Special Guest Stu Stanners

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welcome to the garage network podcast join us  and the occasional special guest as we discuss   everything automotive from  fixing cars as a technician   owning an automotive workshop or business overall  work-life balance and even the occasional laugh   in this episode of tgn talks we were lucky enough  to be joined by stu stanners stew is the general   manager of century batteries and has been involved  in the automotive industry for most of his career   we'll learn a little bit about his career path  also talk a little bit about business evolution   and then even get into better technologies where  we are and where that technology is currently   going so we hope that you guys enjoy it should  we probably start by intentionally introducing   yourself yeah so stu would you like to introduce  yourself or would mike like to do it for you well   it's up to you mike i can't know i can hear  what we've got we're today our great guest   is stuart sanders from the general manager of  century batteries for australia and new zealand   welcome thank you mate it's nice to be here thanks  for inviting me all right thank you for joining us   thanks for joining us yeah it's great i think  a lot of the um the guys watching this probably   know your brand quite well you've been around for  quite a while but potentially don't know yourself   you know the gm of century i mean you've  been there for quite a while so sort of   um we'd like to know a little bit more about you  um probably how long have you been with century   has it been a while yeah uh coming up 19 years  uh with century um last eight and a half years   gm of australia and automotive  and gym of new zealand   prior to that my background is all automotive for  43 plus years god i'm sounding old 43 plus years   i've been involved only in the automotive  industry and predominantly in sales and marketing   area i i'm a kiwi born breed in new zealand  worked for fran filters in new zealand doing   sales and marketing i went to australia to help  introduce fram uh in melbourne five and a half   years i stayed there and i had a little  stint with a company called london trading   because i'm into motorcycles and did sales and  marketing for for them in the wholesale area   i came back to new zealand in 91 i was invited  to buy shares into a company called apco auto   parts uh which was a trade orientated auto parts  business and we sold that in 1998 to ripco and   funnily enough we bought it off ripco for 500 000  and we we sold it back to them for 8 million so   good return it's a good return what a great  return yeah yeah but you know it was a really   great experience that because you know like any  big corporate like a ripco who do a bloody good   job i mean i'm not speaking ill of them at all but  you know they tend to be so big there's a lot of   a lot of business falls through the cracks  and we were picking up that business so   you know today for anybody who's thinking about it  there's always those opportunities always um i was   gm of the 101 franchise in new zealand for a while  and then i came to century century batteries and   the rest is history yeah wow a lot of involvement  so you've said you've started you stayed with   the um the automotive theme seems like throughout  your time yeah and you know um probably like like   yourselves and a lot of your members um i didn't  know what i wanted to do when i leave school   and i'm not university trained or anything like  that and but i've always had this passion about   motor vehicles and motor racing in particular  i'm a drag race nut still hold the new zealand   a altered drag race record at 7.2 at 181 mile an  hour which is not good um and and it was i just   you know how you meet so many good people in this  industry it's just full of great people and and   that's why i haven't left it i've  just enjoyed every moment of it   yeah i think it is the people that keeps a lot  of a lot of us into it you're probably right   a lot of us sort of come out of  high school and um think i would   do this for a bit but i think it's  the people that keep us in it indeed so you started when you were three oh you think  oh you're welcome yeah that's great that's really   good yeah that'd be 50 bucks mate yeah obviously  um being in new zealand you're probably not too   impacted by a covert i mean as much as the rest  of the world but have you noticed any sort of um   impact for for sales for batteries i know a lot  of companies have noticed sort of some decrease   in sales or some increase even what have you  guys noticed it's been massive actually um   and all i can say is uh thank goodness for  zoom um yeah i'm currently the leader in   our organization um having um spending  thousands of hours basically with my staff   and other businesses on the  zoom and it's been a savior   the biggest meeting i've had on zuma is 72  people believe it or not and uh yeah everything   it's an amazing tool but you know impact on  us has been uh has been incredible um it's the   change absolutely changed the way we do business  uh in new zealand and australia our call centers   are now based at home and they work from home  we introduce technology to allow them to do that i work three days at home in my office at home in  two days in the office when there's no lockdown   new zealand's in lockdown at the moment i've  been running uh or doing my job not running   for staffing but i've been doing my work  representing uh australia automotive division   from auckland out of my office  in auckland it's been amazing   because of zoom and other things it's worked  really really well we've had no face-to-face   conferences all the conferences have been  canceled the last couple of years we've had   very little travel in the lockdown periods so in  terms of business it's been dramatic um there's   never been a time in anybody anybody's business  that they can reflect on how do i run a business   in these situations and we've all had to think  on our feet and it's taught us a lot about uh   what we you know maybe didn't need to do you know  you get into those habits you need to drive for an   hour or meeting have a half hour meeting your  drive now back to the office and things like   that those those days are gone um we've incurred  massive costs uh freight