provided a picture of the customer journey in a form of live performance, wryly described as a "scripted reality extravaganza". In it, four 'typical' customers and their windscreen replacement experiences were performed. From here the next stop was a presentation from IMI CEO Steve Nash.
  
  Gary Lubner, CEO of Belron International received a certificate that shows that Belron is now an Accredited IMI International Centre. "The fact that we are now accredited for ADAS jobs as well is a big thing" said Gary. "So much ADAS is going on, I am sure for some of you this has come as a huge shock.
  
  "We recognised this trend back in 2014. In 2015, worldwide we did 5,000 ADAS recalibrations. This year, we will do close to 800,000 ADAS calibrations worldwide.100,000 of those will be done here in the UK. Next year I think we could be doing double that again. I can assure there is no other organisation in the world doing that much calibration. No one is even close. What does that mean? If we are doing that many calibrations, we have to make sure we are using the right technology. Now, with the 'over the air calibration' service, we can service 98% of vehicles that are able to be calibrated. It also means we have to put enormous effort into training our technicians." He added: "ADAS is here to stay, and it is a fact that we have to deal with."
  
  
  Total Calibration
  Moving onto what was for us the main event, Neil Atherton introduced the Total Calibration solution.
  
  First, he provided some context: "We have 560 trained ADAS technicians, of whom about 170 have been through the IMI accreditation process. The others will follow as we continue to roll out this training. I envision all of our technicians being ADAS-skilled in due course. We work with three partners, Hella Gutmann Solutions (HGS), Bosch and TEXA. In the UK it is primarily HGS. These tools allow us to calibrate, cameras, radar and lidar. We mainly carry out those calibrations in our fitting centres, but some need to be done dynamically. Approximately three-quarters of cars need to be done in a static environment. The rest are calibrated dynamically on specific road conditions. At present we have 73 fitting centres around the country. We plan to open another 10 during this quarter. We will continue to review our footprint as demand continues to spiral up.
  
  "However, we are not able to calibrate everything, the primary reason being that when manufacturers launch a new vehicle, it takes time for the programmes and data to be released to the aftermarket. The likes of HGS and Bosch then need to reprogramme their systems to allow us to do it. Typically we see a lag of about six months. In those situations, we have had to go back to the dealer network to recalibrate the newest cars."
  
  Explaining the Total Calibration Solution, Neil said: "What we are launching today, with new partners, gives us an ability to delve straight into the vehicle manufacturer's software, effectively giving us the tools that are available to the dealership."
  The key is the over the air device. Autoglass has an exclusive partnership with  the provider, and the company will be the only one offering the service.
  
  Neil explained how it works: "The technician plugs this device into the OBD port. That will then wirelessly connect with our hub of master technicians. They can operate the software and dive straight into the manufacturer's own databases. They will then communicate back through to the car, via the box, and they will communicate with the technician to explain what's happening on the journey. When the journey is fulfilled and the car is calibrated, they will send an electronic certification for the car. We can then install that in the cloud so we have got evidence of that calibration process taking place."
  
  Explaining what it means, Neil said: "The Total Calibration Solution allows us to fulfill nearly 100% of calibration requirements without needing to return to the dealer network. The primary benefits are twofold. Firstly, the customer journey is much better. Secondly, in the two-stop-shop solution currently in place there is currently an element of risk in the windscreen replacement and then the calibration. Doing it in one go eliminates that risk. It also allows us the opportunity to serve the market. We can do that through a number of options. This solution gives us the opportunity to do an OE diagnostic scan."
  
  In conclusion, Neil said: "This over the air Solution will eliminate the need for us to go through the dealers, it will enable us to be able to deliver a full diagnostic check, part coding and ADAS calibration, it reduces the risk, and it reduces key-to-key times."
  
  Closing thoughts
  Following Neil's presentation, we were able to see the Total Calibration Solution demonstrated in the on-site workshop. The live display from the Autoglass technicians showed that the technician in the workshop was provided with additional support from the Autoglass master techs via the device. The master tech provided information to the technician so he could make adjustments to the camera to put it back in alignment.
  
  With one of the business models for ADAS being one provider in an area taking on the financial burden of the ADAS investment, Autoglass are in a good position to become market leaders if they chose to target independent garages looking to action ADAS work. With the OBD port threatened with closure within the next few years, and VM access being a problem, it is unclear if this is a long-term solution, but it is certainly an additional level of support that offers the garage sector an alternative on the ADAS question.
  
  

• To the highest standard 

  More often than not within the pages of Aftermarket, we will refer to the fact that the internal make-up of vehicles has changed greatly in recent years, and that the shift towards electrification is accelerating the process further. No one knows this more than companies making parts, be they OE, Tier One or going straight into the aftermarket.
      
