Courtesy Subaru

About a year ago, Jamie Powers, the fixed operations director at Lujack Auto Group, learned about The NEXT Education’s certification program in autonomous vehicles. He explored what the organization offered and whether it would be a good fit for his technicians at 20 stores in Michigan, Indiana and Iowa.

With autonomous features becoming more prevalent in cars today, Powers recognizes the need to have all sensors on a vehicle correctly set when a customer leaves the shop.

“W e are under a new liability,” he said. “That started waking me up to learn the new processes that are coming our way.”

Four of his body technicians enrolled in two online courses from The NEXT Education, focused on the electronic components included in autonomous vehicles. They have been impressed with the instruction, and the ultimate goal is to earn a certification in this area. Eventually, Powers plans to have all of his technicians participa te in the educational learning.

“There’s always an evolution in the car industry and I think autonomy is the next evolution,” he said.

Powers said OEMs are slowly taking control over what collision shops will be required to do to repair vehicles properly. A decade ago, customers could take their cars anywhere. Now, they need to be certified by a certain manufacturer.

Autonomous vehic les are going to be part of that, according to Powers, and technicians will need to be certified.

“If technicians aren’t certified on autonomous vehic les, insurance companies will not ok a customer to bring in an autonomous vehicle to any shop,” he said. “If we’re not on the leading edge of being certified on autonomous vehicles, that is going to be a big part of the business we’ll miss out on.”

Farnsworth said students can learn the latest in 5G or satellite technology without being overwhelmed, because the information is presented “one bite at a time.” Content is continually added every quarter, so the information remains current and relevant.

“My real passion has been getting the word out about the dire need we have today for technicians as well as what we are going to see in the future,” she said.

Since COVID-19, The NEXT Education has experienced an increase in usage, especially due to the short training sessions offered. The team of 20 has found organizations are reaching out to have technicians learn additional skills during the current downtime in their businesses.

“Many have worked in the industry for years and are moving into a new position due to the unforeseen circumstances worldwide as a result of the pandemic,” said Farnsworth.

W ith the collision repair industry evolving, new businesses have been established over the past few years related to predictive analysis and connectivity.

Farnsworth said having highly skilled technicians in this new environment encourages workers to remain in the industry and allows shops to stand out from their competitors.

“It would be a huge competitive advantage for a small shop to be able to understand the technology changes that are coming both in sensor technology and data transmission,” she added.

In addition to the core competencies every technician will still need to repair a vehicle, Farnsworth encourages shop owners and managers to determine where the majority of their business is coming from.

“Instead of seeing this as so vast that you want to start over, take into consideration the skillsets you have See Preparing & Training, Page 53

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