costs of the killer we're   talking millions uh between australia and new  zealand uh literally millions um we we haven't   um we sort of offset that little a little bit by  the lack of travel but nothing comes even close to   what the freight costs have come but we've  felt as a company and i can tell you this   is not a sales pitch it's a fact is that  we made the decision two big decisions   when we first went into lockdown in australia and  new zealand was we must retain all of our staff   under any circumstance and because our staff  are our most important asset to our business   you know and and the second  thing is that we must not   pass on any costs until we can get in a situation  where we're comfortable the industry can and our   customers can actually um afford to accept it and  uh and and that's just you know it's worked well   and as you probably know we have just put a small  price increase into the market but that's life and   we have we can no longer accept all those massive  costs but one of the one of the really big things   is the what we call the omni channel um those  that aren't familiar with the omni channel   it's facebook it's social media  it's the website and everything else   consumers and your customers have now learned to  purchase and operate in a totally different manner   they've been sitting at home on their computers  and they've they've gone and they've searched   the internet for different things and even down  to the point where they might just want to say   hey mike is your business open i need to go online  if they weren't comfortable with the phone etc so   the big retailers like uh super cheap and ripco  and and uh you know all those consumer retail   automotive parts stores have seen in excess of  a 30 percent increase in online purchasing now   that can't be ignored uh that's massively [ __ ]  millions and millions we've noticed we've noticed   there's a there's it's during cover there's been a  massive shift in this lockdown to people spending   their people's behavior there's behavioral changes  yes they're going to come out of this which are   they don't want to leave the suburb they'd rather  so this is really good for workshops like us   in suburbs that there's massive spends that  massive amounts of money leave your suburb and go   to dealers or they go back to the you  know to different places to get service   services and we don't have in our local suburbs  we don't have many dealers so a lot of those cut   those cars are leaving to go back to those so so  they're like no i don't want to leave our local   suburb it's a it's a big shift and it's a great  it's a um like you like what you're saying it's   a it's a habit it's a habitual change for them  so now i'm not gonna go two suburbs away to go   get my mercedes service to mercedes i'm gonna take  it to a local garage where we've we've really been   pushing marketing ourselves as the dealership  alternative and those sorts of things too   we're really trying to to hammer that and and to  find that i did have a couple of questions for   you guys too in new zealand you guys have  a different sort of lockdown to we've had   so automotive has been really shut down unless  you had um contacts with what contracts with uh yeah essential service so  like workshops like me would   i might have a couple of nurses and doctors  cars that i work on but i don't have any   social contracts at all well essential  service is the consumer's vehicle as   well because they need that to get to any  medical issues or food or anything else so   we don't sell you know australia or new zealand  to direct to the consumer so we support those   businesses that like yours that would be able  to service those people but in saying that   you know even super cheap for example they  shuttle these doors in new zealand at level four   uh and they've done a similar  thing in australia so uh uh   the thing is with with with with our industry with  batteries so long as uh everybody's shutting down   or doing the same thing when you open up they're  all in the same boat together so you're going to   get your slice of the buy and sales when you open  up again but um what we found uh in lockdowns is   that people were parking their cars in their  garage and sometimes with their keys in the   ignition of course we all know what that does yeah  people ticked away thinking it's going to jump in   the car in a minute and it flattens the battery  and uh we've had we've had a lot of that um   probably more so than australia i think i said  that to you the other day lockdown sells batteries   in the last since my batch if i i mean i i've got  to i haven't looked again we we were i think i was   selling you costa it's been one a day literally  almost one or two a day yeah i mean it's been   really the numbers are just astronomical like in  australia over the last 18 months we've seen a 15   to 25 increase in wow uh workshop battery sales  wow and uh further to that uh with the repcos   who we work closely with because we supply them of  course um uh there's been some really encouraging   stats that have come out from them um even to the  extent that in metropolitan areas in sydney and   and in melbourne they've had workshops that have  had up to two months worth of work booked up   um according to them i mean i'm only passing on  the information that i hear which is really good   for the industry i think so yeah there's  negatives and there's positive isn't it   some pretty impressive i was going  to say some businesses thrive before   like with last year we were we had one  of the best years we've ever had it's but   back in my 30 years i've been in the trade  it was back to light being in the 1990s when   you know people didn't fly to bali they got in a  car and drove to the gold coast or they drove you   know it was it was was people didn't have as much  money i would start there were different economic   circumstances around that but everyone went on  a road trip so the lead up to christmas and the   lead up to easter were our two busiest times of  the year couldn't you could just see it with it   all with flat out and then it tapered off after  that and you enjoyed you know and you knew that   work was coming back but over time over the  30 years that it just sort of peeled out to   general work across the whole year you know  so well