Schrader Academy – A journey from simple TPMS training to a comprehensive education platform

Author- Wolfgang Fuetsch Back in 2014, when I joined Schrader’s Aftermarket Team alongside my other responsibilities, I was tasked with developing Schrader’s TPMS training strategy. Since day one, our goal was to develop an easy to use and comprehensive training platform. During the first two years, we spent many hours evaluating the “status quo” of our current training strategy, our customer base/target audience and brainstorming on new ideas. Our effort to differentiate Schrader’s training initiatives from other industry players resulted in the development of Schrader Academy.

In 2016, we relaunched Schrader’s TPMS training activities under the new brand name Schrader Academy. Currently, Schrader Academy is the official training division of Schrader Performance Sensors and the first comprehensive TPMS training platform on the market. This brand well represents Schrader’s commitment to customer education. At Schrader, we believe that professional education and training is critical to the TPMS category because it is a safety system. A firm understanding of how the system works and how to install it properly is essential to ensure high performance. With this spirit, we have developed two unique TPMS training offers: the industry’s first online TPMS e-Training Course and the only DEKRA certified TPMS Training for Experts, which is a mix of classroom and hands-on training activities.

Looking back, it was a challenging journey. We had to take risks, experiment and constantly evaluate our performance to figure out what worked best and what didn’t. The list of constraints was endless: starting from an initial lack of resources to our technical capabilities at that time. When our team started working on the Schrader Academy project there was no such precedent in automotive aftermarket specifically focused on TPMS. It is never easy to start from scratch on any project and it gets even more challenging when you try to develop something completely new for an industry.

I recall when we were working on the development of our TPMS e-Training Course. We had to bring the existing TPMS training online and make sure to develop a responsive, user-friendly platform alongside simplifying the TPMS training content so that we could expand our target group from technicians to the rest of the industry. This project required support from many departments like IT, marketing, product development etc. It was truly amazing to see how the whole team came together and made the training LIVE. I think this was the first important takeaway from the project – everything is possible with the right people next to you!

Schrader Academy’s success got “officially proven” in 2017 when our TPMS Training for Experts became certified by DEKRA, making Schrader the first and only TPMS sensor manufacturer to offer a certified training program! This certification proves the high quality of our training content as well as Schrader’s commitment to continuous improvement.

Our trainings' are showing rapid growth and for my team, it is really fulfilling to watch the brand develop further! You ask me what is my main takeaway from this story? “Be brave, take risks and create a precedent”. It is a tough road, full of twists and turns, but it sure is exciting to drive! Everything is possible If you have the right people in the team!

Watch Wolfgang's bog video.