Tomorrow never knows?

Neil Pattemore considers the workshop of tomorrow, and how it will impact on the business of tomorrow

Published: 16 July, 2019

Last year I wrote about the changes facing independent workshops. Since then there have been further developments, and now the rate of change is increasing exponentially. You will be familiar with today’s challenges and probably aware of some of those of tomorrow’s, especially if you are a regular reader of this revered magazine. However, the workshop of the future will need to change significantly to stay competitive as well as being compliant with both commercial or legislative requirements.

If I look as some of the likely changes, they are quite wide-ranging, but together they will put increasing pressure on the management of the workshop and the business more generally. The IMI has recently stated that “management and leadership within the sector is not evolving quickly enough” and that “a skilled, competent and professional workforce, able to keep pace with the demands of new technology and changing markets and remain competitive” are necessary, which are being supported through the IMI’s ‘Campaigns for change’ initiative.

Greatest challenge
Looking at the workshop level first, then the greatest challenge remains the access to, and the use of, in-vehicle data. Taking the access to the vehicle first, it will be controlled to meet the needs of cybersecurity – needed as vehicles become ever-more electronically controlled on the way to fully autonomous vehicles. This also means that today’s OBD connector will be both restricted in the way that it can be accessed, already requiring electronic certificates to authorise access and to define what data/functions are then available, but also the width and depth of data which is also being reduced due to the very design of the OBD connector being unable to support the bandwidth needed for high-speed in-vehicle systems. The access for these systems will be via wireless communication, which is both faster and more secure, but also more difficult for the workshop to access – even if this is going to be possible at all. Vehicle manufacturers already deny independent service providers access to data via any of their telematics systems and are restricting the OBD port. To obtain the required electronic access certificates even for the OBD port, independent workshops have to be registered and authorised by the vehicle manufacturer before paying them for the required certificate. This is especially a requirement when working on ADAS systems, as the vehicle manufacturer needs to know if the repaired system is re-calibrated and working correctly, so access to the system, the re-coding of replacement ADAS components, as well as confirming the vehicle is working correctly again, is likely to be certificate based. All these access authorisation requirements are likely to need new legislation to provide independent access to the vehicle and its data.

Assuming that access is possible, the next evolution will be the use of data with supporting partners, such as the diagnostic tool manufacturers and spare parts providers. This will be necessary to quickly and accurately identify what work is needed on a vehicle and the corresponding replacement parts on increasingly complicated in-vehicle systems. This will be done by exchanging data with these service providers to provide a ‘just-in-time’ delivery of the technical support and parts needed – without this partnership support small independent businesses would struggle to repair tomorrow’s vehicles, let alone make a profit from doing so.

Vehicle ownership
As vehicle ownership moves away from individuals to ‘mobility service providers’, where the use of the vehicle will be available as short-term rental (i.e. by the hour, day, month etc.), your customer becomes the vehicle provider and they will drive down prices to be competitive in their own mobility services, so workshop efficiency becomes paramount to remaining competitive in this changing market.

In a wider context, the way that vehicles are supplied through authorised dealers is likely to change, as direct sales to mobility providers develops. As this happens, the authorised dealers are more likely to become service and repair points, and this is where the difference between authorised and independent repairers becomes more blurred. Both types of workshop will need similar levels of competence and be competitive for the service and maintenance they provide. This brings in another change for the independent workshop, where there will be an increasing need to have business management data reporting that will be needed by the mobility service providers to allow them to work efficiently with the workshops they are dealing with (e.g. financial and process management systems) that today is expected from authorised repairers.

The very real threat is that vehicle manufacturers will either fully block remote access to the vehicle and its data (the identification of what work is needed will be conducted remotely before the vehicle comes into a workshop), or will control the access via workshop interfaces, using electronic certificates, and in doing so, control all competitors while imposing their own business models and service/repair methods. Legislators are aware of this but are also deeply concerned about the cybersecurity threat and are still investigating what solution may be needed to ensure true competition is still possible for both the mobility service providers and vehicle repair workshops.

