If you want to know what the future holds you can either risk a look into a crystal ball or visit the Future Workshop 4.0 in Esslingen am Neckar. There, an innovation showcase, event center and a forum for debate for the entire industry has been created in the beginning of 2022. On around 450 square meters, the Future Workshop 4.0 shows what the car dealership and the automotive business of the future might look like.
Many of the innovations shown on site already exist, as the Future Workshop is not meant to be an aloof innovation museum but a place where employees of car dealerships and workshops - from trainees to managing directors - receive guidance to navigate through technological transformation.
The facility is operated according to the motto: try, test and compare.
MAHLE Aftermarket has been an innovation partner of the Future Workshop 4.0 from the very beginning. Along the way, MAHLE supports automotive businesses in preparing for technological transformation processes. A number of service devices from MAHLE are available for this purpose in the workshop of the future: Diagnostic equipment, the Digital ADAS 2.0 calibration system for driver assistance systems, the EmissionPRO 180 exhaust particle counter, or the OzonePRO for hygienic cleaning of vehicle interiors. A matter of fact is: only with modern workshop equipment can workshops develop new areas of business and position themselves for the future in all aspects of the new drive technologies.
At the end of November last year, the second Innovation Week took place in the Future Workshop. Topics were ADAS calibration and diagnosis / repair on HV vehicles, but also new business models for workshops, digital customer communication at the P.O.S or digital workshop management.
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Naturally, MAHLE took the opportunity to present the advantages of its digital calibration tool for driver assistance systems. Here, the participants of the Innovation Week were particularly impressed by the speed and the largely automated process of calibration.
In the video you can see how calibration works with ADAS 2.0:
In the forum on the topic of diagnosis / repair on HV vehicles, MAHLE gave participants a glimpse into the future. Since last year, MAHLE has been the first supplier worldwide to make battery diagnostics on electric vehicles possible for independent multi-brand workshops.
The E-Scan feature of the TechPRO diagnostic device detects all existing error codes in an average of 30 seconds and stores the data logs locally. But that's not all.
MAHLE's E-Healt system will follow in the near future with a new device that can diagnose a vehicle's traction batteries via the charging plug. Therefore the condition of a battery can be classified in relation to all other recorded batteries of the same type in the fleet. In addition, E-Health generates a forecast of the remaining expected lifetime of a vehicle.
Curious? In the latest TechTalk with FabuCar, engineering specialist Henrike explaind battery diagnostics with the MAHLE TechPRO.
The Future Workshop is also planning further innovation weeks in 2023 on important topics for the automotive repair market. A visit is therefore always a good idea and worth the time.