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During the first year of new vehicle ownership, the consumer is likely to rely upon the new car dealer for repair as part of a service and warranty agreement. After the first year, automotive service and repair more and more involves the convenience of aftermarket professionals. In 1990, the median number of different parts stocked by the typical parts distributor warehouse was 68,500 to service a vehicle population with an average age of 7.8 years. This vehicle population is expected to grow to 200,000,000 by the year 2001, and the part numbers necessary for repair will grow to over 148,000. Automotive aftermarket technicians need service repair information for each part stocked. Unlike the information flow to new-car dealerships, the information flow to automotive aftermarket technicians is uncoordinated. There is no single source of supply. For the industry to provide quality repair service, information will have to more closely follow the part.

How do you measure the effectiveness of a training program? This question is similar to one people ask about the effectiveness of advertising. The story goes that all advertising is only 50% effective. The problem is finding out which 50% that is. Dana Corporation identified a problem that affected engine part sales. Lack of quality machinist training was critical to the growth and expansion of machine shops. Fewer machine shops mean fewer parts sold. After a needs analysis was completed, the Dana solution was to offer their customers machine shop training. Measuring the effectiveness of this training was accomplished in several ways. Paper and pencil evaluations (smile sheets), follow-up telephone surveys and skill mastery exercises were a few of the methods used to measure the training program. The difficulty in obtaining evidence was partially attributed to the fact that customers were trained and not Dana employees.