If the lingering wet and chilly winter weather has the Mamas and the Papas’ tune, California Dreaming, running through your head, maybe you should take heed and make your plans to head out to where it’s safe and warm in Southern California, for this year’s TCRA Seminar program, right in Ventura.
The 2017 program will be held at the Marriott Ventura Beach, just a stone’s throw from the Pierpoint Bay. Temperatures here rarely dip below 50ºF, and in April will probably be somewhere in the mid-70s.
This would be the perfect opportunity to combine business with pleasure, as the entire event takes place right near a wealth of world-class attractions, including Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Hollywood, Ventura and Venice beaches, and California’s famous wine country.
So maybe this would be the perfect year to mix a little business with pleasure, and bring your whole family out for a few extra days of fun in the sun, while you take a couple days to help build your business contacts and learn a few things that are sure to pay off in your shop. It’s a win-win for you and your entire family!
The TCRA event begins bright and early on Friday, April 21, with a bus ride to the HAAS Automation plant. This is where they build some of the CNC machines that are used in many of today’s torque converter rebuilders’ shops. Discover some of the more advanced technology that goes into building parts for today’s converters.
From there, it’s a short ride over to the ATRA home office in Oxnard, for a catered lunch hosted by ATRA. This is going to be a traditional SoCal experience — a Santa Maria barbecue — so bring your appetite! We’ll bring the food — and the napkins.
After lunch, you’ll get to take a walk through the ATRA offices, where you’ll meet the team that brings you all that terrific tech and management training material. Match the faces with the voices you’ve become familiar with, and grab a selfie with some of your favorite ATRA folks.
Then it’s back to the Marriott, for a TCRA Member’s meeting, followed by a reception where you’ll get a chance to talk shop and press the flesh with some of the most influential members of the torque converter repair industry. This is where you’ll make business contacts that’ll keep paying dividends for years to come, to help improve your bottom line.
Then it’s lights out: You’ll need to get your beauty sleep, because the seminar programs start at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning.
You’re probably thinking, “Why would I go to a torque converter seminar program? I don’t rebuild converters.” Maybe not, but there’s a lot more to be learned at the TCRA seminar program than just torque converter rebuilding techniques.
What about the transmission problems that you somehow always end up blaming on the converter? ATRA’s Mike Souza will be discussing issues like those that always seem to crop up, along with ways to avoid building converter problems into your transmission rebuilds.
Then there’s the management information: GEARS Managing Editor Rodger Bland will be discussing management issues that are just as important to transmission shops as they are to torque converter rebuilders. But he’s only too happy to assure everyone that he “won’t be saying a thing about torque converters” again this year.
Something comes up that’s a little out of your comfort zone? No problem: Take a break from the seminars and wander past the exhibiting vendors’ tabletop displays. It’s like a mini trade show, featuring some of your favorite vendors from both sides of the pump.
And everyone who attends the seminar program will be eligible for one of the many drawings that’ll take place throughout the event. Who knows? You might come back as the big winner for the weekend.
Then, after the program, you can rejoin your family and head over to one of the attractions that you’ve heard about for so many years. This is your opportunity to “kill two birds with one stone”: Have a terrific business training experience and enjoy a few days with your family that you’ll all remember for a lifetime.
So if the haunting strains of California Dreaming are running through the back of your mind, escape the gray skies, head for where it’s safe and warm, and take a walk on a winter’s day in Southern California: Reserve your place at the TCRA Seminar event at the Marriott Ventura Beach for April 21 and 22. Don’t wait: Sign up today!
A Brief History of TCRA
In 1997, Corky Meyers was manufacturing and selling torque converter rebuilding equipment under the TCRS brand. One day, while speaking with a client, it occurred to him just how valuable it’d be if the independent torque converter rebuilders were to band together in an association, whose goal was to support and promote the industry.
Several rebuilders met the suggestion with enthusiasm and, a few months later, the Torque Converter Rebuilders Association (TCRA) was formed. Initially the Association boasted a membership of 15 individual rebuilders. Today, even with all the changes taking place throughout the industry, several of those founding Members are still active within TCRA.
The founding Members appointed a board of directors, who began to define the goals and requirements of the Association.
In those early days, Carol Meyers handled the day-to-day operations of the fledgling Association, and by 2003, TCRA’s membership had ballooned to nearly four times its original size.
Later that year, Carl and Corky decided to retire. Len Wack had recently retired from Sonnax, so Carol suggested that he take over as executive director of TCRA. Over the next few years, TCRA’s membership swelled to around 110 Members, where it stands today.
And today, TCRA is truly an international association, with about a third of its membership operating outside the United States.
TCRA is still governed by a board of directors; with day-to-day operation in the capable hands of its current executive director, Chris Horbach.
The Association’s focus now is twofold: first, to offer the exchange of technical information among its Members, by way of a web site and online forum; second, to foster a relationship between the automatic transmission rebuilding industry and the torque converter rebuilders.
Each year, TCRA holds a seminar program over the course of two days: The first day includes a tour of a relevant company or industry icon, followed by a social event to help foster individual relationships among those in attendance.
The second day of the program is devoted exclusively to classroom seminars. Featured speakers from both sides of the pump talk about transmission and converter failures and fixes.
To learn more about TCRA or to make contact with your nearest TCRA Member, visit the web site at www.tcraonline.com, or contact Executive Director Chris Horbach at TCRAtech@gmail.com.
