BETHESDA, Md. – AAPEX attendees can take an exclusive look inside the repair shop of tomorrow during live demonstrations of i•SHOP and a new aftermarket telematics solution at The Shop of Tomorrow display, AAPEX booth No. 2866. The live demos will be held daily at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Billed as the “Imagination Station,” The Shop of Tomorrow demonstrations will showcase how the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association (AAIA) and an alliance of aftermarket innovators built a remote diagnostics and communication solution in a matter of months by leveraging open industry standards.
 
i•SHOP is the AAIA Web Service standard that enables shop equipment and business systems to communicate with each other. This shop integration technology eliminates the need to re-key information about the customer, the vehicle or the service work to be performed because the computers understand how to communicate with each other. Even service and diagnostic results from the back shop can be shared electronically with the front shop business systems.
 
i•SHOP allows a modern service shop to transform into a model of paperless efficiency and increased productivity, AAIA says.
 
According to AAIA, aftermarket telematics are critical to ensure that the independent service industry does not get shut out by the blue button found in most GM cars and similar OEM technologies. To vehicle owners, aftermarket telematics means the freedom to choose from a variety of service notification solutions and an alternative to captive, factory-installed, subscription services, the association notes.
 
To the industry, aftermarket telematics represent a cost-effective CRM solution that can be retrofit to millions of OBDII-equipped vehicles, cost effectively. Pooled vehicle diagnostics and service information can be transformed into automotive market intelligence.

For more information, visit www.aftermarket.org/tomorrow.