  Wanting to show the world more about the work that go into producing the EGR valves, air mass meters, exhaust pressure sensors and many other parts that they make, SMP Europe recently invited the press to take a peek inside their UK engineering centre in Nottinghamshire in order to shed some light on how their products go from an idea to being a physical item in the hand. With manufacturing taking place both at home and in Torun, Poland, the primary purpose for touring the UK site was to find out how the team take products from idea to prototype at as rapid a pace as is practical, get them tested and then get them into full production.
      
  The company chose a good time to open the doors too, particularly when looking towards the EV side. With electric cars of all types becoming more common, garages are starting to think about the need to get parts, and realising that it is not easy. SMP Europe are already thinking in this direction, and they have even put in an EV garage on site for testing on the vehicle itself, but we are getting ahead of ourselves here. We will come to that later.
  
  Tour
  The tour began in the engineering department, where the various parts are designed, taking in the reality of the hardware itself – the key physical elements, and the firmware side, which many people would refer to as software. With many ideas on parts that could be produced by the company coming from the sales team that is out talking to the factors and garages, the first step is putting together the building blocks. Once the team have decided that a product will be both viable and profitable, they embark on their work towards producing a part. The part itself is designed just a desk away from where the firmware is written from scratch to do the job it needs to do. To enable this to happen, production designers and mechanical engineering designers sit side-by-side. On one side of the room, you have programming and circuits being designed, then on the other you have the casings being put together in CAD programmes where potential parts can be visualised and designed in 3D.
      
  With just a connecting door to traverse, our next stop took us through to a clean workshop, where thanks to investment in 3D printing, the team are able to swiftly move from the design stage to a point where they can have an early prototype in their hands, which they can then begin to perform physical tests on, to see if what they have come up with is viable. From here we moved onto the machine room where circuit boards drawn by the human staff just a few metres away can be constructed by robots, and then finished via drying in a 12-stage oven. We then stepped through to the Validation Test Laboratory. “This is one of the most important areas in the factory,” said Engineering Manager John Wass, as it is where the team find out if what they are making actually works. This includes three thermal cycle ovens where products can be put through the stresses that both very low and very high temperatures will inflict. If that’s not tough enough, there is also a thermal shock chamber, and a pair of hot soak ovens a salt spray machine and an electromagnetic test unit, built especially for the company.
      
  One of the last parts of the process is on-vehicle testing, and with this in mind we found ourselves in the on-site garage. The area is split between an internal combustion engine vehicle section and an EV area and even has a jukebox sourced from the local pub so the team have music while they work. Here they are able to try the parts in a real-world setting, with real-world stresses and strains as the parts would experience on the vehicle. Once a part has survived and successfully passed the prototype phase, they will ultimately end up in production, and eventually in real garages, with real mechanics.  Once a part works, it can be put into production, and on the factory floor, parts are constructed, with many, such as air mass meters each being set, one-by-one. “Individual calibration is the only way,” John pointed out. “We have tried to find a way to set them all en masse, but there is no way of doing it.” Remember that when you order one in.
  
  Electrification
  This is a tried-and-tested process that works well for the company, which in the last year alone has introduced a host of parts including ignition leads, NOx sensors, fuel vapour valves (FVVs) and much more. However, the company was keen to share its move towards providing EV parts for its customers.
      
  It’s not an easy jump though. As SMP Europe Marketing Director Martin Turner observed, while they can get a product for an internal combustion engine vehicle from idea to production in around six to 12 months, with EV parts the situation is not quite the same: “At the moment, it is relatively early days. From an R&D side, we need more information on what components are failing.”  As well as identifying parts that may need to be produced by SMP Europe, the team is working with experts in the EV field, such as garages in the HEVRA network, and notable names such as Matt Cleevely from Cleevely Garage, who are able to help them source hard-to-obtain donor parts for research. Once they have gotten hold of the parts and are able to study them, they can begin the process we have described here.
      
  Of course, while parts from across the gamut of the EV parc, ranging from the humble Renault Zoe to the proprietorially data-obtuse output of Tesla are often drivetrain or even vehicle-specific, there is still a lot of cross-pollination from traditional internal combustion engine vehicles. Martin said: “We do have, as part of our core ranges, parts that are common across both ICE vehicles and electric as well, like wheel speed sensors and temperature sensors. It's an ongoing project that our product management team are focusing on to maximise that offering as much as possible. We want to make sure that the garages and factors feel confident that if they have an electric vehicle come through, that they're able to offer the parts that they need. This is where they're trying to identify potential needs for the market and create the product to fit that need.”
      
  Martin concluded: “It is a quite complicated process, but the message we want to get out to market is that that development is happening.”
  
  

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