Quality is more important than price, but of course price is a consideration. 

We just tragically lost our person who did 100% of this for our shop. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. 

This is an episode where there is a lot of ‘HOW TO’ discussed. With me is Mike Davidson, shop owner and creator of an apprentice program that has been put through all the rogers. Mike is president of Industry Essentials. Also speaking is. Pete McNeil and Jake Sorenson from McNeil's in Sandy, Utah who created their own apprentice program and it was picked up by NAPA nationally. 

This episode will help you get started. There is a lot in here to understand and learn. Yes, we need to do this, but there is no super easy button that makes it happen. I challenge you to commit to an apprentice program and engage a willing ‘student’ who wants to become a journeyman technician. 

The show notes page contains a link to the PowerPoint slides and links to important sites to help you start. You can find our guest’s other episodes and the key talking points for this episode at  https://remarkableresults.biz/e605/

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/6447a547-aef0-4977-aa31-3d68f1d042ff

https://ctionline.com/index.php/live-training-online/

Breaking News: The CTI+WTI teams have worked hard over the past two weeks in creating two new opportunities that will allow you to access live training from the comfort of your home. Click the link below for our announcement that highlights the new CTI+WTI Virtual Classroom and World Professional Automotive Community. The World Professional Automotive Community will deliver business and technical topics every night in one-hour segments starting at 8PM EST. The Community is designed to bring our industry together to learn about timely topics that are affecting everyone during this crisis. The Virtual Classroom will deliver technical topics in one-hour segments, at various times starting this week. The Virtual Classroom has been in the works for a year and will become a regular part of how we deliver our Career Pathway content. More to come on this soon.

Click here to see the full announcement

To see what is scheduled for both the Community and Virtual Classroom, simply search the ‘Classes Near You’ tile on this home page and search for Virtual Classroom or VC and World Professional or WPAC and you will see a schedule for each event with a registration link to each. Oh, and these events are available at NO CHARGE.

Join our new CTI+WTI Members group on Facebook  

Finally, due to the extended Shelter in Place orders across the country, we have postponed all classroom events through May 1^st. We will be converting many of these events to Virtual Classroom events to enable you to continue your training.

Training from Advance now combines courses available online and in the classroom from CTI+WTI into an integrated training solution, giving aftermarket professionals access to a robust library of technical training and business management education. Career Pathways, which feature a structured set of online and classroom events to establish mastery of technical and business competencies, are currently targeted to the General Service Technician and Professional Technician, with Senior Technician, Master Technician, and a number of specialist programs coming by the end of the year.

“Delivering quality training is critical to addressing the technician shortage facing the automotive industry,” said Chris Chesney, Senior Director of Customer Training at Advance. “Integrating the expertise and curriculum of CTI+WTI into a centralized, easy-to-use platform enables Advance to go to market with an unrivaled training program. No matter what stage a person is in the life of their career, training is crucial to their long-term success.”

Shop owners can track the progress of their technicians and staff through Career Pathways specific to the type of work they perform at their shop. Training participants receive certifications within the CTI+WTI platform as they complete training programs and advance in their career.

“The advancement of automotive technology requires that our industry has access to leading edge training to keep pace with modern vehicle systems,” said Rob Morrell, Senior Director of Customer Training at Worldpac. “CTI+WTI’s new learning management system enables national accounts and independent shops alike to help attract, retain and grow talent.”

CTI+WTI have hosted more than 45,000 training events in the organizations’ 20-plus year histories. For more information, visit CTIonline.com or WTIonline.com.

About Advance Auto Parts

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of July 13, 2019, Advance operated 4,912 stores and 150 Worldpac branches in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Company also serves 1,250 independently owned Carquest branded stores across these locations in addition to Mexico, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos and British Virgin Islands. Additional information about Advance, including employment opportunities, customer services, and online shopping for parts, accessories and other offerings can be found at www.AdvanceAutoParts.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191101005436/en/

Source: Advance Auto Parts, Inc.

