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Since 2004, the repair industry has been talking about a shortage of technicians, especially skilled technicians, to fulfill the repair needs of the ever-growing North American vehicle population.
Between 2005 and 2009, Frost & Sullivan forecasts that the number of active technicians would decline by more than 50,000. Until very recently, those declines were driven by technicians voluntarily leaving the profession through retirement, health issues, lack of interest, and to pursue other, more lucrative jobs.
Active recruitment by technical schools, industry associations and vehicle manufacturers fell short of enrollment expectations. Great unease began to spread across the repair industry as participants measured the ever-growing spread between installed vehicle technology and the number of technicians with the appropriate skills to repair those vehicles.
When the economic downturn really started to gain momentum in North America around September 2008, it was initially thought that with so many North Americans abstaining from buying new vehicles, the aftermarket repair industry had the potential to be one of the few industries to experience growth. In the beginning, it looked to be true.
Frost & Sullivan had evidence from conversations with shop owners that consumers were choosing to invest in their current vehicles by opting for tune-ups, buying new tires, investing in fuel conservation technologies such as nitrogen tire filling, and adding performance chemicals.
But it appears that the rush to service did not last. The financial markets deteriorated, layoffs started and quickly went beyond the financial industry to the factories and into the ranks of white collar workers and suburbanites. It is now February 2009, just 6 months later, and consumers seem to have tucked away the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended repair schedule and adopted a “fix when broke” policy, essentially halting all discretionary repair spending.
In the last year, the North American service industry shrank by 980 dealerships from the big three alone; that’s the equivalent of 4.7 percent of the total number of dealerships that just dried up. The loss of each dealership is significant to the repair industry. Dealerships employ, on average, 14.1 technicians, whereas more than 90 percent of independent repair shops have an average of 4.4. Not only is the loss of a dealership a blow to the number of technicians, but it also changes the dynamics of the repair industry.
Dealers have the highest concentrations of master technicians, perform the most training and are the training grounds for techs that specialize in advanced engine, transmission and electronics repair. Dealership technicians are typically the highest paid in their market and are the most likely to have benefits.
Frost & Sullivan’s research indicates that more than 47 percent of vehicle owners look to the IRF for routine maintenance and 73 percent remain in the channel for repair work. Accessibility and convenience are the two key factors that draw consumers to independent repair shops, but they stay because of the value.
Vehicle owners have long been cautious of the repair quality and upselling in IRF shops; however, the expansion of franchise shops has helped to boost consumer confidence. Franchises are very good at communicating product and service messages, so vehicle owners have an expectation of service standards and, through head office, have a means of complaining when services fail to meet their expectations. As aftermarket providers expanded their services to include more advanced systems, the need for highly skilled technicians increased. Technicians are a key element of competitiveness in today’s repair service market.
Ron Blicksilver, owner of www.needtechs.com, an employment service company that specializes in technician employment, has found that his company is starting to see, for the first time, master technicians openly seeking employment.
Between 2005 and early 2008, most shops reported having the technician numbers they needed to fulfill their current service demands, but if they were planning service changes, operating model changes, an absent owner, or adding bays or locations, they did not have the resources in either skills or numbers to meet the demands of these changes.
Shop owners reported during that time that they were continually seeking and evaluating technicians they met as a potential fit for their organization. Shop owners were looking for technicians with 5-plus years of experience and typically those with certifications in a number of areas. Most shops had the quantity and quality of entry- and mid-level techs that suited their needs, but lacked techs with advanced skills in engine diagnostics, customer service and business management which would support their long-term objectives.
So were all the fears over technician shortages for naught? No; today’s economic downturn will likely only exacerbate the situation. In the short term, each company will seek to fill its ranks with the highest skilled techs it can afford.
Seniority will rule, young techs will be frozen out of many positions and will be the first to leave, and an already-aging profession may actually get older in the next few years. The fear of a technician shortage has actually pushed some repairers to look at what their techs were doing and make investments in technology that changed the tasks, skills and knowledge required by their technicians.
An economic downturn may actually stunt these developments, but if companies can continue, they may be the ones to come out as winners in the end. If vehicle owners continue down this path of “repair on demand,” the need for skilled technicians will mount quickly.
Today’s vehicles have highly integrated systems, and failure to respond to deteriorations leads to problems in associated parts. Parts have life expectancies; they will fail eventually! If strong efforts are not put on technician retention, apprenticeships, training, and support technology, the repair industry will be scrambling once again to meet the demand.
