AJAC TestFest 2012

AJAC TestFest

The second half of the Fall semester 2012 quickly passed with many events and opportunities. As midterms quickly approached the annual AJAC TestFest was held at Niagara-on-the-lake. This event is a rare (honorarium & all expenses paid) opportunity that is offered exclusively for ABSC students where we receive the opportunity to meet manufacturer representatives and journalist while gaining valuable experience.

Presidents of VW, Audi, Porsche Canada

Presidents Visit – Volkswagen, Audi, and Porsche Canada

John White, Wolfgang Hoffman, and Joe Lawrence (Presidents of VW, Audi, Porsche) held a panel discussion with ABSC students sharing the career and education paths they have followed to get to where they are today. Their product driven enthusiasm and experience played a key role in their careers today. Additionally, students were quizzed at the end of the  panel discussion where prizes were given out and included Blue Mountain ski passes and a Volkswagen to drive for two weeks.

VP Subaru Canada

Subaru Canada

Don Durst (Vice President of Subaru Canada) and Suzanne Aquino (Director of Sales Planning and Dealer Development) discussed Subaru’s niche marketplace, retention, their future, and the overall advancements and evolution of the automotive industry. They briefly touch on their career paths and the challenges women are faced with in the automotive industry. The presentation/discussion concluded with an intimate Pizza lunch where ABSC students received the opportunity to network and ask questions one-on-one with the presidents.

Check out ABSC Facebook page for full picture albums.

Fall 2012 was yet another eventful semester filled with many opportunities and on campus events. From President visits to a dedicated Student Aftermarket Day, the ABSC ends the term strong with gained knowledge, wisdom, and experience for our students!

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Karen Woods has been teaching Management courses at Georgian College since 1997 in the School of Business and Automotive Business School.  She also teaches Criminology and Social Science courses in the General Education department.  Karen brings to her position a thorough knowledge of many aspects of the retail automotive industry through her past work experience with Reynolds and Reynolds Canada as an in-dealership ERA systems training consultant.  While at Reynolds and Reynolds, she was able to participate in training activities at various manufacturers and sizes of retail operations.  Karen is a proud alumnus of the three-year Automotive Marketing Program and has a strong commitment to lifelong learning.  She has completed a BA in Social Sciences, a B.Ed. in Adult Education a Master’s in Business Communications.

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Current students visiting the exhibitors

The Automotive Industries Association of Canada (AIA) holds an annual conference and career fair strictly for ABSC students. Through this event students have the opportunity to meet aftermarket industry leaders, job seekers, and most importantly the aftermarket’s perspective on many trending topics. Trending topics were the feature of each panel. This year the panel topics were Technology and Customer Management panels and was discussed at length by industry leaders.

Technology Panel

With the panel consisting of Kristine Brown (Wakefield Canada), Susan Hitchon (Schrader), Malcolm Sissmore (Delphi Product & Service) and Dave Illes (Tenneco), each representative from their respective company discussed the impacts and changes of technology to the industry and their organization.

A topic that is always trending in the aftermarket industry is the relationship with the OES (Original Equipment Service). As technological advancements are made and patents by the OEM become more prevalent, the aftermarket industry faces the challenge of repairing these technical systems and features with limited access to resources. Consequently the aftermarket industry’s right to repair is jeopardized. While actions have been made with a voluntary agreement signed amongst key players of the automotive industry, the limited access to theses resources (due to a variety of factors including price) still remains a concern (Canadian Automotive Service Information Standard CASIS).

With the environment being a growing concern the direction of paperless documents are being led by technological advancements. In further depth this includes the electronic billing and collecting of accounts, therefore being environmentally friendly and efficient. In terms of efficiency, companies are dispatching transportation and shipments on the basis of a computerized system. This computerized system considers a variety of factors from load to location and calculates the most efficient route while combining several other shipment locations to this route. As technology continues to advance, the aftermarket industry will continue to evolve.

Room full of students!

