The effort is getting bigger and bigger”

The effort is getting bigger and bigger”

Motor vehicle industry: Congratulations on your new position in the federal guild. What are the biggest construction sites in your area?

Manfred Kubik:Apart from the topic that is currently overshadowing everything, the famous C-word, the shortage of skilled workers is certainly a huge issue. Now, as a well-known cynic, you can say that it will solve itself because a few people will close anyway. Like Toyota Frey recently. Some good people suddenly became free, even if some of them were tied to a brand.

So you expect further company closures or even bankruptcies?

This is coffee brewing, but it is to be feared. It's also about early retirement. That one or the other will say: “I won’t do that to myself anymore” and will close now instead of in two years. But some will also be forced to close. This won't be so bad in the repair sector, I think it will affect smaller dealers more. They have barely earned anything so far because the margins on new car sales are extremely low. And now there’s Covid and the shrinking new car market. The car trade therefore has a double problem. 

In theory, this also affects the workshops, right?

So the theory: If fewer cars are sold today, fewer will be in the workshops in three years - I don't see it that way. We don't have a demand market, we have a replacement market. If you don't buy a new car, you'll just drive a used car. Or his old car, then he comes back to the workshop. Of course there will be a certain break. If there is a household in which one person is on short-time work and the other no longer has a job at all, then the car may be the first to go. The car is no longer as sacred a cow as it once was 20 years ago in Austria. 

Back to the skills shortage...

Yes, there is definitely a lack of offspring. You have to pick up your parents and grandparents here. They have to influence their children in the direction that they want to learn a craft. The status of the craftsman must be raised. We have revised the master's examination - it is currently being assessed - and I have to say that it is really very complex these days, with different modules and increasing requirements. People are encouraged to hold the master's title because it strengthens the status of the craft. Maybe the current crisis is even a certain advantage for the trades, because many people realize that they need craftsmen after all. And it can also be open. 

Driving assistance systems have a lasting negative impact on business. How do you deal with it?

So I'm not so sure about that. I can only speak for the metropolitan area. It was like this: When the Parktronic systems came onto the market, I was afraid that it would be bad for us because we wouldn't need many bumpers anymore. However, it then became apparent that the increased security was apparently converted into a willingness to take risks. But of course, the various modern systems with lane departure warning systems will help to avoid accidents. However, we hardly have any of those in the city. It's not so much that I'm afraid that business will decline, but rather that I realize that it's a challenge. That we as craftsmen have to repair these systems and bring them back to life after we have previously expanded them. As an independent workshop, you also have to master all systems - that will be a huge challenge, but it also makes the business interesting. 

Will classic screwdrivers no longer exist in the future because digitalization requires different skills?

I believe both and. We still need the person whose work, to put it bluntly, ends when the bumper is removed. But of course we also need electronic and technical understanding. Because the moment we remove an exterior mirror and then turn on the ignition, the car has already set a fault. You then have to show the car that it will automatically close the mirrors when you lock it. A huge topic is windshields, and to this day I still don't understand why it became a free trade. That's crazy! There are many sensors for autonomous driving in the windshield. If it is used incorrectly, it can be dangerous. We need in-depth knowledge of this, otherwise accidents can occur. This is a huge issue that we have as coachbuilders. We also have to convey to the workshops how important this is. 

Are there still deficits here?

It always needs to be calibrated, but I'm afraid that's not always the case in practice. According to the motto: If nothing is displayed on the dashboard, then it's fine. However, it's not that easy either. With some brands, such as Volvo, you have to drive for two hours until the calibration is completed. Who does this and how do you charge for it? The effort is getting bigger and bigger. 

Would it make sense to rethink things - away from everyone doing everything and towards more collaborations between different specialists? Or even that this equipment is purchased and rented out by the guild?

I've been thinking about a rental system like this for calibration equipment for a long time. But someone has to be familiar with it and you need flat surfaces, there can't be any iron beams in the hall and so on. So I'm afraid that it will fail due to the complexity of the systems. Theoretically, it would be enough if we had a workshop where we had these devices and also someone who knew what they were doing. And then you can go there to calibrate. The only problem is: That might be possible in Vienna, but how do you do it in Lower Austria, for example? If someone has to drive from Gmünd or Bruck to St. Pölten, it takes an hour or an hour and a half. But I also fundamentally believe that in the future not everyone will be able to do everything, nor will they have to be able to do everything. You just have to know who to turn to. It is often better to use a colleague. But even there the Viennese talk easily; in the furthest valley in Tyrol the world looks different.