A Peek Into The Future Of The Aftermarket

Oct. 15, 2018
The 2018 Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association Technology Conference served as a window into the aftermarket's future.

Clearwater, Fla. - When I was first assigned the responsibility of covering the 2018 Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association (AASA) Technology Conference, held recently in Clearwater, Florida, I wasn't sure what to expect. My only involvement in this segment of the industry has been as a consumer of the parts and tooling many of the member companies produce. I mean, what was a guy that spent most of his adult life with a wrench in his hands going to do at an event attended by senior executives of leading aftermarket suppliers and their large parts house customers?

Looking over the sessions that were being offered, though, quickly changed that. Titles like "Current Challenges To Servicing A Modern Vehicle," featuring ZF Services' Dirk Fuchs and "Augmented Reality For Repair Shops," presented by Rika Nakazawa, VP Strategy and Partnerships with Atheer, seemed to me to be "must attend" topics for anyone involved in the service side of our industry. And there were others on the list that I made sure to highlight so I wouldn't miss them.

Usually when I attend an event it is easy to pick the one or two sessions that make an impression on me, but none of the sessions at the AASA Technology Conference fell flat. They were all interesting, enlightening and informative. Now, with the two days I spent there behind me, let me offer a few highlights.

Two Keynotes For The Price Of One
There were two speakers advertised as "keynote" sessions following the welcoming introduction by Chris Gardner, AASA Vice President. The first was presented by Paul Golata with Mouser Electronics. You may remember Mouser as the company that sponsored a project that resulted in the first car ever produced entirely from 3D modeling. Much of the presentation centered around developments since then, including the addition of onboard drones to provide a birds-eye view for the driver, should they desire. Where would that technology come in handy? How about being stuck in traffic and wondering just how bad it was up ahead?

And while many in the audience asked more about the 3D build of the car, others were quick to point out the real world applications that could be realized in the near future. That is, parts made to OEM specification, in house and on demand. Imagine owning a collision chain and being able to produce replacement parts right there in the shop!

Next was an informative presentation by FBI Special Agent Andy Sekela, who specializes in white collar crimes. Sekela shared valuable information with those attending on how to protect themselves, and their companies, from email scams. These scams are not the infamous letter from some Nigerian attorney that we've all gotten. These are planned, well executed attacks that typically net over $70,000 from their victims. The criminals first hack into your company emails and, Sekela warns, that if you are using a generic email provider for company business (Gmail, Yahoo, and the like), you are making it even easier for the bad guys to get in. 

Once in, they monitor your corporate email traffic, learning your corporate "lingo" and who the top executives are. Then, mimicking your own email, they send an order or invoice requesting payment be sent to XYZ. Since the request is being sent to the person responsible for handling these transactions and is on an email that looks like yours, it is often not given a second thought and is processed along with the rest of that day's business. And that's just one method being used! Sekela shared several - and offered tips on what to do if you learn that you've been had. First, contact your bank immediately and stop the transfer. Then call your local FBI office and report the scam. Sekela shared that if the FBI is involved in the first 48 hours, they stand a good chance of recovering the money. After that, though, and it is as good as gone.

On To Monday Afternoon
Opening the afternoon session was Dana Inc.’s Osvaldo Gallegos followed by Marc Pappas, VP for Data Services and E-Commerce for Federated Auto Parts. Both highlighted areas within their companies that were aimed at streamlining the digital experience for their customers – both corporate and consumer. The reasoning is simple enough – more and more customers are gathering information and making their buying decisions online. Pappas shared how Federated is working hard to make that digital experience as smooth as possible; offering consumers the opportunity to create product "bundles" based on their first parts search request and adding video "how to" support that is directly related to the parts the customer is buying.

Later, Fuchs of ZF Services talked about the challenges faced by shop owners and technicians in servicing today’s technology - specifically the family of technologies that make up Advanced Driver Assist Systems, or ADAS. Fuchs shared how a member of his team had visited a local shop earlier in the week and asked if they were able to calibrate or program these systems. Told "yes," they were asked what techniques they used. After all, Fuchs shared early in his presentation how much room was needed for proper calibration of onboard radar and camera systems, along with the list of tooling needed (tooling that costs several thousands of dollars to purchase), all just for one OEM line. So when the shop owner showed the ZF rep the calibration target he had made (a door he had bought at the local Home Depot and had painted white with a few black dots added), you can understand when Fuchs told the assembled audience that he estimates only "one half of one percent" of all the technicians in the U.S. are prepared to correctly service and repair these systems.

U.S. techs - Don't feel bad, though. He also stated that the European shops aren't much better, stating that "maybe 5 percent" are able to correctly perform these repairs.

However, Rika Nakazawa of Atheer, may have a potential solution to the problem. Her company produces Augmented Reality glasses, similar to the old Google Glass only binocular rather than monocular. She shared how the use of the technology can link any technician to an expert right at the point of need. Porsche thinks so too, and plans to roll out the product to over 2,700 North American dealers.

