A Good Technician's Gonna Get Harder To Find
Tim Barton
Contributing Editor
Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that in 2002, there were 267,000 diesel technician jobs in the United States. That number is expected to rise 10 to 20 percent by 2012 – which spells an increased need of nearly 60,000 technicians.
According to Tom Diefenbaker, director of technical support for Freightliner and Detroit Diesel, this need is a direct result of truck industry growth. He thinks the figures might spark the growth of schools and professional programs.
Dan Kasper, president of Engine City Technical Institute in South Plainfield, N.J., says he's bullish about diesel technician education. Judging from the growing population of men and women using his 30,000-square-foot facility to prepare for careers as diesel techs, he can afford to be optimistic.
Since Kasper took over in 1998 – a year that saw Engine City graduate only 30 students – the classes have grown. One hundred students graduated last year, and 70 of those went to work in the trucking industry. Next year, Kasper foresees a graduating class of nearly 200. He expects 140 will work in trucking.
Kasper says part of the success of Engine City is based on a concerted effort to recruit candidates from high schools and from the population of older workers looking to change careers. But the image problem that is a persistent bugaboo of the trucking industry is also a problem in attracting talent to the diesel technician field.
"The lack of people interested in getting into the field is a longstanding problem," Kasper says, "and it's getting worse. High schools push people to go to college, and fewer young people want to consider careers in a field where workers were once known as 'grease monkeys.' "
While the term "grease monkey" becomes less apt as engine technologies become increasingly more advanced, Kasper sees a sociological change occurring that works to solidify the old negative perceptions.
"Kids don't work on their family cars with Dad anymore," he explains. Cars, like trucks, have become too difficult to work on as technology has advanced, and interest in wrenching has declined as new opportunities appear to pique the interest of the impressionable young.
John Sargent, an economist with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, notes, "Any idea that the job of a diesel technician is low tech is wrong." But the image of the mechanic crawling around under vehicles changing oil remains too deeply ingrained.
Fleets in need of trained techs must often come up with local solutions. Medium and small fleets might take the lead in forming relationships with schools and benefit from local connections where schools are nearby, choosing to invest their time and money in in-house preventive maintenance and repair.
For the majority, in-house maintenance remains the choice. And for those, innovative solutions seem necessary. The real problem does not lie in training available working techs. The problem lies in providing a larger pool of candidates.
FLEETS FORGE FOOTHOLDS
At Old Dominion, a nationwide, 4,400-truck fleet, techs get exacting education in performing proper preventive maintenance. But a primary goal of their most basic diesel technical education program is diagnostics, according to Tom Newby, director of field maintenance. "We want our techs to be able to diagnose any problem within half an hour and decide whether the truck has to be sent to a dealer or repaired in house," Newby said.
At Engine City, a variety of trucking industry suppliers have donated equipment for student use. Engine City has 100 engines – 20 of which are electronic – 80 transmissions and computer labs. Caterpillar, Cummins, Detroit Diesel and International have donated software for the lab. Perhaps more pertinent is the relationship Old Dominion Freight Lines has established with Engine City.
"We work closely with Engine City and attribute much of the success of our program to being proactive with schools. We have not lost a diesel tech in two years, a very different situation than we had before structuring our training and getting involved with Engine City," Newby says.
Old Dominion has upgraded its training in house and provided itself with a supply of quality techs as well. Newby offers that the effort has been cost effective. "We're saving more than we're spending."
Attracting the right people is a good start, but Old Dominion's training regimen goes far beyond getting people in the door. "Our primary concern is retention," Newby says. "So we test every applicant for mechanical and basic knowledge. We don't take just anybody. The ones who make it have to score very high."
Once a candidate has been accepted, a career-long process of training and testing begins. Old Dominion has developed a battery of tests and courses that amount to a curriculum and involve every aspect of diagnosis and repair.
"The only thing we don't do is a tear down," Newby adds.
Much of Old Dominion's training happens on computers. Suppliers like Freightliner and Detroit Diesel provide software and web-based training on their equipment and Old Dominion adds general training with its proprietary curriculum. Techs can rise through three levels of promotion by self-training and testing.
"Even qualified techs have to test through the levels," Newby says. "The qualified techs want to come in at the top level and they can rise rapidly but we make sure they know our way of doing things. Even ASE certified techs have to go through the process. We hire plenty of techs without ASE certificates.
"Our goals have been to standardize the training so that all shops work the same way and to have techs who can diagnose any problem within half an hour – then be able to fix everything we don't want to send out," Newby says. The program succeeds for plenty of reasons, "but none of it would work if we didn't offer employees a nice, clean, well-lit, well-equipped shop."
Fleets with training programs like Old Dominion's are hard to come by, however. And schools do not graduate enough trained personnel to fill the ranks. Kaspar says Engine City graduates 100 students every year, but could fill 600 entry-level tech positions.
Ryder Truck Leasing has 5,000 diesel tech positions according to Larry Hibler, group manager of information services and vehicle diagnostic services. "Ryder is always looking for technicians," Hibler notes. "There is a high rate of turnover because we are a 24/7 operation. Some techs are recruited away from us by other fleets," he adds.
