Last June, Ollie Barr spoke to Drew Stinton, a technical coach at Shell. They discussed what a TNC such as Shell can get out of attending a show such as Automechanika and how it positively affects him along with other staff members.
To start, Drew was asked why it is important for Shell to exhibit at Automechanika. ‘So today we’re here at Automechanika 2023. We’re here to do a showcase all the workshop solutions that we are able to offer to independent workshop and business owners. We’re also here as well to network with like-minded entrepreneurs to offer solutions to end customers. Our Automechanika 2023 experience so far has been pretty fantastic. We’ve managed to meet a really diverse bunch of ladies and gentlemen coming through the garage to see what we’ve been up to and what we can offer in terms of workshop solutions as well. So really, that’s a nice mix along with that it’s nice to see some of those young emerging talent as well that’s coming through. So, we’ve managed to speak to students that are here to learn about what oils can do, the benefits, the basics of oils but also as well, what other manufacturers here on the stands today can answer to the industry.’ He stressed.
He continued, ‘This is such an exciting place to be because it’s bringing us all different diverse technologies together, we’re able to showcase basically what Shell are able to bring to the workshop solutions and independent workshops. Theres also more motor factors, independent garages, more types of products we’re able to provide like car or engine oils and, transmissions gear oils. I want to get to listen to some infield problems and get to hear first-hand, what the challenges that independent workshops face are and how we can try and help mitigate these issues in the future.’
Next, we asked him what he would consider a success after the three days to which he responded confidently, ‘Success for me today, would be going away learning more about the industry, how the industry is changing. Also taking on board, and feeding back into the business some of the challenges independent workshops are facing. Whether it be product supply, product differentiation or, new products that are coming to the market, not only from Shell, but also from our competitors to get some competitor insights and learn from those as well.’
Finally, we questioned what the main thing he learnt was along with what Shell were going to do with the information that they gained from their competitors and customers. He put across a point stating, ‘So, the biggest thing for me that I’ve learned so far is just how involved the independent workshop businesses, and the light duty space. So whether it be body shop or repair specialists, lubricant suppliers other services or, tire alignment. Just the amount of technology that is present, but also evolving day by day and obviously, will go into electric vehicles and hybridisation and how that’s going to change the landscape, as well as the future of the end consumer is really fascinating to me. The plans for the next 12 months are to basically feed back into the business section that we have learnt today, we’ve planned to speak to a lot of individuals, collect business cards and, network. We’ve got a lot of leads to follow up on. People are interested in using Shells, lubricants so we have a team of territory managers here on site, which will now go out and visit these garages with our motor factor that we use, ‘Euro Car Parts’ to see whether we can part these workshops solutions.’
