Automotive Aftermarket Technology Paints New Picture Of Industry

Advances in the auto industry have proven to be a boon to both consumers and the people who work on their cars……

CHICAGO (Wednesday, September 01, 2004) - Technology has changed automotive aftermarket franchises significantly over the last 15 years, but that doesn’t make the job any less of an art form to Meineke Car Are Cetners’ Mark Street. It’s just a different art.

“It’s become less like the thrill of creating a painting and more like a mystery thriller,” said Street, vice president of business development for the 873-unit exhaust and brake service chain. “Perhaps there were elements of the business that were artistic, like figuring out how to bend and fit an exhaust system to a vehicle, but today it’s about using diagnostic equipment to give you a pointer on what the problem may be, and then you have to go and work it out.”

Technology may have moved automotive after-market technicians away from knuckle-busting “grease-monkey work,” but computer-driven repair work still takes talent—and it’s rarely easy.

Transmissions weren’t simple thing to begin with, but with the advent of electronics in auto construction over the last 15 years, they’re infinitely more complex—and the causes of break-downs have multiplied. “It’s not just about repairing and rebuilding the transmission anymore, it’s about finding the cause and preventing it from occurring again,” said Barbara Moran-Ploger, head of Moran Industries, franchisor of Mr. Transmission, Multistate Transmission, and Dr. Nicks Transmission. To find the problem, Moran’s brands now rely on scanners and software as much as socket wrenches.

No brand is untouched. According to Street, the biggest change for Meineke has been the switch from mechanical systems to computer-driven systems; with arrival of anti-lock break systems, diagnosing a malfunction requires plugging the car’s computer into service computer to download codes, which point to the problems.

At Maaco Auto Painting and Bodyworks, technicians now paint cars with gravity-feeding PHP guns instead of traditional pressure-based guns, said to Technical Director Mike Odom. New auto systems prompted Precision Tune Auto Care to adopt OBD2, the second generation of onboard, diagnostics computer language, in 1996.

Computers and electronics have made automobiles (and repairing them) more complex than ever, but after-market franchises’ expanding business models are also driving their embrace of new technology. Maaco recently broadened its focus from painting to include body repair and collision work; and Meineke’s muffler and exhaust business now includes brake repair, oil changes, and wheel alignments. Precision Tune Auto Care expanded its services to offer tire and alignment work in early 2003.

As technology evolves and companies change, the role of the technician has been redefined. Precision Tune auto Care President Robert Falconi said that using the term “technician” instead of “mechanic” is telling. “The term ‘mechanic’ comes from the ‘20s, ‘30s and ‘40s, when an engine was a mechanical system – today’s vehicles are a set of interrelated electronic systems, and the term ‘technician’ follows suit with the advances in technology.”

Precision’s technicians are now as likely to come from the computer industry as vocational schools and dealership training programs, and they all have a good understanding of electronics, according to Falconi. Meineke requires franchisees to have an Automotive Service Excellence-certified technician in charge of every service line the franchisee offers, Street said. Precision Tune, Meineke and Moran Industries all provide online training programs to keep franchisees and technicians up to date on the latest advances.

Of course, true gear-heads don’t see learning new computer systems and electronics as a chore; it’s just more to learn about cars—which they love. “Like in any industry, most technicians are self-starters and go-getters who are hungry for information and continue to learn and upgrade their capabilities so they can stay up to speed with the industry,” Falconi said.

Moran agreed, and echoed Street’s “mystery” viewpoint. “It’s literally like being a detective now, because it’s not just about how well you assemble the various parts, it’s also about being able to detect which part if failing or causing intermittent problems,” she said. “To do that they have to keep their knowledge up to date, which is why our role at corporate is so important—they’re looking to us to be that conduit.”

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