Urgent: Wanted men and women !

From the United States to Europe, statistics show that there are several hundred thousand unfilled positions in the mechanical engineering and bodywork sectors, for both light vehicles and heavy goods vehicles. Workshops are short of manpower, but the crisis is deeply rooted in all strata of the sector. It continues to cast doubt on the attractiveness of a sector that is still out of favour, and on the long-term future of businesses. A shortage of manpower can throw a company into a tailspin, just as a shortage of brains can put the brakes on the race to innovate. This shortage is a source of vulnerability for an ecosystem in constant technological transformation, of which electrification is obviously a part.  

Clearly, the technological content of vehicles is revolutionising repair work to the same extent as it is changing the profiles sought by companies. Parts suppliers with high-profile brands such as Brembo are seeing a shortage of technicians in their workshops to work on increasingly high-tech vehicles. "As we know, this is a general problem for the entire sector and even beyond the aftermarket. We need to be aware of this widespread problem. That's why we're taking such a close interest in the Talents4AA association," says Roberto Caravati, Brembo Aftermarket Chief Operating Officer.

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It was a huge challenge to bring together parts manufacturers, distributors and trading groups to create Talents4AA*. But the urgency of the situation has been critical since the Covid-19 health crisis. Fotios Katsardis, CEO of Temot International, chairs the organisation, and has called on the industry to take an even more collective approach. Indeed, the chairman is leaving no stone unturned: training colleges, universities, trade fairs, social media... even launching tools such as a recruitment and discussion platform to connect recruiters and candidates (jobsautomotive.com).
This European group has set the bar high for itself over the last three years. Travelling the globe to introduce potential candidates to the aftermarket sector is indeed a major task. A sector of 500,000 small and mid-sized repair businesses, with 45,000 wholesalers and 4 million employees. During his first visits, Fotios Katsardis was surprised by the clichés perceived by the younger generation about the car as a ‘polluting and ageing’ means of transport. Since then, the emphasis has been on retraining and skills upgrading (in cooperation with WorldSkills), including the transformation of automotive professionals into what Fotios Katasardis calls ‘the homo ex machina of the aftermarket'! In plain English, the next generation that harnesses AI, data and digital tools to meet the demands of technology, electrification, connectivity and sustainability.
Talents4AA has launched working groups on inclusion, gender equality, a mentoring programme, etc. To keep pace with new technologies, training, digitalisation and the internationalisation of business, companies need to attract specialised people with cutting-edge profiles. Businesses are themselves called upon to evolve. Because how can they attract these profiles if they themselves are not evolving? “That's what Talents4AA is all about,” explains its chairman. It's a grassroots movement for a European industry affected by its lack of appeal. And there's a lot of evangelising to do, all over the world.

*BorgWarner, Bosch, Nissens, Schaeffler, TMD Friction, ZF, Global One Automotive, Nexus Automotive International, Temot International, Groupauto International, AD International, FIGIEFA, Mobilion, Dinex, University of Southern Denmark…

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