AUTOHAUS / TROST Service Convention 2011 a rousing Success
Düsseldorf, 18.10.2011
This year’s AUTOHAUS/TROST Service Convention 2011 was held at Düsseldorf’s famous antique car centre Meilenwerk, where event organisers welcomed 200 participants from the motor industry. AUTOHAUS publisher Professor Hannes Brachat chaired the convention, which dealt with many industry topics, and he led a podium discussion as well.
Topics covered the entire spectrum of passenger car service and repair, including “the Service Industry in 2012” and challenges facing passenger-car service providers over the long-term. Automobile electronic systems and how they affect passenger-car repair shops were also discussed, while field reports about efforts to achieve “service excellence” gave a look into the everyday workings of a garage. Other topics were the service spectrum of Opel in Germany, along with garages that repair multiple brands.
Participants heard, for instance, what OEM service organisations expect from their repairers. Wolfram Knobling, Head of Service at Adam Opel AG, told the convention “At the top of our service list is absolute customer orientation and the requirement that money must be earned with service.”
Professor Dr. Norbert Schreier from the Technical University Esslingen spoke about fields of innovation that will affect garage servicing from now until 2030. “Every automobile will require direct data access,” he said. “Data utilization will occur via pre-determined set values and will depict, within given amounts, significant changes. The internet will continue to find its way into the garage.” Professor Dr. Peter Neugebauer from the Technical and Business University Karlsruhe, Germany, took up the theme of future diagnosis as well. He predicted that "The quality of third-party systems in new vehicle diagnosis will penetrate OEM repair shops 100 percent and more.”
That service goes hand-in-hand with customer orientation was highlighted by Albert Kolb, Service Director at MB-Autohaus Kunzmann in Aschaffenburg, Germany. He revealed that "At our eight locations, customer satisfaction is at the top of the list. Otherwise they could not use our slogan ‘Kunzmann – a new Dimension of Service’." Customer orientation was also the focus of Frank Mund, Chairman of the task force for Service at Adam Opel AG, shareholder of the Autozentrum West, and a master craftsman of the Craftsman’s Guild Association in Mönchengladbach, Germany. He told the participants that success in integrating customers into garage services can be achieved by service campaigns, if they are carried out correctly. “Joint service campaigns with the manufacturer – like our excellent wiper blade campaign – must combine profit, customer loyalty and efficiency.”
A highlight of the convention was Joachim Münch, member of the TROST Board of Directors and co-initiator of the convention, who outlined the advantages of a second brand. “A dealership,” he told the group, “cannot make-up for a 20 percent drop in service revenues over the long-term. Bring a second brand into your dealership. When you assume a second automobile brand you will have – depending on brand – a maximum of 10 percent more garage capacity utilization. If you take as your second brand one of the TROST brands, you can access an additional 80 percent in service volumes.”
And Bernd Günter, from Wagener Technik in Kassel, Germany, spoke about alternative service strategies that can lead to success. “We concentrate on servicing vehicles from German companies like Paravan and Sortimo – who rebuild vehicles for the disabled and for special types of trades– on diesel technology, Bosch Classic, special signalling equipment, and radio technology, among other things. We even went so far as to integrate a driving school for the disabled in our business with visible success."
Thanks to sponsors TROST and AUTOHAUS, the service convention 2011 was an unforgettable experience for the participants, who not only learned a lot about the Aftermarket and garage business, but did so in a picture-book atmosphere surrounded by the antique cars at Düsseldorf’s Meilenwerk.
NOTE:
AUTOHAUS is a German automotive trade magazine and online-portal by Springer Automotive Media.
The AUTOHAUS magazine is published twice per month. AUTOHAUS is THE trade magazine for the management level in the automotive industry, dealerships, repair workshops (including electrics and brake services) and trade for spare parts, accessories and tyre dealers.