the thing is that what our statistics   and surveying shows is that because of staycations  people are buying motorbikes they're buying boats   you know the if you ordered a boat like a you know  whatever boat today you're probably going to wait   six to 12 months before you can actually get  it uh caravans and everything else so people's   spending a lot of money uh touring australia  but the thing is the point is that yes we've   sold more deep cycle more motorcycle more marine  batteries than we've ever sold in the period   but those vehicles and bikes and boats are still  there so they will require batteries going forward   and i think it'll be a while before the world  opens up so i think we've all raised up a level   in that sphere where we're going to see continual  business for at least the next couple of years   it's not going to fall over if you know what i  mean and do you reckon when we when we do open up   because you're talking about you've implemented  a lot of new things in your business for like   communication and all this sort of stuff uh are  you guys planning to keep some of those changes or   you think you refer back to how it was absolutely  key and we'll still have the work from home   situation going we found productivity in a lot of  areas has increased things like e-commerce we've   we've now uh purchased an e-commerce system which  we're trialing before christmas and we'll be   releasing in the first part of 2022 um you know  and for a wholesaler that's quite a big deal um   so um yeah and there's heaps there's heaps of  a multitude of different things we've done um   uh the the thing is that um the industry and the  cons and the consumer right what in in trade and   wholesale there was always a thing called when  you purchase it was just in time just as you're   running out of a stock of something a new your  new order of stock would come in and replenish it   well now the world has changed to a thing called  just in case and because of the freight issues   and everything else and the consumer demand that  says well just in case there's a you know when we   come out of lockdown we're going to see a massive  increase i'm going to put more stock in and that's   changed the way people purchase even you know  from particularly from a business perspective   so does that mean you ramped up production  up at carroll park you're just like   so many batteries mate yeah yeah yeah he's never  never made so many batteries yeah yeah i mean   that then sort of leads me to the next thing so  obviously it seems like sales are up so have you   guys had any sort of supply chain issues because i  know a lot of the guys on the network do complain   about in general automotive parts you know  having supply chain issues and i think a   last year at some point there's almost  some some suppliers weren't even stocking   about manufacturers batteries and stuff as well  after that and off the back of that i was going to   there's heaps of people asking us about who makes  batteries in australia and i was like well yeah   you know that's a common question actually yeah  you're right and last year it was insane it was   you know i can't get batteries my supplier can't  supply stock where do i get century batteries   and it's like well you've got to  ring them up and get an account   yeah we've embarked on an australian-made program  because it's quite scary how many people don't   realize we make batteries in brisbane but uh oh  absolutely we've had we've had massive issues but all i can say is thank goodness for the  factory the factory we invested seven million   dollars a couple years ago 18 months ago in a new  plate making machine to speed up uh uh you know   the manufacturer batteries and it's paid dividends  we didn't know then that covered was going to be   you know create the mess that it has but um yeah  we we we've actually overstocked ourselves as well   we were we were the same as everybody else what  essentially what happened was uh and it wasn't   just with batteries anybody that makes anything  makes uh things and we'll talk about us right we   can make 1.2 million batteries in our factory  we import another 1.2 to 1.4 batteries a year   but we make 1.2 million and we we want  to make all of that because if we make   1 million and not the other 200 000 you're  actually not running as efficient as you can   so it's costing you money every factory in the  world is running to the same and particularly   batteries is running to the same situation  so factories were already running to capacity   what happened is when everybody shut  down the demand for batteries increased   they couldn't make any more batteries  and then to add insult to injury   the uh the freighting companies uh couldn't  keep up with the demand of of supplying goods   and of course there was up to seven or two months  uh a weight to get your product so everybody was   in that situation but the our factories really  got us out of the that that dive situation to   the extent now we're actually well over stocked  so here we'll have some issues with some imported   batteries but not not many we're in a very good  situation can i just get that right so for those   that don't know carroll park up in brisbane  is where they manufacture all their it's the   it's an enormous factory one day when we get auto  care i had plans with the lot brisbane auto care   double a double a show to come down and do a tour  of the factory i think i'd organized that with   with uh with one of with sean o'brien and we were  going to do a garage sale we're going to walk   around with the camera just to show the guys what  it was like um but most of your there's not much   everything is supplied from australia that  there's not much to import build a battery   is there uh well well the thing is that you we  don't make all batteries and you've got you know   efb and and all sorts of other type of battery  technology that we have to bring in as well   we make the batteries we make predominantly you  know more than half the batteries that we sell but   what you find in a consumer situation for example  like your business uh almost all of the batteries   will be made in our factory in brisbane yes all  these ones are the yellow yellow and blue yeah yes   yeah yes i'm black yes because obviously you  guys i supply other industry as well right it's   not