Some better news is the imminent referencing into European legislation of the ‘SERMI’ scheme, which will verify and authorise independent workshops to provide access to security (anti-theft) related data, functions and parts. This scheme is now being directly included in European legislation and once implemented, could be expanded in the future to provide a harmonised access and use of electronic certificates for other requirements. Ultimately, the SERMI could help avoid vehicle manufacturers blocking competition ‘through technical design’ – but this remains a legislative decision.

Competitive choices
The workshop of the future will look very different to the workshop of today. There will be much more reliance on the access and use of data. The sharing of this data will enable efficient and timely repair of the vehicle. This will also necessitate increased levels of business management to both fulfil the demands of mobility service providers, but also to ensure that the business has efficient management systems to underpin their ability to remain competitive – and to continue to offer consumers competitive choices. The future moves mechanical repairs into the digital age and the inherent IT skills that this will also require. This will demand changes within the independent workshop business, but will also be directly linked, in every sense of the word, to external partners – so choose your partners carefully, as your future business may be dependent on what they can provide and how this will impact your own business activities and efficiencies. It is also clear that your future business will increasingly be less independent and become increasingly interdependent on the requirements and abilities of others. United we stand and divided we fall – so seriously consider joining one of the UK aftermarket organisations who will fight for legislation that can support your needs. Welcome to the brave new world of vehicle repair workshops!

xenconsultancy.com

ADAS – Opportunity or threat?
Last month I wrote about the way that the electronic connections between equipment or via the internet can impact your workshop activities and how the control and function of these communications may now impact the OBD connector, ‘He who controls the connection, controls the function and ultimately the business’.

However, it is not just the connection to the vehicle that is under threat, but what you are able to connect to and ultimately, diagnose, repair and re-configure so that it functions correctly via a connection to the vehicle. As vehicles move towards being autonomous, the key stepping stones are the advanced driver assistance systems or ADAS as they are more commonly known.

Key issue
These systems are becoming increasingly important to the way that vehicles are controlled and this opens a variety of new challenges to the independent repair sector in their ability to work on them. In theory, they are no different to other in-vehicle electronically controlled systems in that they use sensors, control functions and actuators to ensure that the in-vehicle system works correctly, but it is the outcome of these combined aspects which is creating the key issue for independent workshops of whether you be allowed to work on them.

ADAS systems are designed to ‘assist’ the driver, but increasingly, have direct control over the way that a vehicle reacts to situations and steers or brakes accordingly. The European Commission recently announced that more ADAS functions will become mandatory from 2022 for all new type approved vehicles.

These will include: Advanced emergency braking (cars); Alcohol interlock installation facilitation (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Drowsiness and attention detection (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Distraction recognition/prevention (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Event (accident) data recorder (cars and vans); Emergency stop signal (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Full-width frontal occupant protection crash test – improved seatbelts (cars and vans); Head impact zone enlargement for pedestrians and cyclists – safety glass in case of crash (cars and vans); Itelligent speed assistance (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Lane keeping assist (cars, vans); Pole side impact occupant protection (cars, vans); Reversing camera or detection system (cars, vans, trucks, buses); Tyre pressure monitoring system (vans, trucks, buses); Vulnerable road user detection and warning on front and side of vehicle (trucks and buses); Vulnerable road user improved direct vision from driver’s position (trucks and buses).

As you can see, quite an impressive list, but equally, quite a threat if you could not repair or re-calibrate this plethora of new systems.

Direct product liability
The vehicle manufacturers are claiming that as they have a direct product liability throughout the life of the vehicle and that these systems have a direct impact on vehicle control and safety, that only their authorised repairers (i.e. main dealers) should be allowed to work on these systems to ensure that they are repaired correctly and that the vehicle manufacturer knows who did the work, should there ever be a malfunction, so a whole new business model for independent workshop is under threat.

