TRA INING
AUGUST 2017 | VehicleServicePros.com 27
“One signifi cant benefi t I’ve seen as a result
of local and national technician competitions
is the improvement of the relationship
between our company and our suppliers —
whether that be truck, engine or component
manufacturer,” says Homer Hogg, corporate
maintenance advisor, Travel Centers of
America (www.ta-petro.com). “We have seen
more training customized to the needs of
our technicians, resulting in
a higher quality of repair in
our network.”
By getting involved in technician
competitions, you are
investing in your company’s
most important asset — the
technician. Plus, you demonstrate
how much you value
your technicians and their
importance to the company.
“Another notable impact is
that technicians that compete,
whether on the local and/or
national level, come back to
their locations and make the
entire shop better by passing on
the information they’ve gained,
and encouraging other technicians
to improve their skill and
knowledge,” Hogg says.
“We view the competitions
as a technician retention
measure,” adds Williams of
W.W. Williams. “Technicians
have told us that providing
training is one of the reasons
they like working here. We
treat this as part of a training
program.
“By making the events
trips that spouses or family
can attend, we also create a
rewards program. We promote
and celebrate these events to
create pride in the workforce
and across our locations.”
Expense or
Investment?
Our industry off ers competitions
across the country
and everyone needs to see
these opportunities as an
investment, not an expense.
Technicians aren’t the only
ones who benefi t from these
events. Organizations, manufacturers
and suppliers that
have become involved with
technician skills competitions
have changed the way they
view these events, and have
found that their participation
has enabled them to create
more eff ective training materials
and programs.
“Over the years, we’ve been
able to gather signifi cant feedback
from service technicians participating
in these competitions,” Roger Maye, national
service manager, ConMet (www.conmet.com),
a leading global supplier of components to the
commercial vehicle market, says. “Th is has
enabled us to refi ne and improve our training
and service materials to provide a more
useful learning experience. We’ve learned
that segmenting the material into product
specifi c sections and making it more visually
appealing streamlines the learning process
for technicians.”
Technicians are a very valuable part of your
company. An investment in skills competitions
and training helps your technicians to keep
developing their talents and abilities. With
vehicles becoming more complex and hightech,
this becomes essential.
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