As an industry, we have created competitions to recognize technicians and showcase their skills. Whether it’s a state association, company or national competition, each event provides the opportunity for technicians to compete and be rewarded with prizes for their efforts.
In school, we competed in games as part of our PE classes, science fairs and spelling bees. There were winners and losers, and in most cases, there were awards or trophies to recognize one’s achievements. But, after the awards are handed out and everybody leaves, the results and scores are typically either discarded or filed away.
Not so with motorsports, where winning and losing is everything. Teams compile information and data from each race/event and use that information to increase their knowledge, understanding and ability to be better prepared for the next event and beyond.
We also take the information and data technicians scored in each testing area and provide them with a scorecard. Many companies make copies of these scorecards and review the results of all of their competitors, looking for trends that would provide an increased understanding of the individual’s and collective groups’ strengths and areas of improvement.
This allows the company leadership to have a better understanding of the potential training needs of not only these contestants, but all of their the technicians. Wally Williams of W.W. Williams (www.wwwilliams.com) – one of the nation's largest industrial distribution, repair and service companies – notes: “We use the scores as a guide and gauge to understand what training we need organizationally in the future.”
Designed to Measure
It is important to understand that technician competitions are about the tasks and operations a technician would perform in their normal work environment. Thus, the testing stations are designed accordingly, and cover such things as lighting, brakes, precision measuring, fasteners, etc.
We build these stations to measure and score each individual steps of the process, and procedures technicians use to complete the objectives of the station. Each step of the process has been determined by either manufacturers, or the Recommend Maintenance Practices manual developed by the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC), North America’s premier technical society for truck equipment technology and maintenance professionals (www.trucking.org/Technology_Council.aspx).
Bryan Lewis, two-time TMCSuperTech (National Technician Skills Competition) Champion states: “You don’t know what you don’t know, and these competitions help you gain that experience in a positive environment.”
“As a technician, the biggest advantage to competing is that you see where your shortcomings are,” says Jerry Bodkins, OnSite program manager, TA Truck Service (www.ta-petro.com/amenities/truck-repair-maintenance), and a station chairperson at TMCSuperTech. “Knowing that, it is then easy for a technician to focus their own training to better themselves. I did this every year that I competed.”
What’s in it for Me?
What do employers, suppliers and others get out of these competitions? W.W. Williams’ Williams says it’s about “learning for learning's sake. Our technician competitors learn by improving their skills or learning new skills to perform better on the job. We ask them to learn about themselves and those areas where they need improvement.”
Additionally, the technicians are asked to create business relationships and learn from their peers.
“One significant benefit 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 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 offers competitions across the country and everyone needs to see these opportunities as an investment, not an expense. Technicians aren’t the only ones who benefit 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 enable them to create more effective training materials and programs.
“Over the years, we’ve been able to gather significant 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. “This has enabled us to refine and improve our training and service materials to provide a more useful learning experience. We’ve learned that segmenting the material into product specific 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 high-tech, this become essential.
George Arrants is director of training and recruitment for the WheelTime Network (www.wheeltime.com), North America’s largest dedicated service and parts network for quality truck and coach care, and its WheelTime University (WTU). WTU provides assessments, training and ASE (Automotive Service Excellence) test preparation for WheelTime member technicians and fleets that may not have their own training program. As an Automotive Education Consultant specializing in National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF)/ASE Accreditation, Arrants works with instructors and administrators to develop partnerships with local business and industry through program advisory committees. These committees help schools establish, develop and maintain programs that are relevant to the needs of automotive, medium and heavy duty and collision industries and the community. He chairs the Technology and Maintenance Council’s TMCSuperTech – the National Technician Skills Competition – and the TMCFutureTech – the National Student Technician Competition. His entire career has been in the automotive service and education industries.
