Women vehicle builders are on the rise, and successive generations are now flexing their garage prowess in growing numbers. That fact was especially demonstrated in the recent SEMA Businesswomen’s Network (SBN) All-Female ’21 Ford Bronco Wildtrak Build, unveiled at the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas.
The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund awarded $297,000 to 119 individuals this year. The financial awards include scholarships for current students and loan-forgiveness awards to employees of SEMA-member companies.
Companies in the 21st century enjoy a wide range of competitive advantages that were unavailable to previous generations of businesses. The use of the internet to automate ordering and billing, to manage inventory or to process payrolls can increase productivity, reduce waste and maximize efficiencies across departments.
The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund awarded $296,000 to 119 individuals this year. The financial awards include scholarships for current students and loan-forgiveness awards to employees of SEMA-member companies.
Merriam-Webster defines micromanagement as managing “especially with excessive control or attention to details,” and while it may be easy to define, its presence in an office environment may be difficult to pinpoint because its presence can take many forms: poor communications, a risk-averse workforce, projects that never seem to get completed in a timely manner and—perhaps of most concern to a successful business—a high employee turnover rate. However well-intended, what we generally refer to as micromanagement can have a corrosive effect on an office culture and can hinder efficiency and productivity.
If there’s a topic that’s a greater subject of controversy in the automotive world at present than future tech, one would be hard-pressed to name it. By “future tech,” we’re referring to the increased production and popularity of electric and alternative-fuel vehicles; the explosive growth of advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) over the past decade and a half; how both of those market trends are influencing consumer behavior and driving the development of semi- and even fully autonomous vehicle (AV) propulsion systems; and how these developments will potentially impact the specialty-equipment aftermarket in the not-too-distant future.
The SEMA High School Vehicle Build Program aims to introduce high-school students to the automotive customization hobby and lifestyle through real-world, hands-on educational experiences. This year, five high-school auto-shop programs across the United States participated in the program. The schools customized five ’96–’06 model-year Jeep Wrangler TJs during their spring semesters with the help of aftermarket industry companies that sponsored the builds through product donations and scheduled visits.
Among SEMA’s chief goals as a trade association is working to ensure the industry’s future, in part by expanding youth engagement programs. The goal is to interest young talent in car culture, and ultimately to fill a variety of emerging technological, skilled, creative and administrative positions. A number of those efforts also involve collaborating on initiatives conceived and operated by outside organizations, with SEMA serving as a catalyst.
SEMA’s education team has a new initiative to connect automotive aftermarket companies with higher-education institutions. Through this grassroots approach to reaching students who are beginning to look for careers, SEMA aims to introduce the vast number of job functions available in the automotive aftermarket industry. There are a number of opportunities for companies to have a presence in their local schools and communities through SEMA by participating in career fairs, holding student interview days on campus, hosting students for a facility tour or giving a presentation in a classroom setting.
The SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund awarded a total of $168,000 to 61 individuals this year. That includes 50 SEMA scholarships presented to current students and 11 loan-forgiveness awards to employees of SEMA-member companies.