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Does Our Industry Have Five Years Left?

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A Few Words With John Waraniak John Waraniak, SEMA’s vice president of vehicle technology, has tinkered with machines and building fast toys since he was a kid growing up in Detroit. Waraniak is equally at home in an aerospace skunkworks in Pico Rivera, California, a boardroom in Mumbai, India, on a motocross track in Buchanan, Michigan, or on the Vehicle Technology Center stage at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas. His love for racing, performance and systems engineering have led him to master’s degrees at the University of Illinois and Caltech as well as executive careers in the stealth aircraft, automotive racing and action sports industries. He was eventually recruited as SEMA’s “chief engineer” in May 2006.

SEMA News—April 2013 

VEHICLE TECHNOLOGY
By SEMA News Staff

Does Our Industry Have Five Years Left?

A Few Words With John Waraniak

Dick Scritchfield

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“If you haven’t already bolted a tape deck in that machine of yours, man, you’re either living outside of the ‘in’ group or have never heard an automotive stereo tape player in action,” he said in his opening paragraph. “Stereo might be great at home, but in a car—it’s something else. Just to drive along while listening to your favorite music coming at you from all directions is what most stereo owners refer to as the new surrounding sound.”

SEMA News—April 2013

HERITAGE

By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Whether CEO or Tech Geek: Drive Technology to Drive Sales

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No matter what your role in your company or your knowledge of today’s business tech tools, everyone is striving to increase sales. This issue of SEMA News is loaded with info on great business technology that will help you do just that. One biz tech system all SEMA members should be aware of by now is the SEMA Data Co-op (SDC), and we have big news—a new tool to help members get started and maximize product sales.

SEMA News—April 2013

CHRIS KERSTING

Magazines Inform Readers About Scholarship Awards

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Recognizing the challenge that SEMA-member companies have in finding well-qualified employees, SEMA works with students to support and prepare them for careers in the automotive or auto-parts industries. One such effort is the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund.

SEMA News—March 2013

REQUIRED READING

Magazines Inform Readers About Scholarship Awards

Recognizing the challenge that SEMA-member companies have in finding well-qualified employees, SEMA works with students to support and prepare them for careers in the automotive or auto-parts industries. One such effort is the SEMA Memorial Scholarship Fund.

LTAA and SEI Launch Product Training Center

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The Light Truck Accessory Alliance (LTAA) and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) recently launched an innovative, online product-training program, the SEMA Product Training Center. This new joint program allows manufacturers to efficiently and effectively provide product training to hundreds or even thousands of resellers throughout the industry for what they might spend to reach only a handful using traditional means. LTAA helped develop this web-based training solution to complement each manufacturer’s existing training while keeping costs down.

SEMA Member News—March/April 2013

LTAA and SEI Launch Product Training Center

 

LTAA and SEI have developed an affordable, online product-training resource. SEMA-member manufacturers may purchase 15- or 30-minute training modules, while SEMA-member and non-member resellers may utilize the training free of charge.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <div class=

Product Support Through Installation Instructions

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As a manufacturer, you invest a lot of time and money into bringing new products to market. There’s the concept for a great new hot-rod product itself followed by research and design time, prototypes, testing and, eventually, the manufacturing. Immediately following that process is the marketing side of the equation, where expenses can really add up. There are packaging costs, promotion and introduction, catalogs, literature and advertising dollars. By the time a new product ships, most companies have a substantial investment at stake and plan (or hope) for a return on the investment in the near future.

SEMA Member News—March/April 2013

Product Support Through Installation Instructions

By Todd Ryden

Submit Your Nominations for SEMA’s Hall of Fame

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Each year, SEMA encourages its members to submit nominations for the SEMA Hall of Fame. The SEMA Hall of Fame was established to honor outstanding persons in the automotive specialty-equipment industry whose creativity, dignity, integrity, industriousness and accomplishments on a national basis have enhanced the stature of and significantly contributed to the industry’s growth. In fact, a rule of thumb to qualify could be the following question: “If this person had never existed, how would SEMA and the industry be different?”

SEMA News—March 2013

INDUSTRY NEWS

YEN Fellowship Program Participants Gain Experience

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The SEMA Young Executives Network (YEN) Fellowship program helped to fund travel expenses to the 2012 SEMA Show for 10 member-company employees under the age of 40. The participants were asked to take part in a number of specific Show events—including the SEMA Awards Banquet, YEN Reception and SEI education seminars—focused on developing their business skills and expanding their professional networks. Nine of them provided a few words to SEMA Member News about their experiences.

SEMA Member News—March/April 2013  

YEN Fellowship Program Participants Gain Experience

 

Participants in the Young Executives Network Fellowship program at the 2012 SEMA Show included (front row, from left) Enrique Gameros, Collin Gentry, Bryant Sanchez, Rory Connell, Sheri Koger, Rick Cole, Eric Croomer, (back row) Christopher Harubin and Bjorn Cannon.</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </div> <div class=

Midnight Oil

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The pits at an NHRA drag race today are as much a part of the show as they are a place for work. They’re a maze of 18-wheelers, easy-ups and souvenir booths, where hawking T-shirts and collecting autographs go hand in hand with rebuilding engines in a tense but well-orchestrated effort to make the next round.

SEMA News—March 2013

HERITAGE
By Drew Hardin
Photo Courtesy Petersen Archive

Considering Mexico

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Strong Growth and Fatter Pocketbooks Warrant a Closer Look at the Potential in Latin America’s Second-Largest Economy Automotive specialty-equipment manufacturers might want to take a look at selling into Mexico, the second-largest export market for the United States. According to the International Monetary Fund, 85% of the world’s growth—and new customers—over the next five years are located outside the United States, and our neighbor to the South is an increasingly interesting market.

SEMA News—March 2013

INTERNATIONAL
By Linda Spencer

Considering Mexico

Strong Growth and Fatter Pocketbooks Warrant a Closer Look at the Potential in Latin America’s Second-Largest Economy

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