Customer Management Panel

The Customer Management Panel consisted of Tony Canade (Assured Automotive),  John Watt (J-Watt – Consultative Automotive Inc.), Linda Donnini (Uni-Select), and Mathew Wilson (Exide Technologies).

It is clearly described that customer management is the “life blood of any organization.” The concept that customer management tools are used to deliver expectations was thoroughly discussed.  However, a great emphasis was put on the appropriate use of these tools. The panel emphasized that these tools will not automatically perform the role of customer management on its own. These tools are a resource in performing satisfactory customer management. While having a high volume of customers is important, the analogy of an overflowing cup was used to represent the mishandling that comes along with high volume. Furthermore, each representative of the panel discuss loyalty programs and the importance of listening to their customers needs in order to grow. In today’s competitive marketplace, loyalty is becoming a rare trait in consumers, where the saying, “If you want loyalty buy a dog” was coined. As a result, the example of offering new and competitive rates in sectors like insurance is important in retaining customers. Overall, with the opportunity to impress customers are being coming smaller, the importance of developing and maintaining a trusting and respectable relationship is very important in customer management. In correlation to the panels presented by industry leaders, there were two student presentations that were selected to provide insight on their research conducted on each top above.

Student Panel presentation

 Student Presentation: The Connected Car & Customer Management

The Connected Car’s presentation discussed new technology being integrated into vehicles and the effects on aftermarket and technician training.  The Customer Management presentation examined the effective use of CRM software and responding to CSI scores.

Winner and AAEC Certificates

With two student presentations, the Customer Management presentation was voted to present in Quebec City at an AIA event in the new year! Furthermore, those who have completed AAEC (Automotive Aftermarket E-Learning Certificate) received their certificate and shared the experience with the industry leaders.

Students receiving their AAEC certificates

Prizes and Jeopardy

Three $1000 scholarships, a MacBook Pro, and everything in between were given by a variety of sponsors at the event.  A leisure game of Jeopardy was played at the end of the day to sum up our findings and provide the students a chance to win many amazing prizes thanks to the aftermarket companies present!

Prize and scholarship winners!

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Presentation

Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal

The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal presentations was one of the highlights of the day, where our very own Professor John Jackson, Professor Danica Kelso, and Dr. Marie-Noëlle Bonicalzi received a Jubilee Medal for their contributions to the automotive industry. What a very proud moment for the Automotive Business School of Canada!

Career Fair and Sponsors

With an array of aftermarket industry sponsors, the events had 15 booths promoting their products and the available careers within their company. This offered ABSC students the great opportunity to network and align themselves with future employers (or co-op placements).

Read the local coverage on this event featured in: The Barrie Examiner

http://www.thebarrieexaminer.com/2012/11/16/georgian-college-students-meet-with-industry-leaders

Please enjoy more photos from the event below.

Students visiting the exhibitors

Career Fair

Career Fair

The post Aftermarket Opportunities: 2012 AIA Student Aftermarket Day appeared first on Automotive Business School of Canada at Georgian College.

Monique Vaillancourt has been the Associate Dean of the Automotive Business School of Canada and the School of Business since 2008.  Previously, Monique was the program co-ordinator for the Canadian Automotive Institute from 1994 to 2005.  Monique provided leadership to the faculty team for curriculum development and renewal and provided academic advising to students in the automotive programs.    She also taught in the programs from 1993 to 2005, courses such as: Introductory Accounting, Financial Accounting Principles, Mathematics of Finance, Personal Finance and Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.  Her 11 years of previous work experience includes retail business management and small business accounting.  Monique is a graduate of Business Administration Accounting program at Georgian College.  She holds a Bachelor of Education in Adult Education from Brock University and a Master of Science in Education, Supervision and Administration from Niagara University.

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Nathalie Stiévenart was born in Belgium in 1968.  She moved to Canada in 1970 and was educated in Montréal (Québec), from primary school to university.  In 1990, she graduated from University of Montréal with a Bachelor Degree in Engineering Physics.  In 1993, she obtained a Master Degree from Concordia University in Applied Mathematics. Nathalie Stiévenart worked many years at Concordia University as a part-time Math instructor before being hired at Georgian College (C.A.I.) in 2002.  Currently, Ms. Stiévenart teaches Statistics, Business Mathematics, Algebra, and other math based courses.

