business backgrounder | education & workforce
Happens all the time, says Albrecht.
T h e i n s t r u c t o r s i n S h o r e l i n e ’s
Professional Automotive Training
Center-Dealer Training Academy
(PATC) teach students how to connect
the intellectual with the practical.
“Shoreline instructors will spend six
to eight hours next to their students,
and they’re not just checking items
off a list; they’re doing it because of
their willingness to work hard for that
individual’s success,” says Albrecht,
who will employ two Shoreline students
full-time during the summer. “This is
real life, on the shop floor with a paying
customer’s car. When you have that
kind of commitment, there’s no way not
to be excited about that.”
Albrecht’s is just one of dozens of
Sam Flaxman, a Honda student in the Professional Automotive Training Center at Shoreline Community
dealerships from Bellingham to Olympia
College, chuckles over comments from instructor Bob Biesiedzinski on caliper technique for measuring
that work with Shoreline’s PATC
an engine block cylinder bore.
program, where, for nearly 30 years,
of Labor, the median pay for automotive technicians was about
students have been able to obtain an applied associate’s degree while $38,000 annually in 2015; in Washington state, the average salary
pursuing automotive training and certification in one of four factory- is closer to $50,000.
sponsored programs: General Motors, Mopar (Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat), Training an automotive technician involves a series of parts
Honda/Acura and Toyota/Lexus. (Renton Technical College offers a and service modules — the number and depth of which vary by
Ford-specific program, the only other factory-sponsored program in manufacturer. Shoreline students complete a portion while they’re
Puget Sound).
enrolled but then finish the rest over subsequent years on the job.
At Shoreline, students enroll in eight academic quarters, rotating Still, that saves the time and expense of training a new hire, says
time in the classroom with time at area dealerships, where they Jason Takiyoshi, service manager of Acura of Seattle Southcenter.
work throughout the program and — assuming they remain in good
“A brand-new technician could take years to get what these
standing — after they graduate.
students get in two.
The PATC program is home to
From a business side
regional training centers for the
of things, it makes
program’s partners, Toyota, GM,
sense to reduce
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Hyundai
training costs for new
and Volvo, which hold periodic
employees,” Takiyoshi
classes for managers and employees
says. “I’m a firm
— Michael Boehm, director, Shoreline Community College,
on site. Snap-on Tools and Hunter
believer in growing
Professional Automotive Training Center-Dealer Training Academy
Engineering are partners and
my employees. If
help support the students. Lining
you stick with this
the parking lot outside are more than 100 vehicles donated by the program, you can build your people.”
manufacturers, all awaiting their time on the shop floor.
Some of those people have stayed with the same dealer for
The college’s partnerships with dealers are critical to the their entire careers. Chuck Merritt, service manager at Speedway
program’s success, says Michael Boehm, the program’s director. Chevrolet, says he’s hired every Shoreline student technician who
By partnering with the manufacturers, students learn on the latest has interned there since 1989. One of his first student technicians
equipment and technology.
is now a service advisor, using his shop knowledge to work with
“Our customers are dealers, and our products are our students. customers at the front counter. Merritt said he sent his own son
It’s imperative that we put out great products for our customers,” through the Shoreline program; his son remains in the automotive
Boehm says.
industry.
An aging workforce in a steadily growing industry means Manufacturers often start recruiting technicians in high school.
technicians are always in demand. According to the U.S. Department
“Our customers are dealers, and our products are
our students. It’s imperative that we put out great
products for our customers.”
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