June 2018

S o I’m off out again. “Twice in two months Arthur? Is it your birthday?” I hear you cry. Well no, but I do need to exit the workshop occasionally, and this time I’m off to Automechanika Birmingham! Considering my life-long devotion to this industry I am sure the UK’s biggest trade show will provide plenty to tickle me. I will be informed and educated as well as getting a giggle or two. I am sure I will find out about plenty of new technology and methods, and as for the entertainment part, I am bound to find a way to disagree with someone. Where’s the fun if you can’t have a professional argument every now and then? Seriously though, it’s important to keep ahead of new developments. When you are busy under the bonnet every day it is far too easy to become complacent. If you can fix one, you can fix them all, right? Well maybe not, if you haven’t kept up with the way things are going. EVs, hybrids, new regulations, new products etc – it all has an impact. I didn’t get where I am by standing still and trading off what I already know. I moved with the times…Hey, no laughing, it’s true! I’m a great believer in fitting in training and learning where I can. I try to keep up with the latest developments, read the technical articles from the experts in Aftermarket, and make sure I go to live events. I encourage my boys to do the same. Teabreak devotees with long memories will recall I was at Automechanika Birmingham in 2017. I found the many seminars extremely useful and illuminating, and I will be making sure to go to as many as I can this year. It’s one thing to read about something, but seeing it in real life can be so useful. Plus I get to ask the speaker a lot of awkward questions about their specialist area. It’s not that I don’t believe them, I just want to make sure I understand. As I mentioned, I move with the times, but I don’t always find it that easy… Oh great, so you are sceptical when I say I can move with the times, but when I say can be a tricky process for me, you believe me without question? Typical. Anywho, there are hundreds of businesses that work with the sector that will be at the show, so there will be new products and pieces of equipment for me to peruse, and I hope you will be doing the same as me. Just make sure you wear comfortable shoes, as there will be a lot of walking. Don’t forget the free breakfast voucher either, and don’t even think about eating the last bacon buttie before I get there! See you at the show, if I don’t see you first! SHOW AND TELL 66 AFTERMARKET JUNE 2018 TEABREAK: MEMOIRS OF A MOTOR MECHANIC www.aftermarketonline.net