Workshop 4.0, digitization and new mobility trends the future of car repair

“The future is here. And workshops must gear up to cope with it”
The world is changing at a rate that was unimaginable only a few years ago. New technologies and digitization are pushing the industry towards partly unknown frontiers, changing the daily habits of millions of people. The automotive sector is no exception and great concern has been rising over which is the path to take in the face of the many forces currently upsetting the market: connectivity, autonomous driving, electrification and shared mobility. These issues were openly and thoroughly discussed during the latest edition of Autopromotec Conference – State of the Industry - 2018, which brought together operators, associations, institutions, companies and experts at the Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno (Bologna) on June 13 and 14, 2018.
“Our sector is no different”, were the opening words of the Conference by Mauro Severi, president of AICA. This was an invitation to car repairers and mechanics not to give in to pessimism and fear, as the future of mobility will eventually alter all known paradigms. New needs and opportunities will also be there for the taking. “Tomorrow will come anyway, but if we want to cope with it then we must understand it - underscores Severi - there is a market out there ready to be conquered”. And while FIA president Jean Todt, encouraged the audience through a video to never lose sight of "the importance of customer care", it was up to sociologist and essayist Francesco Morace to break down the traditional division between online and offline, between being connected and disconnected. "Nowadays everything is connected, so much so that we must now talk of ‘Onlife’ - he explains – which is not just a change, but a metamorphosis, a transformation, a new era”. Cities will play a pivotal role in this transformation, as pointed out by Andrea Marinoni, Senior Partner of Roland Berger, upon presenting the third edition of "Automotive disruption radar", a study on new mobility trends. The report includes a ranking of 13 different countries taking into account 27 different indicators, wherein Italy was relegated to second-last place, after India and before Belgium which took last place; at the top of the table we find China, Singapore and South Korea. "At the moment Italy is trailing the competition, but this is not a problem - Marinoni explains - because things are moving in line with goals and targets set for 2030 and looking at a few indicators the country is perfectly aligned with the rest of the world, e.g. consumer confidence index". According to Angie Cucco, digital advertising expert for Google, the keys to success on the web are assistance, automation and augmented reality. According to data, every month, over a billion searches on Google relate to workshops and similar activities; 75% of consumers even admit to be willing to buy a car online; 62% would even try on a virtual reality headset to help them choose a car. "You can embrace this change - says Cucco – facing the future one step at a time”.
Anything that revolves around cars is destined to change: motor vehicles will be more and more complex and will need specialised assistance. A survey carried out by Nissan in Norway, and illustrated during the Conference by Pietro Berardi of Renault Nissan Usa, estimates a 41% turnover decline following the transition to electric vehicles, while Dino Domenico Brancale, CEO of AVL Italia, speaking of "compumotive" (Computer + automotive) reassures: "Engines as we know them will be here for quite a while still". He then mentions a research by Kpmg to show how in less than four years, electric mobility, batteries and hybrid, as well as connectivity and digitization have become the most important trends in the automotive industry. "There will be a growing need to acquire new skills as well as setting up a new upgraded supply chain" adds Brancale.
It is also true that in an electric vehicle there are 180 moving mechanical parts, compared to the 10,000 of a traditional vehicle, therefore the aftermarket business will necessarily have to adapt. However, in Italy, according to Sergio Torre of Duferco Energia, last year only 1,500 electric vehicles were sold. "We are experiencing a cultural gap that once effectively dealt with, will lead to an exponential growth of the market. So, aftermarket specialist will have to gear up for the change and be ready” he continues. Another crucial field of activity in the future are advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), sensors designed to reduce the number of accidents and increase vehicle safety: 80% of the accidents in cities depends on distractions with the use of mobile phones while driving as the main “culprit”. "Operators must specialize in Advanced driver assist systems," urges Alessandro Finicelli, from Autobynet. And even the road haulage sector will not be spared. According to Franco Fenoglio, CEO of Italscania, transport vehicle manufacturers "are already using advanced systems, often more than the automotive industry does". For example, Scania invests 7% of its turnover in innovation and new technologies and in 2011 launched a communication system able to connect 310 thousand vehicles around the world with its development centres in Stockholm. Not to mention "platooning" experiments (convoys led by a head vehicle), or recent agreements on "eHighway" technology where an active pantograph transmits the energy from the overhead contact lines to the electric motor of the eHighway truck. "Only last year it seemed like a joke, and now we are doing it," the manager points out.
