Colorado Springs, Colo. -- For most in Colorado's automotive service industry, it's no secret that changes in the automotive service industry and the effects of Colorado's post-9/11 economic downturn resulted in a reduced schedule of activities for ASA of Colorado (ASA-CO).

But with a new, business-based agenda in place, ASA-CO Chairman Donny Seyfer indicated that ASA-CO will begin to rebuild its membership and examine legislative issues that could determine the future of the automotive service industry.

Case in point, ASA-CO has reasserted itself with its membership by sponsoring the KEYS Colorado Mechanical Division Conference at Cheyenne Mountain Conference Resort in Colorado Springs on Sept. 29.  The KEYS or "Keep Educating Yourself and Your Staff" ASA-CO Mechanical Division Conference provided training for 17 ASA-CO mechanical shops represented by 54 attendees during its one-day Saturday session.

Technical Instructor John Forro of Automotive Service Technology Training and management Instructor Maylan Newton of Educational Seminars Institute led off with two morning classes, "Mode $06 Diagnostics" and "Profit Structuring with Formulas to Win."

Forro, a recognized expert in Mode $06 diagnostics, described how Mode $06 works and what its benefits are to a working shop.  On-Board-Diagnostics II (OBD II), which was introduced in the 1996 model year, has nine diagnostic modes, including Mode $06, which factory engineers use to measure the degradation of various components used in OBD II powertrain management systems.

As expressed in the term "Mode $06," a scientific hexadecimal numbering system is used that that enumerates and quantifies the various modes, components, and data.  "To illustrate, Mode $06 can be used to identify an engine misfire long before the criteria are met to create and store a diagnostic trouble code in the Powertrain Control Module's (PCM's) diagnostic memory," Forro said.

On the management side, Newton took his class through the steps required to establish a profitable rate structure for a typical mechanical repair shop.  While rate creation is basic mathematics, most operators ignore important issues such as saving a percentage of shop income for future investments and setting aside retirement savings accounts, he said. 

Newton also said it's important to calculate gross profit on a repair order before the job is sold.  "The gross profit should be at least 66 percent of the gross ticket amount, he said.

After the noon lunch break, Bill Haas, ASA national vice president of service markets, provided a dynamic presentation on how future technology will affect independent repair shops.  "What shops are working on today is not what automakers are building today," Haas said. 

Regarding the new field of telematics, such as General Motor's On-Star system, he said ASA is working on a "white paper" that will address how telematics will affect independent shops and how shops may capitalize on that technology.  "We need ASA member input on this issue," he said.

During the afternoon session, Forro taught "Quick Check Diagnostics," an aggregation of methods that Forro uses to diagnose most vehicle drivability issues in a half-hour or less.  He opened the class by covering the economics of diagnostic work, including generating the revenues needed to support the class "A" or L-1 technicians needed to perform advanced diagnostic work.

Newton completed his afternoon session with his "Successful Time Management" class.  "In all cases, the owner is the most expensive employee in the whole business," he said.  "If the owner can't manage his own time, then he becomes an arsonist in his own business because he wastes his most valuable commodity, which is productive time in the shop."