Boosting auto body industry

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This article was published 17/10/2023 (1024 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Virtual reality — it’s where the auto body industry is turning to combat labour shortages.

“We’re trying to show that our industry is cool,” said Rob Boyce.

He’s masterminded the upcoming Collision Olympics, a first of its kind event in Winnipeg happening during an auto body trade show.

On the day — Oct. 27 — roughly 170 high school students will be introduced to virtual reality painting and welding simulators.

There will be prizes, like iPads, for youths with the best painting and welding outcomes. An electric racetrack will be nearby, as will body shop demonstrations.

Speakers will highlight career trajectories in the sector.

“Our industry is, for lack of a better term, a dying breed,” said Boyce, the owner of Signature Motors Collision Centre.

He’s struggled to find staff in the past. The average shop could use three extra workers, an Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba survey found.

It’s a seemingly constant issue, Boyce noted: he has worried about labour shortages since 2009 when he became owner of Signature Motors.

“It’s only gotten worse and COVID didn’t help,” Boyce said. “It’s an aging industry.”

The Canadian government predicts 7,300 auto body technician jobs will open nationally by 2031 with just 6,200 people to fill the positions, according to its online job bank.

“It’s a constant competition out there,” said MaryAnn Kempe, Birchwood Automotive Group’s chief human resources officer. “The war for talent in Red Seal technicians and in collision centres, we’re all experiencing that — both today and in the future.”

Birchwood representatives will speak to students about working in the industry while at Polo Park Canad Inns, the event’s location.

“That’s really exciting for us, to get in front of 170 students,” Kempe said, noting it could shape kids’ career paths.

Birchwood offers scholarships and apprenticeships so talent will “come back to us,” Kempe said.

“You have to get really creative,” she added.

Attracting youth involves breaking industry stereotypes, said Denis Cloutier, executive director of the Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba.

“We need to get the correct information out there about what it’s like to work in a body shop,” he noted. “Any time you see a body shop on television, it’s really not a place you’d want to work.”

The association sent Collision Olympic invitations to Tec Voc, St. James Collegiate and Selkirk and Steinbach high schools.

“We don’t always know what’s out there until someone introduces us to it,” said Len Metro, Tec Voc High School’s heavy trades department head.

He’s bringing a group of students. The pupils learn auto technology skills like brakes and suspension — different than auto body, but related enough that youths may take interest in the auto body industry, Metro said.

Enrolment in Tec Voc’s automotive technology program hasn’t waned. Even so, there’s a “huge skilled workers shortage” across the trades, Metro noted.

At least 20 booths will be set up at the event, ready to network with students, Boyce said. Red River College Polytechnic will be among them, promoting their trade programs.

The post-secondary’s collision repair and refinishing program has seen consistent enrolment over the last decade — 27 graduates annually, Emily Doer, the college’s communications manager, wrote in an email.

The college is working to create a third cohort to “support interest,” she added.

“It can be a very lucrative trade, especially with the problems we’re having with staffing,” Boyce said. “Anybody that’s in high school that’s looking to make money quick, if they put effort into it, they can be making very good money.”

Body technician apprentices start at $17.60 per hour, working up to $26.78 an hour during their final level of apprenticeship, according to data from Cloutier.

Painter apprentices earn $17.60 and $22.95 per hour during their level one and two apprenticeships, respectively, Cloutier shared.

As of June 2022, 44,851 auto repair and maintenance businesses operated across the country, Statistics Canada found.

“We will definitely be having more and more difficulties with employment… if the young people don’t enter the trades,” remarked Daphne Roller, assistant manager of Penner Auto Body.

In the trade show’s evening, auto body shops will compete in estimations and repairs. It’s a way to draw people to the trade show, according to Boyce.

Eighteen shops have signed up; two spots remained as of Monday afternoon. Applicants can contact the Automotive Trades Association of Manitoba.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com