Jay Burkhart
By its very nature, the automotive sector is an engineering-driven industry. Over time, cars have evolved as technological wonders, pushing new frontiers in horsepower, drivability, fuel-efficiency and safety. The best and the brightest mechanical engineers not only have designed and developed innovations to enhance the physical performance of machines, they also have operationalized the process to actually build these complex machines consistently on a mass scale.
Today, all of that mechanical engineering prowess is meeting up with the phenomenal computer science that created the Internet and the mathematical genius that can drive search engines. The physical machine is now fully embracing the digital world. Henry Ford figured out how to implement assembly line manufacturing. Eiji Toyoda developed quality processes for humans and machines to optimize mass production. Now Silicon Valley is developing the means for analyzing the massive amount of Big Data today’s vehicle generates.
As this convergence of technologies is upon us in the automotive sector, the reality check is that, in the end, it is the consumer who is the final arbiter of technology. Today, it is no longer a matter of R&D projects or system capacity. Now, it is a question of how the driving public will assimilate the technology that is presented to them. Society at large will establish the parameters to be placed on the technology. And, normal people in their daily lives will experiment with how they actually use the technology.
For the auto care segment, the adoption of this latest wave of connected technology will play out in a more nuanced way.
While engineers and inventors have developed the automobile itself, the genius of the aftermarket is more commercial in nature. Business entrepreneurs created, over time, a parts and service capability to serve the vehicle while in use by the consumer. While vehicle manufacturers have driven wave after wave of new vehicular design, the aftermarket has provided the consumer with the capability for extending vehicle life and maximizing vehicle usage.
From a logistics standpoint, the massive computing power now in place, along with the real time speed of dense mathematical calculations, certainly has the potential to dramatically change the aftermarket supply chain. But, the really interesting evolution will once again be in how the digital technology will be embraced by the driving public. The consumer will have access to the technology, literally at her fingertips, to better understand the vehicle and its components, to learn enough to feel comfortable with a repair decision, to compare and contrast both the parts and the service options available.
For those of us in the industry, our view of the application of technology is very specific to the automotive field. But to consumers, the frame of reference is much broader. They live a certain lifestyle and their smart phones and social media habits are an increasingly important aspect of it. The usage and care of their cars are aspects of this overall lifestyle, not separate behaviors in and of themselves. Until now, consumer engagement with the vehicle was very mechanical – it physically transports people from place to place. Until now, consumer engagement with the Internet has been virtual, finding and using information and content to watch and read. Now, the physical and the digital will converge for the consumer and it is going to have a fascinating impact on all of us in the automotive sector.
Jay can be reached at [email protected]
