Automotive Repair News Today

Megan Gardner [00:00:05]:
And Jim Fish, who works on this with him.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:07]:
Yep, that's right.

Megan Gardner [00:00:08]:
Is on a beautiful vacation right now somewhere.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:11]:
Shame on him.

Megan Gardner [00:00:12]:
I know.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:12]:
Why didn't he want to come freeze in Kansas City?

Megan Gardner [00:00:14]:
I know, right? Yeah. Don't understand it. Where are you based out of?

Braxton Critcher [00:00:17]:
Asheville.

Megan Gardner [00:00:18]:
Oh, nice. Okay. Yeah. How are you doing out there?

Braxton Critcher [00:00:21]:
Good.

Megan Gardner [00:00:22]:
We're.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:22]:
I mean, some parts of town look like nothing happened. There are still parts. I just drove past a place a couple weeks ago. It's like. Oh, I don't think they've touched it yet. Like, it's still pretty bad. Yeah, there's a long way to go in some areas. A lot of businesses are still closed and maybe some are permanently closed.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:38]:
So. Long way to go. Yeah, long way to go.

Megan Gardner [00:00:42]:
But you're doing okay out there.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:44]:
Yeah, we. We live second floor of a condo up on a hill. So we were, we were okay. No flooding on the hill. There was some pretty high winds, but a couple of trees down in the parking lot. Nothing. Nothing crazy.

Megan Gardner [00:00:56]:
Good.

Braxton Critcher [00:00:56]:
Nothing like it. We live though, about a half mile from like Biltmore Village Tunnel Road where Swannanua river goes and it overflowed. And Biltmore Village, there's still a road to the rooftops. Oh, yeah. So there's a road that. The tunnel road where it connects with Swannanoa river is still closed. I mean, there was a six foot crater where the water rushed through and it's still not open yet. You know, the Walgreens, the Lowe's, all the businesses right there are still closed.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:27]:
I mean, I40 where Tennessee and North Carolina meet, just opened last week.

Megan Gardner [00:01:34]:
Yeah. And it's.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:34]:
And it was only for two lanes.

Megan Gardner [00:01:36]:
Okay. That's what I saw. I didn't read the article. It said like. But not really like.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:39]:
Right. So they're, they're, they're saying that the full four lane i40 won't be finished till 2027, 2028. So it's like honest.

Megan Gardner [00:01:50]:
Like when I saw the destruction, I thought I couldn't imagine it being less than 20 years, you know, just to get that back up. So it's, it is remarkable.

Braxton Critcher [00:01:59]:
Yeah. Yeah.

Megan Gardner [00:02:01]:
So.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:01]:
Well, this is Automotive Repair News Today already in progress. Yeah, with Megan Gardner. Thanks for coming on. She's with Mema Aftermarket Suppliers. And we're talking about the tech training hub. So back in the fall. Chris Gardner.

Megan Gardner [00:02:16]:
Yes.

Braxton Critcher [00:02:17]:
Not related. We talked about the tech training hub and what it was going to mean for the industry. Well, now it's here. Suddenly six months have passed and now you're launching. So tell me about the tech training hub and why you're excited about it.

Megan Gardner [00:02:32]:
Yeah, I'm happy to. So what's cool about the tech training hub is kind of born from suppliers for technicians. So we had done a good bit of research in the ADAS space, what's coming for the industry, and realized that there's a huge opportunity for training, high tech training and the kind of high level, high quality training that suppliers can provide directly to technicians. And so the tech training hub came from that. So we have, you know, NEMA Aftermarket Suppliers is trade association for suppliers. So we have our suppliers, you know, talking about what is new in training and what we need to share with our technician community. And the website essentially aggregates all of those supplier trainings so that you don't have to go to, you know, 15 different sites, they call it the Expedia for automotive training, all in one place. So we don't actually.

Megan Gardner [00:03:31]:
MEMA doesn't host the training. We help technicians find the correct training and then go to the supplier site to get that excellent training that they already provide.

Braxton Critcher [00:03:40]:
Do the suppliers need to connect with you? What kind of like. Yeah, they probably have to have some sort of negotiation, a contract with you in some way.

Megan Gardner [00:03:49]:
Right, sure. So through, you know, MEMA membership, obviously they can have access to listing supplier, their supplier training on the site. But we also just started a new training council. So it's all about trainers and training, technology and training and effective training and how to get training out to the community. Because we know training is just essential, especially with where we are right now, with the changing landscape. You know, there's just, there's a huge need for it. So through the training council, suppliers can get involved with the tech training hub and enlist their training on it.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:24]:
What's the cost with that?

Megan Gardner [00:04:26]:
I actually don't know off the top of my head what the cost is to join the council, but I'm certain that it's priceless.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:33]:
Okay, what about for a training vendor that wants to be included in the hub? What's that look like? Is that, you know, cost two or is that just gotta sign up?

Megan Gardner [00:04:43]:
Yeah, you'd have to be a MEMA Aftermarket supplier member and through the council.

Braxton Critcher [00:04:46]:
Okay, cool. Well, I think it's really great because like you said, you know, it's easy for somebody to go to this website and just search up the type of training they want. Is it. Can you search by location? Is it online?

