Last weekend was held the Automotive Recyclers Association 69th annual convention and expo, at Kissimmee in Florida. Diane Chaîné and Mathieu Godon, respectively president and I.T. manager at Progi, were present for the three days of the event.
They were not the only Canadians on site. Around ten Ontarian recyclers, as well as some recyclers from the Maritimes, Quebec and British Colombia were also attending; Canada was well represented! In fact, it was in Canada that the Green Recycled Parts TM notion emerged: a concept that the ARA adopted and integrated into its marketing for the last few years.
By splitting up, Diane and Mathieu were able to cover about fifteen conferences, from the half hundred offered. There was a wide array of subjects, from new vehicle technologies to training, marketing, sales, customer service, safety in the workplace, etc. In addition to conferences and ARA committee meetings, many exhibitors were present at the trade show and social activities were planned to facilitate networking between participants.
This convention allies auto recycling best practices and the evolution of the industry. This podium allows recyclers to share their experience and recommendations, in order to strenghten the industry as a whole. To this end, the Association launched the ARA University, which offers quality accessible training. What’s more, they are also working on standardizing components included in assemblies, to unify their processing.
So, what grabbed the attention of our two teammates?
Mathieu Godon: “For me, it was seeing the importance of the web in subjects and issues discussed. The auto recycling industry is ever more technological.”
Diane Chaîné: “I admired the generous involvement of ARA members… Many conferences were held by recyclers themselves during the weekend and it made the event that much more authentic.”
They plan to discuss last weekend’s subjects with recyclers. They both want to share with them trends on the presence of the web in the industry, emerging auto technologies and sales techniques and recommendations offered by americain auto recycling centers.
It was an inspiring experience, which will play a role in our developments for the auto industry.