just automotive well we've got three divisions  we've got uh motive power which is the fork truck   uh division and we've got standby which uh or  power systems as they're called now we do backup   systems for telstra and the mines and and you know  airports and things like that so yeah we we we've   got to import uh all of those batteries actually  yeah yeah makes sense one day one day we'll get   a tour of carroll park yeah you'll like it mate  it's worth the trip i must say it's worth a visit now now what do you think this uh you're  talking about some new technologies where   do you think it's heading because obviously now  we know that we've had our recent run of of um   battery management training not too long ago um  and even someone who i believe stays abreast of   a lot of new sort of technologies i'll be blown  away by how much it is changing smart charging   all these different stuff that's going on with  these cars now where are you seeing that battery   that translating into battery technology  well i think we can we can put the members   we can we can put it you know make them  comfortable in the fact that for the next   five to ten years lead acid batteries will  be number one the predominant battery by far   uh 2030 the european manufacturers association  said that at 20 30 they'll no longer make lead   acid batteries um that'll be lithium  or some other technology that they've   they've found by then it was actually going to be  sooner it was going to be 2025 but the development   of what we call sli starting lighting ignition  batteries uh hasn't developed quick enough for   them to be able to economically uh introduce them  or make a legislation that that's all you can fit   um in terms of sizes that the d23 size which is  your common 55d 23l sort of thing will be the most   prominent battery but within that you'll find bins  din is now going to be the din battery is going to   be without doubt the biggest selling battery  even japan now have gone to the din batteries   and efb enhanced flooded batteries are increasing  massively interestingly enough agm was going to   be the world's savior a lot of batteries  but it's actually step it's it's not quite   where they thought it was going  to be um the reason being cost   because with the hybrid batteries the auxiliary  battery and and other areas they want to make   the vehicle as cheap as possible because the cold  hard facts are lithium costs a lot of money and   even in a hybrid over a true ev battery the  cost is massive but we we're seeing massive   declines in my genius 40 batteries and and the  very smaller batteries are on their way out but   our stop starts going to be um it's going to you  know grow it's going to hit a point after about   three to four years and tip over and you're  going to see hybrid vehicles uh take over and   you'll see auxiliary batteries even in evs will  be lead acid battery for quite some time to come uh they're reasonably small you know  60 stock yeah auxiliary battery um uh   yeah but but they're not flash they're not super  sophisticated like some of our efb batteries now   uh our own ones i mean but we we supply  original equipment in japan a lot   and you know they'll have uh lithium ion in  them already and carbon and things like that   now lithium ion and lead acid battery the whole  idea is that of that is it speeds up the charging   process and you mentioned the the charging  systems and they're so sophisticated today   that um you've got to actually put light for  like battery back in the vehicle that'll burn out   you've also got to make sure that uh they're close  to will meet original equipment so you'll always   find with us that we'll sell like an efb for a  stops auto stop start type configuration will be   uh two choices it'll be an oem which is the  original one for the vehicle or it'll be a   cheaper aftermarket i'd say well q85 and the  q85 mf yes that's exactly right here yeah okay   yeah yeah the q85 has 40 months warranty that's  the original equipment battery and it's about   a hundred dollars dearer than an mf i think  that's just off the top of my head but yeah   that's right and that's what it come  out with that is the original battery   and and it's sort of like you've got to get  your head around where the industry's going um you will find as we go down the road that you  will have to supply more and more oem batteries   i don't know if you realize this but volkswagen  for example are now producing vehicles that you   have to put a pin into the vehicle to change  the battery where it goes into limp mode and   the only way you can get that pin number is to get  it from the original volkswagen from you know oem   uh and it's the airway what  they're trying to do is corral   vehicles from you know birth to you know to cradle  the grave to try and corner those sales because   they lose them after about four or five years  so so just in saying that so that's like the   qr code that might be on the top of the battery  okay so can you guys they might like a lot i've   noticed that on a lot of varta batteries a lot  of other like ones we're pulling out like a oe   vasa style batteries they'll have a qr code the  vw and the qr code i'm assuming at some point   when that's gone in you scan the qr code  no no this is worse than that this is uh   this is um from an aftermarket perspective  what they're saying is well uh we won't give   you that code unless you pay for it well does  that mean you guys have got to pay for that   you've got to pay for that give that to us is that  how it's uh well the person that's fitting it has   got to do that so what that cost will be i don't  know but you know even with this you know what   what the double a double a have done with like  sharing of data and stuff like that there's going   to be a cost that comes with that but we supply  uh a european company that that does already and   we actually sell the via batteries we sell their  batteries um it's not like our batteries putting   into their vehicles we hold and and sell their  batteries for them and uh we they got lithium   ion and all sorts of stuff we saw one the other  day wholesale was two and a half thousand dollars   wow right and the consumer ended up paying three  and a half thousand dollars because he actually   wrecked it it was a very late model vehicle he'd  done something to