Next up Romano Valente of UNRAE who illustrates the status of the vehicles currently in circulation. At the moment, out of 37 million cars regularly circulating on Italian roads, more than 20% of these are registered before 2001. "Old vehicles, with a slow replacement rate, which will have to be managed for quite some time", he underlines, while members of CNA and Confartigianato have highlighted how workshops are already breaking the old clichès, i.e. blue overalls, greasy hands etc.. Companies have invested hefty sums of money in training, and independent operators are among the most capable, ready to adapt to any customer request. However, and all operators agree on this point, there will be a need for more structured companies, able to provide more services and communicate more effectively, this latter aspect being, according to the survey, a major source of widespread dissatisfaction for the clients. "I share the idea that independents garages are often more capable than official dealerships - said Massimo Pellegrino, ANFIA-Aftermarket head of relations with independent networks - but I strongly recommend all operators to pay more than the usual attention to the end user: a little more marketing to display the skills and competence available”.
Additional concerns come from the prospect of working in a scenario made up of connected cars. "Repair and maintenance activities will take place first within the vehicle before reaching the workshop - explained Neil Pattemore, technical director of EGEA and FIGIEFA - and this raises a problem such as managing data produced by the vehicles themselves. These, in fact, cannot be considered as owned by the manufacturer, they must be made available to all". This is why several associations representing independent distributors and operators are “battling” in Europe to obtain "direct access to data, the possibility to dialogue with the vehicle and the customer through protected communication channels”.
Industry 4.0 trends are already shaping the way workshops operate: robots, sensors, virtual glasses, smart watches and tablets are all tools that, at least in the most advanced workshops, are becoming commonplace. Comau, DHL and Lamborghini are case studies examined during the Conference to understand in detail how the 4.0 logic is already deeply modifying these realities. A clear evidence of this came from Accenture’s participation in the Conference, after having organized and managed the "Workshop 4.0: proof of concept" project during Autopromotec 2017. As things stand, explains Raffaele Menolascino, Managing Director of Accenture, most cars are connected. This provides workshops with a large amount of data without the need to rely on car lifts and overalls. Several apps allow one to detect what problems a car has, produce a quote and communicate with the customer thanks to AI systems. And the operators themselves will soon use (or are already using) devices such as tablets and virtual reality glasses to guide them step-by-step in the repair process. This, for example, is the kind of system developed by ATOS along with a German manufacturer and illustrated to the audience by the Automotive Global Account Manager Nicola Gullì. “This facilitates offering standard operations and quicker repairs even when faced with new models - he explains – as the specialists will always have the most up-to-date help available”.
However, even if technologies are already largely available, the role people play and proper training become crucial. "People are the main problem, not machines - explains Francesco Paolo Ausiello, of ASTER - and creativity, as well as science, must play a greater role". Training must be viewed as a team effort where the institutions, schools, universities and companies are all equally involved. "We must stop considering it a waste of time; it’s an essential investment”, says Filippo Di Gregorio, from Dallara. All great, but unless workshops and auto repairers are able to stay in the market, have a strong presence online and are properly equipped, the system won’t hold. The five key points, according to Marco Marlia, CEO of MotorK are: "Online presence, promotions and updates, presence on all social networks, effective management of contacts and website visits. The website is like an office open 24/7, if nobody “comes in” - he explains - we must ask ourselves why”.
“The ideas we promoted during these two days are that the future is now - concludes Renzo Servadei, CEO of Autopromotec -, that the future involves sharing and that we are facing a disruptive moment driving many to take quick decisions. Nevertheless, we need not be unduly afraid of the future because, if a certain number of services will no longer be needed, many more will arise and must be guaranteed to the customers. We must be able to work together creating an interconnected supply chain, putting man always in the middle of the picture: if we are able to do so, what we do will be more significant and this will guarantee us a share of the market in the future".