The NASTF Fall 2015 General Meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 4 and the NASTF fall meeting of the board of directors on Thursday, Nov. 5 provided both insight and direction. Both events coincided with the 2015 AAPEX trade show at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas.
The NASTF Fall 2015 General Meeting featured two important discussions: Cybersecurity and the Future of Auto Repair and SAE J2534 version 5.0, followed by brief presentations from NASTF committees including Communications, Vehicle Security, Education, Equipment & Tool, Collision Repair and Service Information. A written summary of the feature presentations will be made available soon on the NASTF website, www.nastf.org.
Donny Seyfer, co-owner of Seyfer Automotive in Wheat Ridge Colo., expertly interviewed two panelists, Milan Patel of IBM and Mahan Sethi of Mahle in the featured session, Cybersecurity and the Future of Auto Repair. Industry expert and respected writer, Bob Chabot, complimented the discussion saying, “I learned much, particularly cybersecurity, which I've a fair knowledge of. That panel helped me crystalize my thinking and affirm some of the measures I felt shops could undertake.”
The second feature SAE J2534 version 5.0 presented collectively by Greg Potter, Executive Manager of the Equipment & Tool Institute, Kurt Immekus of VW, Jill Saunders of Toyota and Bernie Carr of Bosch, revealed both benefits and challenges facing the industry as they adopt version 5.0. While programming speed, device validation and device management are the primary benefits of version 5.0, OEMs face long lead times, modification of hundreds of programming functions, legal implications and complexity of the SAE spec itself as they work to implement it.
Additionally, NASTF board of directors met on Nov. 5, following the Fall 2015 General Meeting. The board members gained insight from staff on the drivers of NASTF’s rapid growth in the past year and staff gained an appreciation for the board’s strategic priorities. A key directional element of this and every Fall meeting is discussion and adoption of the coming year’s budget.