wreck it but my point here is   that that battery when it goes into the vehicle  has a little uh not a qr code but a little chip   on it and it actually when you put the cover  over it talks to the chip and it tells the   car that it's actually got the correct battery  in it if you put it out so they're pretty like   that like the headlight like the because we've  done uh some j2534 programming courses and stuff   like that where you've gotta everything's gonna  have to be coded to the car yeah a lot of stuff   and we and we're we're fully aware of  that we realize you have to pay for it   yeah it's getting everything all this is gonna  it's not i mean it's a cost to us that gets   passed on to the consumer it has to be passed  on yeah custody it can't it can't be absorbed   by the businesses there's no way it can be done  yeah the thing is that japan aren't doing that   it's just european vehicles at the stage so long  may that continue yeah right that's interesting but you know just a little further i think  everybody's talking about lithium and you know   we've got four lithium-ion factories and not one  of them makes the same technology as the other it   costs a billion us to set up and and all of ours  bar one three of them actually manufacture for oem   as drive batteries we've got one factory in turkey  which um supplies the uh the smaller batteries   so when you say drive batteries for like electric  vehicles and uk uv vehicles and in hybrid hybrids but all the technology they haven't settled on  a technology yet which is um which is you know   that's it it's going to be ongoing developing  until they find something which is really quite   unique and out there but all i would say in  particular to the members be damned careful about   lithium ion we will have a deep cycle lithium  ion battery coming in early next year two of   them actually um and uh this will have bluetooth  and it you know and all that sort of stuff but   there's so many uh lithium-ion batteries out  there at the moment that people are putting in   motorcycles and and other things that just don't  they just they haven't done their research on   the quality of the battery and we're going to go  through this we had one at our battery wheel store   blow up and and you can't put them out once  they once they go up and and it's it's uh   we're in a situation where it's a an ignorant  point of time for example we get asked today by   oem's mitsubishi toyota hyundai they've all asked  us if we'll stock the ev drive batteries for them   and we said no we can't because what it would  mean we would have to have every single battery   would have to be sealed off in case of caught fire  wouldn't catch the others on fire and we'd have to   build a brand new distribution center to stop  them that's right yeah if you and your building   and your workshops have got lift your mind even  starting or motorcycle or uh deep cycle batteries   if if the place burns to the ground you've got  to be very careful and tell the insurance company   that you've actually got it in stock because  um they could retract their your insurance as   a consequence so so you know i'm assuming that's  amazing it makes sense it makes sense but yeah   you didn't think about the human who'd want to  store that i don't want to stall but inside in   saying that that's probably why they're trying  to palm it off onto you guys well they've told   us that yeah yeah they don't know enough about  the batteries you know like uh when you've got   a situation with a fire with a small battery and  you take the oxygen out all you do is stop the   fire for a second as soon as you stop putting  the fire extinguisher on it goes up again so   keep going until you put it in a bucket of water  until it's finished doing what it's doing so yeah   so you're cool yeah but it's a chemical reaction  with olivia i think we spoke about this years ago   when we were driving up to fishing competition  it was it's a chemical reaction it was the same   reason that qantas said don't put your phone if  you lose your phone don't move your seat yeah yeah   it makes sense you're absolutely paranoid about  having a fire on a plane because the if you move   your iphone or your samsung it gets jammed in the  seat and you and you bend it or break it the wrong   way it starts that chemical reaction and if you  have that chemical reaction in an aluminium plane you know 10 000 meters or 30 000 feet in the air  you know what big problem it it'll melt everything   on its way out of the bottom of the plane  so yeah yeah um but yeah i i it's uh   in saying all of that uh i i'm really  interested to hear that you guys so you guys are   manufacturing those batteries in in all ways well  not century but that we will be sentry product   but they're not our manufacturer at the stage  yeah right that's really interesting well you're   there you're at the forefront of the technology so  you're the one to ask about it it's accessible and   we'll only bring them in you know the ones we're  bringing in we've been testing for probably a year   you know so uh they've got all they've got all  the safety requirements yeah because i've been   seeing a lot of four-wheel drives come in that  they've put lithium batteries in the back for aftermarket accessories and those sorts of things  powering those up but i certainly wouldn't be i've   noticed that some of the some of the companies  that are out there have been pulling back on   they had the companies that manufactured dual  battery charging kits have been selling out   their lithium dual battery charging kits very  very cheap why they're a discontinued model   i'm not going to mention names of no no that's  not but but they have they discontinued their   their lithium range to basically go back to i mean  my recommendation if i'm fitting any dual battery   kit on fitting a century like a agm deep cycle  atm is a far better option because we know that   i know i know you're going to get three days out  of that that'll run your fridge for three days or   two days whatever whatever we've calculated it  out at um i haven't been a fan of fitting new   technologies like lithium batteries especially  as starting batteries how do they control the   heat going back into them from the alternator yeah  run away and that's the thing that the vehicle was   never designed to have it in the