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Norm has been a college professor with the School of Business at Georgian College since 1984. Currently he co-ordinates and teaches in the Graduate Certificate International Business Management Program and teaches economics courses to degree students in the Automotive Business School of Canada. He has extensive teaching experience having taught over 4,000 people in industry, secondary, college and university settings. In addition he has co-ordinated four programs at both the Barrie and Orillia Campuses. Norm has delivered many workshops and keynote addresses related to economics and policy at Business Conferences. His perspective on economic events is often featured in regional print and visual media. International assignments include teaching in Brunei Darussalam (three years) and lecturing in South Africa. He earned an Honours BA in Economics from Queen’s, a MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York, and is a certified teacher. He is a recipient of a Teaching and Learning Centre ‘Teaching Excellence Award’ from Georgian.

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Jim graduated from Queen’s University with a BA and an MBA. He joined the Automotive Business School of Canada (ABSC) at Georgian College as a full-time professor in December 2007.  Jim came to Georgian from a 25 year career in the automotive industry and is proud to bring his extensive industry experience and passion into the classroom. Highlights of that experience included ownership of a Chrysler Jeep/Eagle dealership, Canadian Regional Manager of Suzuki Canada Inc., National Sales Manager of Hyundai Canada Ltd., and Director of Sales for Kia Canada Inc.  Jim also served on the Board of Directors of Kia Canada Inc. and was a director in the Association of Import Automobile Manufacturers of Canada (AIAMC).

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Jennifer graduated from McMaster University with a BA in Geography. Her interest and curious mind led her to the post-graduate Research Analyst program at Georgian College where her life-learning journey at Georgian would begin. Jennifer progressed on to become a three-time alumnus of Georgian College by graduating not only from the Research Analyst program but soon from with a certificate in Teaching and Training Adults, and a Business Management Studies certificate. She started an MBA program with Laurentian University with plans to complete in the near future. Jennifer is has been the Marketing Specialist for the Automotive Business School of Canada at Georgian College for the past 10 years. She actively markets, recruits, and acts as a liaison with students, parents, high school staff, and the automotive industry in ensuring that the schools unique automotive programs are promoted across Canada. Prior to Georgian College Jennifer held a positions as a Marketing Manager for a local Internet Service Provider, and Market Researcher with a small research company in Toronto. Jennifer teaches part-time in the Research Analyst program specializing in the courses Research Management Skill and Research Seminar. Jennifer volunteers her time as President for the non-profit group The Friends of Awenda Provincial Park, and has been a volunteer director on the  Georgian College Alumni Association Board of Directors.

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Specializing in legal, ethical and human rights issues, Debbie has several years teaching experience at the post-secondary level in a wide variety of subjects. Her PhD dissertation was entitled “A Kantian Defense of Regulatory Law and Penalty:  Consumer Protection in the Canadian Automotive Industry” through York University. Debbie teaches ABSC students Law and Ethics for the Automotive Industry. Debbie has been active in a number of community projects over the years, including the Royal Victoria Ethics Committee, the Youth Justice Committee (an alternative measures program for young offenders), as a director on the Board of Directors for the Brain Injury Services of Simcoe County, as a member of the Georgian College Research Ethics Board, as a member of the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council’s (OMVIC’s) Discipline and Appeals Committee and currently of OMVIC’s Stakeholders Committee as well as the ABSC Marketing Advisory Committee

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Christine is a Georgian College graduate from the Business Administration – Marketing program. She has also completed her Bachelor of Administration Degree with Lakehead University and holds a Certificate in Human Resources Management from Seneca College. After graduation, Christine worked in the HR Department of a large manufacturing company and for the last 15 years, Christine has been working at Georgian College assisting both community clients and Co-op students with employment preparation.

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