If you have any experience using a technical hotline, you see where Atheer is going with this. There are some companies currently that have the ability to "see" what the technician calling is seeing through an app on the tech's phone or as a dedicated part of a scan tool. The difference with AR glasses is that it is all right there in front of the tech's, and tech support's, line of sight. 

Let's say you are diagnosing an electrical issue and need to locate a specified pin in a specified connector but you've never worked on the car before. Don your AR glasses (up to 10 users can be assigned to each pair) and connect to the carline expert. He sees what you see, but is able to annotate what you see on his desktop. And that annotation is overlaid on the vehicle you're looking at. In Porsche's trial testing, time and efficiency increased by over 40 percent incorporating this process. 

Specialized Tracks Highlight Tuesday Morning
Attendees had the opportunity to pick from specialized tracks on Tuesday morning, able to choose "Heavy Duty Technology," "Marketing Technology" and "Information Technology." Each track was made up of a series of four presenters with short breaks taken between presentations. I choose to attend the Marketing Technology track.

Ram ChandraSekar, founder of PhaseZero Ventures, started us of with an informative presentation entitled "Leveraging Silicone Valley DNA To Digitally Transform Aftermarket Business." He stressed to the audience that today's consumer is looking for a seamless, pain-free experience when doing business, and that they are doing more and more of that business online. "If it's taking your customer more than three taps on his phone to find what he wants, he's going to take his business elsewhere," he told attendees.

Additionally, ChandraSekar shared that business is moving more toward subscription models than traditional sales models. He cited the example of "Nest," an automated thermostat offered by Google. He explained that Google, by adding a camera and other nuances, wasn't selling a thermostat – they were selling a home security system and collecting $5 per month from every subscriber.

When asked how to incorporate a similar model in the automotive arena, he shared how at least one OEM is offering vehicle subscriptions in addition to traditional purchase or lease options. And at least one private dealer network in Texas is doing the same. He suggested that shops might offer a subscription-based maintenance plan to their customers, having them pay so much per month rather than pay at the time of service. Certainly food for thought!

Other speakers in this track included Autoshop Solutions' Danny Sanchez, Clickagy's Marry Maugans and Dana's Peter Cirulis. Sanchez brought attendees up to speed on the importance of online first impressions, including your business's website. He stressed the importance of making sure that your site is "mobile friendly" and added that if it's not, Google was actually penalizing you for it - reducing your rankings in the search results. Maugan's firm monitors what online users are doing in real time, claiming that Clickagy can effectively monitor what nearly 90 percent of all U.S. Internet users are doing online at any given time. That kind of data can go a long way toward helping a company more effectively reach the audience they are targeting. 

Tuesday Afternoon - Government Updates And Self-Healing Automobiles
Attendees were on their own for lunch, but there was no shortage of choices and all were within a short walk of the hotel. After lunch, it was back in the main room for the last few sessions of the conference.

First was Ann Wilson, Senior VP for Government Affairs for MEMA, the Motor And Equipment Manufacturers Association. MEMA is the parent organization for AASA, and Wilson and her team are the lobbyist representatives for the group. Her focus was on the recently passed U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement and, of course, on the continuing tariffs being charged to, and charged by, China. The biggest takeaway from her presentation I can offer you is this; go to the MEMA website at https://www.mema.org/trade and read all you can on these two issues. Wilson stressed that these agreements do not just impact the OEMs. It impacts any business that is exporting or importing products or materials across our borders.

Wilson also touched on other issues related to the attending AASA membership. Corporate Average Fuel Economy changes and a proposed timeline were shared, as well as the need for the industry to lobby their Federal representatives and urge them to take action on regulations governing Autonomous Vehicle development. As she pointed out, if the Feds don't take action the individual states soon will and it is easier to accommodate one set of rules than a number of different sets.

Closing out the main presentations was Aurora Labs CEO Zohar Fox, discussing the "self-healing" car. What is that you may ask? Consider that a modern automobile can have over 100 million lines of code governing its electronic systems. What happens when a line goes bad, or needs to be updated?

Today, we erase it all and perform a reprogramming of the effected module. We techs call that a "reflash." The problem with that process is that every time it is done, the underlying memory is weakened. Fox shared a software solution that automatically seeks out bad lines of code, and if one is found, it is able to reset the system to a past point in time when the code was intact and operating properly. It is a stop-gap of a kind, allowing the vehicle to continue to operate the way it should until a fix is installed. And it amends the existing code rather than rewrite the entire entry.

And it would all be done over the air remotely.

Seeing Is Believing
While the inside sessions may have come to a close, the event itself was still far from over. Live demonstrations of the technologies shared were available to attendees in the lower level of the parking garage, held inside due to inclement weather concerns. Carquest Technical Institute was there to demonstrate a technical training platform that had a gaming feel, perfect to encourage millennial use. Atheer, Mitchell 1, and Dana Aftermarket were also among the firms participating in the "hands on" exhibit.

During the course of the entire event, tabletop displays from a variety of vendors and AASA members were available to attendees before and after sessions as well as during breaks. Monday evening at the Marina Cantina and the closing night's banquet provided ample networking opportunities while enjoying the Florida beach life. In review, it was a full and informative way to spend a few days. I hope to attend again!

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