motorcycle it was  never designed to happen and you've got to have   you know for these batteries we bring in for  example uh we've got charges associated with them   and testers because yeah you you don't you know  it's things like this that people don't understand   you don't want to store or stock a lithium  battery at a hundred percent charge you need   to stock at about 70 percent or lower and then  it gets charged as it goes into the v you know   just before it goes into the vehicle because  they're too dangerous to sit on the shelf fully   charged you've got a bomb waiting to go off and  this you've got a really intelligent uh you know   sit up on the top of the battery with a bit you  know monitoring this battery monitoring system   yeah right so what so that's the sub would be no  different if it was 100 charge in the car would it   um well it's it's you've got it's a totally  different regime because you've got you've   got drawer yeah yeah and the other thing  would be is that um you you you never   want to put a lithium ion underneath the  bonnet of the car um it sounds stupid but   if you could sell sli uh lithium ion  battery until the technology gets sorted out even the ones we make in turkey like for bmw et  cetera that okay they might not sound weird but   they're under a cedric in the boot but you're  never under the under the bonnet because it   gets too hot get thermally right away make  sense big trouble now it makes sense when   they put in their spots never really knew i just  thought they're trying to make it hard for us well no because they're going back to our bosh  we did we ran bosch uh hybrid training here for   garage network members but going back to our  bus stop that's what is the fan that's why   there's yeah it's all about temperature  control yeah the filter that blocks up   in the in the orients at the back and see  there's a little fan that cools the battery down   and there's a little uh there's a little  filtered paper filter in front of it   and it's basically where your heel is if you're  sitting in the back of the rory and there's a   little on the driver's side there's a  there's a little event there that that   sets on extensive code and that's what it's there  for so yeah that's cool that's super interesting   maybe i'll learn something today that's cool yeah  well i'm learning something every day there we go do you want to tell the guys a bit about a aec  should be a bit of a chat about that is that uh   sure um it's something we started uh it's called  auto electrical club it's for the ordo sparkies or   auto electrical mechanical businesses we have  a very successful equivalent in new zealand   and we thought we'd introduce something  similar to australia now the reason we   we do this is no membership fee or anything like  that but there's standards you've got to be an   artist spoken about but the whole idea behind  it was that um that we we got very disappointed   with the training that that was given about our  batteries and all of the training institutions   they were just so out of date uh we now supply the  training to to almost all of the universities and   training institutions and if we don't we are  invited to oversee it it was just so out of date   it wasn't fair to the apprentices  and and there was so much ignorance   and it was that was what got us into it but the  other thing was that we found that they the auto   electrical industry doesn't have a voice and it  gets consumed behind all sorts of other things   and it's becoming more and more prominent  in diagnosis and things like that   it's an industry that covers marine agricultural  mining all sorts of different areas and there was   no voice in the marketplace for them so we thought  that from a networking possibility or networking   you know the benefits of that which you'd know  all about i mean it's so so damn important um   the training aspect and you know uh to get an  apprentice to get to get started today in your   industry in the auto electrical industry is so  hard and with the covert and everything else you   can't bring in south african you know employees  at the moment and things like that and 40   of all of the uh apprentices fall out  drop out before the end of their time   and probably one of the biggest things  is the fact there's no marketing of of   um what you know this business like the mechanical  business can can actually bring to a young person   you've actually got you've got two people  you've got to convince you've got to convince   the parents and and the person you've got to  get them out of school get them early and we   need to tell them the benefits of this industry  and what it can offer them um absolutely agree so   that that's that we introduced it yeah you know  the aec thing was fantastic it's a no-brainer   for me i knew about club usa in this club u.s  or isn't it is it yeah yeah the the new zealand   version is club u.s and i knew about that um  from my travels over there fishing with you and meeting all those guys um but um yeah  no it was a no-brainer for me as soon as i   got an opportunity i was like no i mean this i  got to be it was unfortunately we haven't been   able to have our conference they have an annual  conference we've had to keep delaying and putting   off which is which was you know yeah we just  put up this year's one off till uh next year's   it's a damn shame because you know  you know what it's like when you get   like-minded people together the power is amazing  amusing yeah you learned much from it yeah and   you did yeah it's it's and it's it's different  like you just realize there's so many differences   in different parts of the country and different  there's i know there now there's major differences   between australia and new zealand and some of  the conversations that i've had with some of your   um club you asked the guys that have taught me  stuff and we've had and i've you know i've still   got relationships with them on facebook and  saw it was flooding over there the other day   let's see so you guys got some rain um but  uh yeah no it's been really really good it's   really it's great it's good networking it's  good to be able to communicate with people   and understand what's what the differences are  different super important i think you know the   whole networking side is super important going  forward