Media Relations:
Darryl Carr
T: (540) 589-8102
E: darryl.carr@advance-auto.com

Investor Relations:
Elisabeth Eisleben
T: (919) 227-5466
E: invrelations@advanceautoparts.com

CLICK HERE FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION

WORLDPAC SUPPLIER & TRAINING EXPO WELCOMES ADVANCE PROFESSIONAL CUSTOMERS

Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center

National Harbor, Maryland - June 10 – 14, 2020

What Your Package Includes:

• Five day, four night accommodations at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, MD (Washington DC) for (1) person
• Airfare - round trip for (1) person
• Transportation to and from the hotel for (1) person
• All meals; Thursday, Friday and Saturday (breakfast, lunch, breaks and dinner) for (1) person
• Entrance to all your pre-selected training classes Thursday, Friday and Saturday Supplier Expos – 2 evenings (Thursday and Friday)
• Saturday evening social event
• Special pricing on Tool & Equipment
• Dedicated hospitality staff exclusively for WORLDPAC guests
• Networking opportunities with OE manufacturers, suppliers, technical/business educators and independent repair shops

COMING SOON VIDEO

What do you think - is something like this helpful in a shop? Basically an app where a mechanic can practice changing the brakes or something again and again on a tablet until he gets all the steps down, without wasting materials on training?

Written by Chasidy Rae Sisk

* Attendees qualified for one credit from the Automotive Management Institute. 

After ASA Vice President Tony Molla introduced the webinar’s presenter, Chesney recounted his collaboration with the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) to identify the Road to Great Technicians. They began in March 2016 when NASTF’s Spring General Meeting focused on the topic of building a road to great technicians.

Chesney was asked to explain the current state of the aftermarket training industry. He defined the current state of aftermarket training as a lack of industry standards and a structured career path, unorganized training offerings, and disjointed efforts by industry organizations. However, he also identified many good building elements.

Current problems in the industry include the inability to find new talent, graduates not performing to industry standards, an inability to afford techs and the amount of time is takes to replace a technician or advisor who leaves a company because companies do not build bench strength.

Chesney stressed, “You have to invest in those new technicians, but many shops cannot find someone who can perform out of the gate, so we need to focus on growing our own and building our bench strength to overcome this problem. We have a need now for the next several years. Reports indicate that we need 80,000 technicians each year, but only 25,000 are being produced.”

Chesney identified the aging workforce, oncoming tidal wave of technology and lack of a structured career path as reasons for the significant needs for technicians. Focusing on the influx of technology, he explored the unseemly amount of data that is transferred within modern vehicles.

“It’s not the problem of education,” he said. “It’s our problem, and we’re going to look into that.”

Chesney presented a picture of the Technician Life Cycle, which included the following seven steps: secondary shadowing, post-secondary intern, entry-level apprentice, technician, senior technician, master technician and specialist; however, he noted that this does not include possible “off ramps” on the Road to Great Technicians.

Occurring after an industry professional becomes an entry-level technician, these “off ramps” include in-service continuing education and higher education, which can offer technicians a variety of paths to pursue in their careers, ranging from master technician to shop foreman to shop owner or even becoming an engineer for an OEM. 

In a January 2018 meeting, the education team at NASTF identified a subcommittee of industry experts tasked with creating a framework of education around the life cycle of a technician and other job roles within the industry. This framework is intended for curriculum providers to use in order to offer a career pathway that means something to the industry and is transferrable throughout the industry. The group began with the vision that they would prescribe degrees of competencies at every skill level, focused on the safety and reliability of the ground vehicle fleet.

This Road to Great Technicians team consists of NASTF Chair Mark Saxonberg, Toyota’s Jill Saunders, WTI’s Rob Morrell, CTI’s Chris Chesney, NACAT’s Bill Haas, of Diag.net’s Scott Brown, WTI’s Mark Warren, NASTF’s Donny Seyfer, ASE’s Trish Serratore, S/P2’s Kyle Holt, DrewTech’s Bob Augustineand Cengage’s Erin Brennan.

Exploring possible solutions to the industry’s problem, this group defined 13 solution elements, starting with new and enhanced communication with parents and influencers of peripheral students, early engagement with tactile students in middle and high school, support of STEM and development of a well-articulated career path with clear opportunities for advancement and growth that students and parents can see.

The industry also needs to get involved with vocational education content to ensure these programs provide the right skills to students. 

Chesney explained, “They’re producing the wrong technicians because we aren’t involved. We have to be involved. We need to design a curriculum for schools and employers to ensure that, regardless of where technicians work, they are uniformly trained for the skill level. We have to provide people with the opportunity to grow throughout their careers.” 

The team also believes that the industry needs to provide internship experience, develop programs to help in-service technicians become mentors, and ensure that testing and certification programs are uniform and tiered to provide milestones for achievement. Employers also must find ways to provide wages and benefits that are competitive with other industries attracting the same individuals. 

