With the maintaining of relationships more important now than ever, Automechanika is offering new digital networking opportunities for everyone who had been looking forward to visiting Frankfurt this September as part of its “digital offensive”.
Starting 10 September, there will be a series of online training courses for workshops available at sneak-preview.automechanika-frankfurt.com. Visitors to the website will also find updated company profiles for exhibitors, while users of the new ‘Connect’ tool in the Automechanika app will be able to contact other automotive professionals directly.
“This digital alternative presents the industry with an opportunity to showcase their latest products and services even in the year of the coronavirus while allowing them to stay in touch with their customers,” said Thomas Fischer, Chairman of AAMPACT eV, The International Independent Aftermarket Association. “Even so, our members are very much looking forward to seeing one another in person again and everyone has already announced that they will be back next year.”
“The Automechanika digital offensive is an excellent initiative and I wholeheartedly support it,” said Juergen Karpinski, President of the German Federation for Motor Trades and Repairs (ZDK). “Training in particular is essential to our industry, and the wide range of online seminars and workshops represents an excellent opportunity for workshops to obtain training this year free of charge.”
‘Collision talk’ livestream to kick off show sneak preview
Automechanika Frankfurt’s ‘Collision talk’ event will be held as an online TV show this year. Taking place on 10 September from 5:00pm, the event brings together leading decision makers from the accident repair market and marks the start of Automechanika Frankfurt’s online event series. The livestream is being organised by the ‘schaden.news’ and ‘Fahrzeug + Karosserie’ trade journals (Vogel Verlag, Wuerzburg) in cooperation with Automechanika Frankfurt. The event is being moderated by Christian Simmert (Editor-in-Chief of schaden.news) and Konrad Wenz (Editor-in-Chief of Fahrzeug + Karosserie). It will be broadcast from Volkswagen’s Transparent Factory in Dresden.
Discussion will revolve around the pandemic’s impact on the accident repair market. For the first time since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis in Germany, automotive insurers, claims managers, paint manufacturers, associations, experts and company owners will join in a public discussion of COVID-19’s impact on the industry. Guests include:
- Thomas Geck, Director of Claims Process Management for HUK-Coburg
- Ludger Kersting, Managing Director of SPN Service Partner Netzwerk GmbH and Director of Automotive Services for ADAC
- Matthew Whittall, CEO of the Innovation Group
- Andreas Brodhage, Managing Director of Global Automotive Service
- Peter Boerner, President of ZKF
- Reinhard Beyer, Chairman of the Board of the German Association of Partner Workshops (BVdP)
- Henning Hamann, Lawyer with ETL Kanzlei Voigt
An assessment of future trends in the automotive repair market will also be provided by sales directors of leading paint manufacturers. Benjamin Burkard (AkzoNobel), Tobias Brefeld (BASF, Glasurit) and Thomas Leuchten (PPG Nexa Autocolor) will be talking with young owners about the future of companies in the field.
Live workshops, coaching sessions and expert talks for German workshops
‘Collision talk’ will be followed by approximately 20 free online events planned from September to November 2020, which are being organised by Automechanika as part of the digital offensive in conjunction with trade publishers and industry partners. These include live workshops, coaching sessions, video tutorials, podcasts and expert talks for the local repair industry.
Connect: Networking with the Automechanika app
The new tool in the free Automechanika app offers all registered users the ability to target their networking activities online. Users create their own personal profiles listing their interests, and the filtered search function not only makes it possible for users to find new and relevant business contacts quickly, but also for the users themselves to be found by others. The chat function also allows users to get into contact with other automotive professionals and providers. The app and its new functionality should be available for download in popular app stores from September.
Get to know the latest from a “Who’s Who” of the automotive aftermarket
Visitors to the website sneak-preview.automechanika-frankfurt.com can discover numerous new products and solutions in exhibitors’ updated company profiles.
“Particularly in these challenging times, the industry needs a showcase that allows for the attractive presentation of new products online, especially in the form of videos,” said Olaf Musshoff, Director of Automechanika Frankfurt. “Now we are offering our customers around the globe the chance to do just that with the new, updated exhibitor and product search function.”
Sneak preview of the German Body & Paint competition
The first international Automechanika Body & Paint competition will be taking place at Messe Frankfurt next year. Here, workshop professionals will be competing against one another with nationally inspired car bonnet designs. More than a dozen body and paint professionals have already registered for the German competition.
Some of the candidates have even provided fascinating insights into their artistic work in the form of short films that will soon be available on the Automechanika website. The German competition is being supported by AkzoNobel, Axalta, Carbon, Cromax, Glasurit, Miracle Europe, R-M, SATA, Spies Hecker and Standox. More information on the competition is available at automechanika.com/wettbewerb.