you know another thing i think is that   uh you've got to give a forum to get  the voice out there you've got to   you know they've got to contribute to it uh  and and through our you know uh club yuasa   experience in new zealand um you know you get an  understanding of the feel of the market and what   what it's lacking and then you have a mandate and  you can recognize those things that are the most   important for the industry and to try and lobby  whether it be government or whatever it might   be to um assist in getting those things fixed uh  and you know it's it's very important otherwise   you're just floating around hoping somebody else  does something yeah hopefully someone else mixes   on my problems for me exactly but i honestly i  think that's been the motor industry's attitude   in australia for a year fine someone else is  going to come along and fix that problem for   yeah you know that's yeah well it's not my problem  it's not really my problem and collectively we   have such a strong voice we are such a and  i guess that came out a lot of that was was   we could see out of um getting our right  to repair legislation which hopefully   will have a knock-on effect to some of  your guys in new zealand um i don't know   you know like obviously we've got this  great legislation now that's going to   we're going to get access to a lot of information  yes it's going to cost us money but it's   it's going to mean that it's future proofing my  my business and i can tell you it future proves   my business to be able to fit those sorts of  batteries and access that code like we're talking   earlier yeah prior to this it would have locked me  out of selling them a battery i totally agree and   it would have done right so yeah so so that that  was you know credit to everyone that worked on   that i mean i the the leading force that we hear  about here in australia was the double a double a   charging then they led the charge and arca led  the charge to get that through and that was   it was it's been a massive battle it's been a long  battle we were 10 years not saying yeah about 10   years we were we were in spain how long ago were  yeah what was that how many years ago yeah we were   at a capricorn drinks night hang on and it was  the government announced that they were going   to back it and that and we all went we were at a  capricorn thing we dropped the bar dry in spade and it was um and it was it couldn't have been  that long ago you guys just turned 18 not 10 years   ago oh yeah i'm long ago yeah thanks costa you're  the only that's another one away yeah yeah yeah   i used both that time so it's 50 each yeah  yeah no but that was years ago i think it was   yeah four or five years ago maybe at least that  yeah before you and it was and i remember going   wow it's gonna happen fizzle but no we are  there we're there now and it's happening   these buggers have got these manufacturers  have got literally until the until the first   of july next year to pull their finger out so  there's some big changes coming and they'd be   pretty quick they don't have long to go  they've got eight months to go so yeah   it's um but yeah again like i said it's  future-proofed my it makes me feel better about   it means that we've got and well means that i've  got a business that's that's sustainable into the   future yeah so we're going to have to make some  changes hybrid and ev and they're inevitable or   whether it's hybrid ev um or hydrogen or whatever  is coming we've just got to adapt and we're pretty   good at that covert showed us all we're very good  at adapting in this industry totally and i think   we've got quite a few years to go before evs  will have a large impact unless there's massive   government uh legislation changes but uh  you know um we if you look around those   that supply your industry with brake pads and  all the rest of the gear and filters and stuff   um they're telling us that uh they're not even  spending any money on evs or even thinking about   it for the moment it's in the seven year plan uh  and so that's what they are thinking which gives   me confidence too that we've got enough uh you  know ice engines on the road that'll there that   we won't even be a concern till then but there  will come a time there's no doubt about that yeah   well there's going to be a bit of a transition  at some point i mean i i've i've been toying with   well you know tell our listeners and everyone i've  been toying with some ideas about um because we   we are carbon neutral we've got awards for being  being sustainability awards from our local council   and some of the things that i've been toying  with is putting in some charging stations   to give putting in a charging station in our car  park free for our off our solar and we'll put   some tesla power walls in to power that give them  free charging to give them the confidence and the   ability that we are we are we all all of my staff  are ev trained so i want to try to we need to as   they start to buy one because most australians  are two car families i can sort of see this   it's going to be one car is going to be  the four wheel drive for a little while   it's probably going to go and one one maybe the  next one may be electric and then they're going   to uh we'll buy the the hybrid four-wheel drive so  we can go on holidays and go to the snow or go to   or get the range and the second car that we're  gonna have to drop the kids and to drive into   the city is gonna be the ev so to try to capture  that and to give that uh really for us to be we   i can sit there and sell my customers till i'm  blue in the face that i'm ev trained just to try   to give them that confidence to turn our car park  into free ev charging for the customer so they can   bring it here and we can work on it and it can get  charged well after we've worked on it of course   um or whatever we've whatever we're gonna do i  mean obviously it's evs for us is brakes tires   and probably not even brakes really it's  tires tires wipers cabin filters that's   the coolant flush every now and then oh  cool and flush yeah coolant flushes and   and uh and maybe air conditioning well believe it  or not uh in new zealand we're working with an oem   company original equipment manufacturer uh about  a truck small truck to go around and recharge   electric trucks without naming a