PGW Doubles Down on Technician Education to Help Independent Shops Navigate ADAS Complexity

PGW Auto Glass senior vice president of sales Tim Glover described the company's expanding customer education initiative in November 2025, emphasizing that the company's primary focus was bridging the knowledge gap between large and small auto glass operators. PGW's hands-on training programs at its facilities covered adhesive best practices, installation procedures, and ADAS recalibration.

Glover said national chains and large regional operators typically had in-house training teams and established recalibration workflows, while smaller independent shops often lacked the time, money, or connections to stay current with rapidly evolving technology. PGW saw supporting those smaller customers as both a service obligation and a business opportunity—shops that understood ADAS work were more likely to perform it, and more likely to order the glass and materials to support it through PGW.

Peter Brown, president of Tiny & Sons Auto Glass in Pembroke, Massachusetts, and AGSC vice president, spoke at PGW's national sales meeting. Brown discussed the specific steps he took to bring recalibration into his own small-shop business—from evaluating tool options to developing technician training workflows to communicating recalibration's value to customers. His practical perspective resonated with PGW's sales team, who then could carry those insights to their independent shop customers.

Brown noted ongoing concern in the small-shop community about connecting independent operators with accurate, actionable information about ADAS calibration. "There's still a lot of concern about ADAS and how to connect independent shops with the right information to get calibrations done," he said.

The PGW education initiative reflected a broader industry recognition that knowledge infrastructure—training resources, clear procedures, and accessible expert guidance—was as important as physical tools in enabling independent shops to compete in the ADAS era. A shop with the right tools but inadequate training is not safer or more profitable than a shop without tools; both will decline recalibration work or perform it incorrectly.

PGW's training commitment in November 2025 was part of a year-long pattern in which distributors played an increasingly active role in the industry's educational ecosystem—supplementing AGSC certifications and manufacturer training with practical, relationship-based learning that met small shops where they were.