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For some reason, it suddenly struck me in the middle of the AASA Vision Conference held this week in Chicago. The event, exclusively for members of AASA, also is the group’s annual membership meeting and a forum for the exploration of many of the issues facing today’s aftermarket suppliers.

The one-day event featured a salesforce panel that explored the rep system; a repeat performance from economist Erik Hurst, professor of economics from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business; a full look at the Opti-Cat e-catalog program; and exceptional insight into the Firestone/Tires Plus/Expert Tire/Wheel Works service center programs from Larry Magee, chairman, president and CEO of Bridgestone Retail Operations. All the presentations were well received and gave the attendees real deliverables to take back to their various organizations.

Somewhere in the midst of Magee’s presentation, somewhat in passing, he noted the rapid changes in vehicle technology, featuring a number of the most modern designs including hybrids and full-electrics — cars that are already in the showrooms and on the streets, cars that will multiply in the years ahead and begin to trickle into our bays over the course of the next few years.

For me, this is an exciting proposition, as we begin to take our technological talents and apply them to the challenge of building personal transportation vehicles that free us from the grip of world oil supply politics, as well as address the need for environmentally-positive vehicles that protect the planet for our children. These are exciting times, watching us move slowly but surely away from the 100-plus year reign of the internal combustion power plant to those that make us more efficient and less polluting.

But, in the midst of this ethereal moment, it began to dawn on me that we are already behind the curve in getting today’s technicians ready to take on these new vehicles — with complex computer-managed systems and diagnostic challenges we haven’t even thought about yet.

“Hell,” I thought. “We seem to have just gotten shop personnel on top of the technologies that the various Clean Air Acts of the 1990s and 1980s have brought to bear over the last three decades. How are we going to get them to the next level?”

It is that lurking distraction that left me with an unsettled feeling for the remainder of the day, taking in great presentations with one part of my brain while another section ruminated over the seemingly-impossible task that will rock our industry to its deepest foundations.

The strength of this industry has always been built on the proposition that, whatever is on the road, the independent aftermarket shop technician can diagnose it, get the parts and get the repair executed in short order. Maybe the technology will make itself simple to diagnose, but I think we’re going to need more than that type of faith to solve part of the equation in the decades ahead.

Fundamentally, it is going to take a level of cooperation between car makers and the independent aftermarket that we have never seen before. And, more importantly, it is going to take a deep commitment from aftermarket suppliers — the men and women who were in the room with me at the Vision Conference.

After a good night’s sleep, I am less distracted than I was when this struck me the day before. My faith in our ingenuity, resourcefulness and commitment to quality repair service leaves me optimistic that we can meet the challenge.

Of course, the process will be fascinating to watch.