Protect Your Trademarks and Intellectual Property at AAPEX
As more than 2,050 companies make final preparations for their participation in the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) in Las Vegas on Nov. 1-4, the Automotive Suppliers Association (AASA) – a market segment of MEMA – wants to add a few tips to everyone’s pre-show ‘to do’ list. On Oct. 17, AASA hosted a free webinar for suppliers on how to identify and take action against counterfeiting and IPR violations during the show.
ASA Collision Division Director Testifies at NCOIL Hearing
Automotive Service Association (ASA) Collision Division Director Darrell Amberson, AAM, testified before the Property and Casualty Insurance Committee at the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) Summer Meeting in Rhode Island on aftermarket crash parts.
Shorter Taxi Lines at the SEMA Show
The Nevada Taxicab Authority recently lifted its regulation that allowed only those cabs without geographic restrictions to pick up passengers from the Las Vegas Convention Center. Under the old rule, taxicabs with geographic restrictions could take passengers to the Convention Center, however, could not pick up passengers. Convention Center attendees were often frustrated as taxicabs dropped off passenger and watched as the cab drove off with no passenger at all, while the taxi lines grew increasingly longer.
Group Issues PSA Alerting Consumers About the Risks of Hydrocarbon Refrigerants
While the industry is trying to cope with the current supply and demand issues related to HFC-134a mobile A/C refrigerant (also known as R-134a), vehicle manufacturers, automotive parts suppliers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other organizations are warning car and truck owners to avoid the use of flammable hydrocarbon refrigerants, which are being marketed as substitutes for R-134a, on the Internet, at flea markets and swap meets, and in some service shops. Hydrocarbon refrigerants are not authorized for this use and can pose risk to both vehicles and service technicians.
Local Government to Invest in Goodyear Power Facility
It was announced yesterday Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will get an $18 million cash infusion from local government to help modernize its Akron, Ohio, power plant.According to the Akron Beacon Journal, this will be the first major upgrade to the 80-year-old power system in more than a decade. The power plant uses coal to heat boilers that generate steam power for Goodyear’s nearby buildings. The oldest parts of the plant date to the 1920s, when it was built to supply power to Goodyear’s local tire factories.
Installer or Technician — What Are You?
“He thinks I’m working on parts. I’m working on concepts.” I recently came across this sentence in the book “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” Unfortunately, this sentence describes the mentality of some elements in the aftermarket. It really got me thinking about an incident that happened to me earlier in the week. I was talking to a person involved in the aftermarket and he kept using the word “installer” to describe shops and technicians. Personally, I find the word “installer” to be very offensive. It does not describe the full role of the professional automotive technician in the aftermarket. It reduces technicians to merely “parts swappers” and not diagnosticians.
DST Asks: Is Your Company Part of a Technology Users’ Group
Scientists can’t actually agree on when mankind first discovered fire. Some think as recently as 100,000 years ago, but others claim evidence of campfires as old as 1.6 million years by carbon-dating them. In any case, whenever fire was discovered, everyone is in agreement that the first thing needed was a users’ group to share knowledge and techniques about this new, mysterious technology. Cavemen and their cavewomen traveled far and wide to assemble and discuss fire and trade new ideas and stories about its benefits. Can’t you just imagine the program agenda for that first Users’ Group? Probably workshops with titles like “Cooked Meat: A Whole New Paradigm” and “Heating Your Cave: Why a Chimney is a Good Idea” and “Stay Awake after Dark with a New Source of Light.”
DST Users’ Group Announces Spring Conference Agenda
The Directors of the DST Users’ Group have announced the agenda for its upcoming three-day Group Conference, to be held May 12-14, at the Laguna Hills, Calif., Holiday Inn, located near DST’s corporate headquarters. The conference will focus on common goals of DSTWare users, networking, training, product direction and best practices, as well as break-out discussion groups. Topics will include warehouse management, bar coding, replenishment, querying, creative extracting and reporting ideas, cataloging, sales management, and Internet-based parts ordering.