Furthermore, the vehicle manufacturers are also claiming that only their original parts can be used, so they are now starting to require a code for these the parts to be ‘activated’ and configured into the corresponding ADAS system. This code is only being made available to their main dealers. Some vehicle manufacturers have gone a stage further and re-classified these replacement ADAS components as ‘security’ items which further restricts access for independent operators.

In another twist to this ‘security’ classification, the current discussions at the UNECE in Geneva (to which the UK is a signatory), the vehicle type approval group may bring these replacement parts under the vehicle manufacturer’s ‘cybersecurity management system’ which will allow vehicle manufacturers to implement their own cybersecurity classification and access conditions with a wide range of requirements that may include these ‘security’ related replacement parts. They could claim that this is not a problem, as there would be no discrimination with what is fitted by their authorised repairers, so they would conform with European repair and maintenance legislation for the ‘non-discrimination’ requirement. However, this trend is likely to develop further as autonomous vehicle systems increase to, ultimately the fully autonomous vehicle.

Although the ‘security’ classification is directly a threat, there could also be a requirement that non-OEM (i.e. aftermarket) replacement parts may need to be type approved, which would not be such a problem if there were test methods for the type approval process, but in most cases, there aren’t, so testing becomes very difficult and expensive – again restricting the choice of parts which may be available in the future.

Competence and traceability
What can be done then? Actually, quite a lot, but it won’t happen unless someone actually does something to challenge these restrictions. That’s the role of the various aftermarket associations, both here in the UK and for their European partner associations.

Fundamentally it is likely to become an issue of legislative compliance and a combination of demonstrating both competence and traceability for independent workshops. This could work in a framework where workshops are verified and registered via a ‘conformity assessment body’ who then provides a certificate and pin for use when accessing the relevant parts or re-configuration codes via a vehicle manufacturer’s website or a neutral trust centre, or using these ‘credentials’ when re-calibrating an ADAS camera. The workshop would only be verified if the relevant competency could be demonstrated and the certificate system provides traceability in the event of a subsequent system malfunction.

Additionally, the vehicle manufacturer could conduct an ‘over the air’ verification of the vehicle’s ADAS status to check that it is repaired or re-calibrated correctly.

Ultimately, this may become a form of ‘workshop licensing’, but not only would this allow workshops to have the ability to develop new business models for the diagnosis, repair and re-calibration of these ADAS systems, but it would also provide a welcome assurance to their customers that the work has been done correctly and avoid the vehicle manufacturers having a monopolistic control of the work on these systems and ultimately, the future business of the independent sector.

So now, more than ever, is the time to join forces via the aftermarket associations and support their fight for your future.

xenconsultancy.com
Connecting to tomorrow’s lean workshop
In a previous article, I had written about the fourth industrial revolution, but I suspect that this may not have been the most threatening topic that you were thinking about concerning your day-to-day workshop business – the business of diagnosing and repairing cars, using a range of workshop equipment and agreeing ‘partnership’ relationships for the technical data and replacement spare parts.

The way that you work may have evolved over the years, mainly due to the increasing vehicle technology, but the basic principle has remained the same. You have customers who choose to come to you due to the good service and competitive pricing that you provide. However, the world of vehicle repair is changing and if you do not adapt, you will die. Unlike previous industrial revolutions, the pace of change is now much faster. So how is this going to impact the aftermarket?

Approach
The ‘internet of things’ (IOT) will change the approach to diagnostics, service and repair of vehicles, but also the way that the workshop equipment will be connected, the way that you handle your customers’ data and the way that you exchange data outside of the workshop, both as a consumer of data, but also as a data provider in data trading eco systems. All this will change the way that you do business. This might all sound like some science fiction concept, but this is already happening today with many vehicle manufacturers and their associated main dealer workshops. If the aftermarket does not start to develop the same approach and service offers, then it will not be able to compete.