Megan Gardner [00:04:57]:
Yeah, format categories, you can search by ASE certification. So if you're kind of Seeking out one particular certification, you can go and narrow down by that and then you're sent to the supplier site, like I said, and it's right there.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:11]:
And do technicians, do owners need to be members to search or can you can just go onto this website, you can search up training. Wow. It does really aggregate that way. That's cool.

Megan Gardner [00:05:21]:
All in one spot. So that would definitely be our goal of ours, is to get the broader supplier community to be listing their trainings on the site. Right now we probably have about 30 different suppliers listing trainings. So many more than 30 actual trainings. And we'll move to live training in different formats, et cetera, on the website as well.

Braxton Critcher [00:05:44]:
How long has this been in the works?

Megan Gardner [00:05:47]:
Well, like I said, a couple of years ago, we started doing some forecasting for adas in the aftermarket. And when we noticed. Not when we noticed, but when the research told us that this opportunity was going to be gigantic, greater than even just transition to electrification for the aftermarket. ADOS is just a huge opportunity and we could see the lack of training. So that couple of years ago we started talking about what can we do to bring supplier training to technicians. And then we started building the site last year, early last year, I think, launched it around Apex. So November of 2024, and here we are.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:22]:
How much of it is online versus in person, the training?

Megan Gardner [00:06:25]:
Yes, there's a variety.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:27]:
Okay.

Megan Gardner [00:06:27]:
Yep. And some is recorded, some of it's, you know, you can get onto a live training, you can read.

Braxton Critcher [00:06:34]:
Okay. So, you know, obviously this, this is a need, this is something that people have been asking for. What is the feedback so far that you've heard about? Oh, wow. I didn't think you could do that. That's a great idea.

Megan Gardner [00:06:48]:
Yeah. The feedback's been excellent. So the technicians love it because it's easy and the suppliers love it because they've been waiting for an opportunity like this. We've been waiting for a chance to be able to just make it easier for technicians to find that. We've had a ton of traffic to the site I mentioned, we launched at Apex and part of that was to see if we could prove it out, will it be successful. And we smashed all of our goals for that with web traffic and conversions. So we're looking forward to just kind of continuing to gear up and use the training council to propel it forward and get it going.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:22]:
So that was. That was four or five months ago.

Megan Gardner [00:07:25]:
Yep.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:26]:
What. What have you seen? What feedback have you had? I mean, obviously this is something brand new, so have you already tried to make tweaks? What are you changing? What are you learning about what's next?

Megan Gardner [00:07:37]:
So we have been making tweaks, but really we kind of just have a plan to move forward. So there's so much opportunity on the website, creating profiles so you can kind of record what trainings you've taken through the site.

Braxton Critcher [00:07:49]:
Oh, that's cool.

Megan Gardner [00:07:50]:
Yeah, things like that. I mentioned live trainings. We can put more education on there. That's maybe not training, but just about the industry. There's lots of opportunities. So where we are now is they traditionally call it, in startup language, the mvp, the minimally viable product. And that's kind of what we proved out in the fall and now we're starting to kind of launch forward.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:10]:
Okay.

Megan Gardner [00:08:11]:
Yeah.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:12]:
So where do people go? How can they find it? How do they get registered and make an account?

Megan Gardner [00:08:19]:
Great question. So it's@mema.org techtraininghub and there's hyphens between tech trainings.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:25]:
So it is through MEMA's website. It is, it's not a separate thing. It's through the website.

Megan Gardner [00:08:29]:
Okay, it's through the website. Yeah. So it's mema.org techtraininghub hyphens between tech tech training and training hub. And yeah, it's live, it's there. We're updating it regularly and it's ready to go.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:42]:
What have you heard from the manufacturers and the suppliers?

Megan Gardner [00:08:46]:
I mean, they love it enough that they want to, you know, create the council to meet with each other and share best practices and continue to develop it. So it's a great, it's filling a great need for them.

Braxton Critcher [00:08:55]:
Yeah, yeah. What else, what else is there newsworthy or things that you need to share about it? I mean, this is a big deal. It's really happening.

Megan Gardner [00:09:04]:
It is, yeah. And it's really just the tip of the iceberg, I think. I mean, that's not really news, but it's just the opportunity for us to start to bring that high tech training to the technicians that the suppliers have and just, you know, it will. Training will continue to get more advanced, more complex, you know, more safety needs. For example, as, as the technology continues to develop and we'll be able to connect with technicians and, and bring that to them in a way that works for them easily. You know, that's, that's the thing. You can't spend a lot of time looking for this training. You just, you know what you need, you need to find it easily.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:36]:
Right, well, that's great.

Megan Gardner [00:09:38]:
Yeah. Thank you.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:38]:
Thank you, Megan.

Megan Gardner [00:09:39]:
Yeah. Happy to. Happy to have it. Happy to be here.

Braxton Critcher [00:09:46]:
Hey, if you're still here, thank you so much for listening to this episode of Automotive Repair News today. If you enjoyed the show, please take a moment like share. Subscribe to the podcast. It'll help us out a big deal and help grow the show. And you know what? While you're at it, slap on a review too. If you feel like this content is helpful for the industry, don't forget to follow us on all your favorite social media platforms. We're on Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn. Stay connected and be the first to know about new episodes, behind the scenes content and more.

Braxton Critcher [00:10:17]:
And until next time, let's make the industry better together.