“As technicians progress through their career, it is imperative to communicate career options to ensure they don’t leave the industry,” Chesney elaborated. “Vehicle technology has accelerated to unprecedented levels, necessitating faster and more thorough technician skill development to ensure public safety. To add further credibility and value to the process, NASTF is encouraging practical examinations similar to other safety-related skills as a means to verify requisite skill level attainment. Currently, this is not regulated and we cannot keep up with the advancing rates of technology, but we need a way to prove our skills and be prepared for what’s coming, not merely what is on the road right now.”

The current state of industry education is outcome-based and not sufficient to serve today’s technology. The future of education must be competency-based with a focus on mastery of skill and validation of a technician’s mastery and development of skills that are recognized and transferable. A competency-based education offers a variable class structure and the ability to test out of the subject matter at different levels, enabling students to finish as they are able.

The Road to Great Technicians team defined a new NASTF Technician Life Cycle that includes seven steps: apprentice technician, maintenance technician, service technician, repair technician, diagnostic technician, master technician, and specialist technician. 

According to Chesney, “Each step would require a variety of requirements as far as training and experience. They would also require mastery of competencies using curriculum provided by the industry, to include mentoring, demonstrated skills and self-paced curriculum. Finally, technicians seeking to advance would prove their skills through oral and hands-on exams.”

Continuing the work they have started, the team plans to provide the industry with a white paper by the end of the year, but they encourage the industry to comment and opine. While the team will be limited in size in order to maximize effectiveness, they encourage industry professionals to join NASTF and the NASTF Education Team.

 The group’s vision for the future of automotive education culminates in the idea of the Automotive Institute of Science and Technology, which would include a pathway education in a project-based environment. In ninth and 10th grades, students would sample each pathway through projects designed to highlight the different aspects and career fields before choosing a specific pathway in 11th grade to focus on in their final two years of high school. Their choices would be automotive technology as a trade, business, or engineering. While obtaining their associates degree, students would enter the discipline of their choice, working in shops to gain practical experience while simultaneously acting as mentors to younger students. Chesney concluded the webinar with a question and answer session.

Article Source: https://www.autobodynews.com/index.php/component/k2/item/15820-asa-hosts-road-to-great-technicians-webinar-with-carquest-s-chris-chesney.html

Auto repair Training WOW. I'm finally launching my "winter project". I have created a fully online auto repair training course. I (as a shop owner) was amazed at the lack of training options that my employees could take while working full time. The course lays out the "basics" that I found myself teaching these guys every time I had a new hire with little experience. If you know anyone who could benefit from this, boy would I appreciate you sharing this! Or, if you as a shop need some training for new employees, maybe this could help you. I'm not trying to use this forum as a "sales platform", but I am very excited to see what hapens with this idea. Again, any help / feedback would be greatly appreciated. You guys are awesome to listen to! Here is the link: www.autorepairuniversity.com

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

I frequent WorldPac's class offers as I focus on German vehicles. Lets start a resource thread.

For those of you that may new to the forum, I have created a blog here with

helpful articles and videos:
http://www.autoshopowner.com/blog/16-elon-block-sellmoreautoservicecom/

We also have a large archive of free training materials on our website:

http://sellmoreautoservice.com/aboutus/

Let me know if we can be of help to you and your business.

Elon
410-634-1640

I am working on training a new service writer. He was our shop helper at first, comming in half a day here and there to clean up and help with easy tasks, pick up drop off customers, ect. He was smart and had a good work ethic, so his days got longer and longer and he eventually became a full time assistant. He would do oil changes and tires, write some estimates and still keep things clean ect. He is not perfect, he does sometimes forget things. He is young, he is only 18. I feel like he has a lot of potential, and he enjoys the job. I like his work ethic and the majority of the customers like him.

I am looking for advice on how to get him fully trained up. I know that everyone has to start somewhere and I am taking on a big task, but I tried one experienced service writer in the past and did not like how set in his ways he was. My current guy is and open book, and absorbs my policies with out question.

What training do you guys suggest. Is there a class I should send him to? Online training courses? A book I can buy for him? Where do I start?

I have been training him on the RO software and he is picking that up. He knows how to build the estimates, research parts online, and has sold a few jobs when I was not around.

He mentioned that he wants to work on his confidence talking to the customers. When I sell to a customer, I know how to work on cars, and so when they throw me a curve ball I know the answers or know how to find them. How does a service writer with very little tech experience handle techy questions?

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

If anyone has any specific questions they can PM me.

What policies / procedures / rules do you have and enforce on your employees that represent your business? ie no cell phone use, professional attire, etc. We seem to be having a tough time at our facility of the employees following direct orders. What steps do you take to enforce rules in the work place? ie probation, time off? Do you have a handbook you follow?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and opinions.