However, to understand this better, let’s start with today’s ‘classical business model’ and then see what will change. Today it all starts with your ability to directly communicate with both your customer and with their vehicle and (for the more difficult jobs once that vehicle is in the workshop) your ability to offer a competitive quotation.

Once the vehicle is in your workshop, the diagnostic work or the replacement parts are identified, the parts ordered and the ‘complete repair process’ is conducted. However, there are three fundamental aspects to ensure that this process can be fulfilled – firstly, being in direct contact with the customer, secondly, being able to directly access their vehicle via the OBD plug and subsequently its data and thirdly, using that information to conduct
the complete repair process in the workshop.

Internet of things
So, what is changing and how will the ‘IOT’ help to implement new and ‘lean’ business models to remain competitive? It will still all start with the ‘repair process’, but this will no longer be with the customer initially calling you or coming into the workshop with a question of ‘can you fix my car?’, but it will be through remote monitoring of the ‘thing’ – the vehicle (via OBD plug-in devices or in-vehicle telematics platforms) to conduct remote diagnostics, prognostics and predictive maintenance services. This will inform you when the vehicle needs work and should lead into being able to contact the customer and offer a competitive quotation for the work needed that ultimately should still result in the vehicle coming into the workshop.

When the vehicle does arrive, you will already know the details of the vehicle and the necessary work, so can configure the workshop resources (which ramp, what workshop equipment, what technical data, what replacement parts etc.), before the vehicle arrives.

You can also ensure that the various ‘external data’ that may be needed for the job is pre-arranged and can be downloaded into the specific workshop equipment which is needed as part of the repair process. This can be a ‘just in time’ download of the technical data, the diagnostic test routine, the replacement part fitment method and so on. All this can easily reduce the workshop time needed to complete the repair process by 50%.

Captured
This may already sound like a great move forward to be lean, more profitable and more competitive, but there is even more! You also now have new ways to use the data that you have captured. Not only will you know the faults of the specific make and model of vehicle, which in turn, you will store in your database (non-personal, machine generated data), but you will also be able to use this data to exchange or trade data with your existing suppliers or other (new) partners to reduce both your costs and theirs. Welcome to the world of data trading – and get used to it, because it will be your future. The internet of things, means linking to the ‘thing’ (e.g. the vehicle and workshop equipment) and then handling the data created, by using it in new ways to make the whole workshop and vehicle repair process more efficient, as well as supporting new business models beyond just what you can do today in the workshop. However, let’s also take a step back and look at workshop equipment as part of ‘the internet of things’. It already starts with a new range of ‘connected’ workshop equipment that will not only be able to be remotely monitored by the equipment manufacturer to ensure better reliability, together with faster and cheaper repairs, but will also be the basis for ensuring that the technical information you require for the job ‘in hand’ is supplied not only ‘just in time’, but also charged for on a new competitive bidding basis from a range of suppliers and charged on an individual job basis. Going a stage further, you may be able to exchange data with your equipment suppliers so that they can collect ‘big data’ from all their customers and use it for their own new data trading business models and in turn, use this to offset supplying data or services to you at
a lower cost. This may also apply with your parts suppliers to provide them with better forecasting and trend analysis.

Data centric
The classic business model of today that is ‘customer centric’ will change to become ‘data centric’ that creates added value to the consumer’s experience, but also to the service provider – you!

This change of accessing the vehicle, your customer and use of the vehicle-generated data is a disruptive evolution that will drive (no pun intended) a revolution in the aftermarket. However, the key issue will be the ability to access the vehicle, its data and in-vehicle displays to offer your services when the vehicle needs work and that is likely to be a legislative issue as the vehicle manufacturers try to use their technological advantage to dominate and control tomorrow’s repair and maintenance business. It’s up to you to fight not only for your ‘right to do business’, but for your ability to evolve your current business models into those of tomorrow.
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