The Tire Industry Association (TIA) reached two milestones in 2015. For the first time in its 95-year history, TIA has 8,000 members. TIA also trained its 100,000th tire technician.
The association announced the milestones at the 2015 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas.
The 8,000th TIA member is The Hybrid Shop LLC, network of dealers servicing hybrid-electric vehicles.
“The Hybrid Shop’s decision to join TIA came from our desire to continually provide value to our network of dealers and their customers,” says Carey Mellor, vice president of sales.
“TIA is a well-respected organization providing services, educational opportunities, and power in numbers that our dealer partners can use to grow their businesses. We are happy to be part of this growing organization and look forward to developing relationships within this diverse network of industry professionals.”
TIA delivers value to its members through training and member benefit programs, according to Roy Littlefield, executive vice president.
“Additionally, the industry is realizing the positive impact of our government affairs efforts. It’s been a very active year on Capitol Hill and I think that some of the increase in membership can be attributed to our work on the legislative front,” he says.
TIA also has trained its 100,000th tire technician since beginning training programs in 1997. Franklin Clark, a mechanic with Black’s Tire Service Inc. in Whiteville, N.C, earned his CTS 300 Level Certification in mid-October and helped TIA to reach this significant milestone. The CTS course was taught by Certified CTS Instructor, William Humphrey, who is also a Black’s Tire employee.
The 100,000 milestone includes all employees who were formally trained through TIA’s programs in automotive, commercial, earthmover, farm and industrial tire service. The figure includes technicians certified through classroom and hands-on instruction and technicians who completed basic technician training using the traditional workbook/video format. It does not include those trained using TIA’s online university.
“We are amazed by the number of companies that have made safety a priority in recent years. It is incredibly rewarding to know that our training is saving lives each and every day,” says Kevin Rohlwing, TIA’s senior vice president of training.
“However, there are still thousands of untrained technicians on the job and that’s just an accident or a lawsuit waiting to happen. We want to encourage all tire service providers to implement some type of technician training program to ensure their employees can make it home safely at the end of the day.”
TIA will be visiting six cities in 2016 throughout the year for the Automotive Tire Service (ATS) Advanced Instructor Training Tour. Exact dates for each location are not yet confirmed but the cities are Charlotte, N.C., Denver, Baltimore, Seattle, Chicago and Houston. In addition, a class for women only will be in Denver in October.
For more information on TIA’s educational programs, please visit www.tireindustry.org or contact Christine Hoogenboom at [email protected] or 800-876-8273 ext. 106.
