AGSC and its National Windshield Repair Division (NWRD) recently welcomed auto glass technicians, business owners and managers to Ontario, California, for training and education.
AGSC and the NWRD held technician certification boot camps for auto glass replacement and repair. AGSC also hosted an educational session for auto glass business owners and managers to help them find employees, “future-proof” their businesses and learn about the organization’s offerings. Between these sessions, attendees enjoyed a lunch sponsored by SIKA.
“SIKA is proud to support the Auto Glass Safety Council with a special luncheon at the AGSC February gathering in Ontario, California,” says Mark OBrion, regional sales manager, aftermarket, for SIKA Corporation. “Thanks to the Auto Glass Safety Council for working to advance the education of our industry as well as the safety of vehicle occupants.”
Jeff Olive lead the replacement boot camp.Jeff Olive, AGSC’s director of quality and training, led the replacement session. Korey Gobin and Derek Jones, of AGSC Associate Member companies Delta Kits and GlasWeld, respectively, led the repair session. AGSC president Jacques Navant and chair Deb Levy led the owners/managers session.
Daniel Jaimes attended the boot camps. He works at the family business his father founded, Supreme Auto Glass in Jurupa Valley, California.
“Dad started in 2005 and I’ve been with the company since I was 10-years-old,” he says. “So, I’ve been in the industry for 15 years now.”
Jaimes attended the training with other members of his family, including his father. Despite working with auto glass for so long, he says it’s important to always keep learning.
“Continuing our education has always been important, especially as the industry develops,” he says. “So we just want to stay ahead of the game [by getting more training].”
The Jaimes family attended the boot camps together.Andrew Weaver, owner of Auto Glass Kings in Orange County, California, was AGSC accredited as a technician when he worked for other companies. Now that he owns his own business it was important to him to be certified under his own business name.
He said he was eager to refresh his own knowledge, and he brought his employee, the other technician at Auto Glass Kings, to be certified, too.
“It’s a good reminder that people’s safety are in our hands and people’s lives are in our hands,” he says. “We’re not just installing glass, but our service protects people. That’s why I’m here to get certified.”
Both Jaimes and Weaver left the training sessions with new insights. Jaimes says Olive’s replacement session highlighted the windshield’s key role in vehicle structural integrity. Weaver says that, thanks to Olive’s training, he learned you always have to use urethane with a gasket set.
Gobin and Jones offered the attending technicians a lively tag-team presentation. They worked through the NWRD manual, talking to the attendees about things like the importance of customer relations and the different kinds of repairable breaks.
Derek Jones and Korey Gobin lead a lively repair boot camp.Alfred Gutierrez owns Home Run Rock Chip Repair in Santa Monica, California. His business is repair-only, but he attended both technician sessions. Like Jaimes and Weaver, he wanted to improve himself through additional training and certification at the repair session. He also wanted the chance to network. Gutierrez says he sometimes has to turn away customers because their damage is not repairable.
“Knowing that the people here are going to have a safety certification … at least I could refer customers to somebody that has AGSC accreditation,” he says.
At the owners and managers session, Navant talked to his audience about what the AGSC could offer them. He announced one new resource that the organization is releasing in 2025.
“AGSC will be releasing a series of short videos confronting industry myths head-on in an effort to provide clarity to the industry,” Navant says.
Levy told the business owners and managers about strange, but true, ways managers have been finding auto glass technicians in an industry struggling to get new blood. In one of the strangest employee-finding stories Levy had heard, a shop owner had a booth at bridal shows to help engaged couples prepare for the trials broken glass could bring. That owner found multiple employees by talking with brides whose fiancés were looking for work.
AGSC and NWRD will offer technician boot camps and owners/managers educational sessions again in San Antonio on Wednesday, May 7, and Reno, Nevada, on September 11, in conjunction with Auto Glass Week™ 2025. There will also be sessions in Northern New Jersey in November, with the dates and location to be announced soon.