With the nation facing a continued shortage of auto technicians, the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) is hoping to make strides in meeting demand with its recent acquisition of education platform WrenchWay.
ASE certifies and credentials industry professionals working in dealerships, independent shops, collision repair shops, auto parts stores, fleets, schools, and colleges throughout the country.
WrenchWay is a platform that connects shops, schools, and industry partners to strengthen the pipeline of technicians.
Why this matters: A recent PartsTech survey indicated 59% of shop leaders reported the shortage of available techs had moderately or significantly impacted their business.
And NADA estimates an annual shortfall of about 37,000 trained techs.
As part of the agreement, WrenchWay's co-founders Jay Goninen and Mark Wilson will join ASE along with their staff to strengthen their education force.
Zooming in: Previously, ASE and WrenchWay partnered to create ASE Connects.
It’s a six-point approach to strengthening the supply of technicians, including building a directory of schools, gathering data, providing support for instructors, connecting students with shops, tracking student outcomes, and repeating the process annually.
Plus, it’s free for schools and costs $750 for a single shop to join.
What they are saying: "Modernizing ASE has always meant more than updating our tests. It means rethinking how we serve technicians, shops, educators, and the next generation entering the industry," said Dave Johnson, president and CEO of ASE, in a press release. "WrenchWay has built something remarkable, and together we can deliver on that vision at a scale neither of us could achieve alone."
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For dealers: WrenchWay has already changed over its website to ASE Connects, which has 3,200 schools participating in the program. There is hope that the effort will grow to attract more potential technicians to the field as part of ASE.
"There are not many brands in this industry that every technician and every shop instantly recognizes. ASE is one of them," said Mark Wilson, co-founder and CEO of WrenchWay in a press release. "We have enormous respect for what's been built here and equally high expectations for what comes next."
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