brand and  everything else uh because they've found that   they they can only do 120 k's and a deep inside  truck and that's getting poked up on the side of   the road it's in the diesel truck to come charge  them up yeah well actually we would charge it up   with battery power believe it or not yeah okay  yeah okay so i mean that's how things change   and if you don't morph and change with that who  knows that might turn into a big industry for us   yeah you got to give it a shot don't you  revolution is important man evolution is   very important i think with every business you  know we've said this before like the ones that   always say oh but that's how it's always been  well that's not a good thing you know you've got   to at least have the things that have changed  you know it's always done that way we've all   why do you do it that way we've always done  it that way horrible great way to think adaption adapt and change i mean i think we're  pretty good at that as i said covered it's been   good for that look at you guys everything's you  won't be flying backwards and forwards to brisbane   for a while that's it not without government i'm  afraid oh we can operate it from auckland we can   do what i do from here so that's fantastic we've  got a massive massively good team in australia   they don't need me i'm just the coordinator you're  going we're going back to but going back to what   you said what you said before one of the biggest  like a few of us is i mean me as a business owner   and one of our other um founding members peter  leondis was was there we had this conversation   on one of our friday night lives which was we all  consciously made the decision that um for like   my wife lee and i made the decision to  said we're keeping our staff at all costs   tonight yeah it was we need them on the other  side of this we don't have a business without them   um and i think i think a lot of that was it was  key you know it's just it's what you got to do   well that probably drums up the question any uh  post covered um predictions due and terms with   business what are we very busy when you require  so there's a bit of a bit of a slow down now for   um of some of the aussie guys here in lockdown do  you have any um predictions for them post lockdown   your post lockdown is going to go off excellent  we you know all that all the indicators we have   and all the people we rub shoulders with in our  industry are confident that it's it's going to go   off the thing is that you know the consumers  bought lots of stuff which is coming into   australia uh causing these facebook um but the  other side of this is once christmas is over and   chinese new year uh which is in february comes  along um the world's going to change you know   and it'll get back to some form of normality  but what's normal now normal now is we've   got lots more caravans lots more boats  lots more motorcycles lots more vehicles   uh and we our population's grown as a consequence  of people coming home and you can't go out of   the country so it's got to be all the numbers  add up to being a very good uh next 12 months   i think i think that's what arya's on the  ground are saying as well i think are very   very much in the same boat yeah that's a really  really good summer summary of all that no one's   going overseas anytime soon like you're not  going to go to i mean you're close bg than we   are we're not going to i mean i think there's more  chance of us going to fiji than wa the way yeah but they're digging a trench they  want to break away from the country   this is just an excuse to actually  put it in place now yeah yeah   um but but i think that i mean realistically i  think someone was saying to you today would you   go to fiji and i'm like no probably not because  i don't end up in a fiji hospital with covered   actively i'm double vaccinated but i still don't i  don't think i feel comfortable going with the kids   or you know like you just don't want to encase  something when you're over there that's a it's a   medical flight home is it not not the flight you  wanted yeah i mean that's not the flight you know   what i i reckon this has taught a lot of aussies  to have a good look at your own country because   she's pretty flat as quietly you don't  need to travel like you did you know   um and i've spoken to people in australia in  new zealand that say oh you always go overseas   do you deal with it and and then you say to them  well um you know what have you seen if your own   country and that's embarrassing it is they just  haven't seen much of it at all and it'll just open   their eyes up to what's in the at their doorstep  yeah and i'm sure that's happened i'm guilty 2052 we might be there i reckon we can drive up  to the border and just have a lot of water then   we can go to the board and  have a look over the wall you're probably right it's  easy to go take a ladder is it like trump he's building no  i didn't say that i didn't say that   you said that not me mate yeah i  remember when i first got this gig   and i went to wa and all the guys were getting  on with me and the aussies from the east coast   were saying how can like you get on so well  with them you said i said because i'm a kiwi so many kiwis here but not only that is that i'm  okay because i'm not from sydney or melbourne   are you listen you're so far east it's  okay yeah anyway i love them they're great no offense to our west australian members yeah  we've got great friends here we'll get in trouble   we are great friends here i love her love the  place yeah i've never been see there you go that's   embarrassing oh there you go yeah there you go  so we're planning to go probably garage now we're   planning to go over there but then obviously yeah  okay pretty hard border there so it's killed yeah   all good we'll get there anyway indeed all  right that was awesome thank you so much that   was excellent yeah thanks for having me really  appreciate it oh no it's really everything was   really insightful there's heaps loads of stuff i  didn't know yeah there you go don't forget to join   our private facebook page if you are an automotive  technician and also subscribe to our youtube   and our podcast channel they are all called the  garage network thanks guys and see you next time

2021-10-03

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