Last week, the Shop Boss team headed to Kansas City for the VISION Hi‑Tech Training & Expo—one of the most respected training and networking events in the automotive aftermarket. For more than three decades, VISION has brought together thousands of industry professionals for hands-on technical training, shop management education, and conversations that move the industry forward. If you’ve never been, it’s worth checking out what the event is all about in 2027. What stood out this year was the diversity of people walking the show floor. You had high school seniors exploring careers in the trades, tech students building their skills, apprentices learning the ropes, and experienced technicians trading insights with service advisors, shop owners, and industry leaders. In other words: the full pipeline of the automotive aftermarket, all in one place. At the Shop Boss booth, the conversations were nonstop. Current customers stopped by to test new features and see what’s coming next. Automotive schools and training programs were curious about bringing Shop Boss into their classrooms so students can learn on real shop management software before they ever step into a professional shop. And of course, we met plenty of repair shop teams looking for ways to run faster, stay organized, and maintain better control of the day-to-day chaos that comes with running a busy shop. But the biggest theme we heard throughout the week wasn’t about tools or software. It was about community. From instructors mentoring the next generation of technicians to shop owners sharing lessons learned from decades in the business, VISION reinforced something we see every day in this industry: the automotive aftermarket moves forward when people invest in each other. Training matters. Support matters. Education matters. And when events like VISION bring the entire ecosystem together, from students to shop owners, it’s a powerful reminder that the future of this industry is being built right now. Safe to say: the aftermarket showed up. View our favorite snapshots in the photo gallery below! 🚗🔧