Like Old Dominion, Ryder has an exemplary training program that includes a four-year curriculum based on the Technology and Maintenance Council's VMRS code. Clay Bailey, a Ryder maintenance management trainer says every code is a subject in the Ryder curriculum.
"Ryder supplements the curriculum with hands-on and web-based education from suppliers. We believe manufacturers have the responsibility to train our techs, and they do. We have done 160,000 hours of training since we started and plenty of that has come from manufacturers."
The most proactive fleets get the cream of the crop and keep it. Fleets like Old Dominion have gone beyond problem solving and now see bottom line positives accruing from their efforts.
THE MANUFACTURERS KICK IN
Manufacturers do indeed offer many training opportunities for their customers and some are proactive in their support of vocational and technical education at the entry level.
Tom Diefenbaker, Detroit Diesel and Freightliner director of technical support, says 65 to 70 percent of training goes to dealers. "But we will train owner-operators, too," Diefenbaker adds. "We have seven training facilities that train in everything from preventive maintenance to tear downs. In addition, we have 50 certified instructors at service locations across the country."
Training also happens through a web-based system and includes an e-newsletter technicians can custom order to fit what they need to know.
Training efficiency is verified through Detroit Diesel's G2 program, one component of which measures whether techs have absorbed bulletin information and allows them to keep their certifications current. The G2 Expert Service Network is a new program DDC has added to its training regimen to support customers by keeping up with new developments in products, tools and diagnostic technology.
Among original equipment manufacturers, International Truck and Engine Corp. has an exemplary program as a part of its total effort to train and maintain diesel technicians. International offers tools, equipment and training to high school vocational technical programs in the Chicago area and often hires graduates to fill its own ranks as well as the ranks of the industry in general.
Ernie Stinsa, vice president of reliability and field service and director of new programs for engines at International, says the program came from the desire of the Chicago public school system to form a partnership with businesses to develop technical education programs. "International decided it wanted to give something back to our home city," Stinsa adds.
Since 1997, the Chicago Vocational Career Academy has evolved into a vocational program fully integrated into the academic curriculum. Graduates get 1,284 hours of diesel technical education from a curriculum developed entirely by International in cooperation with public school officials. International wrote 625 lesson plans, and donated engines and other equipment as well as providing complete sets of tools for each student.
This program offers a full 1,500 hours when internships are added. There is a full-time placement coordinator to coordinate work possibilities for graduates in trucking as well as other industries using diesel engines. Every grad is given a set of starter tools to take with him, compliments of International. Stinsa says International's investment to date is in the $4-million range.
The program is the only secondary school program in Illinois certified by NATEF (National Automotive Technicians' Education Foundation) in heavy-duty diesel technology. To graduate students must pass the NATEF master level certification test. On the basis of the program's strength, NATEF will give graduates their full certification after they complete only one year of experience rather than the typical two-year stint.
International now provides new trucks on which students work and a full range of computer-based diagnostic equipment. Since 1997 the program has graduated more than 150 students. NATEF certification for master level include certification in diesel engines, suspension and steering, brakes, electrical/electronic systems, preventive maintenance inspection, drive train and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Al Herzog, director of technical training for the North American Institute (NAI), says his organization provides service training for both Volvo and Mack. "Our focus is on the need of dealers for trained technicians. Dealer input is important to us, and our program geared toward entry-level technicians has developed out of this," Herzog says.
NAI has developed a recruiting kit aimed at the high school level and encourages dealers to be proactive with secondary schools to interest students in careers not only in diesel technology but in trucking careers in general. The kit includes a three- to four-minute video about trucking in general and the advantages of a career in diesel technology. The kit also includes a brochure for dealers interested in a proactive approach with high schools, a PowerPoint presentation and a handout to educate parents to the possibilities of work in trucking for their kids.
NAI has also developed entry-level courses for diesel techs developed from dealer input. The three-phase program concludes with mentoring over a six- to 12-month period and higher-level factory courses. Herzog adds, "NAI provides plenty of customized training for fleets. This helps the dealer, too."
Jack Sukala, president of J. Jeb Manufacturing, has been involved with a program called SkillsUSA for many years. He is well aware of the technician shortage and believes it is up to those who need diesel techs to be proactive. He notes that the problem of insufficient supply is partially caused by vocational technical schools that cannot fill seats in diesel tech programs.
"There are fewer diesel programs than there could be," Sukala says. "The candidate pool is there in the schools and the schools will create programs when and if the need develops. It's up to prospective employers to have a proactive approach toward schools."
According to John Shaw, director of Futures for Kids (F4K), the program grew out of North Carolina Industries for Technical Education (NCITE), an initiative by Greg Poole, Jr., the CEO of a local Cat dealership. Poole formed a coalition of 60 heavy equipment and heavy truck execs to see what could be done to resolve the shortage of techs. That was in 1994. NCITE ran for nearly a decade before morphing into F4K, a broader-based effort that includes career exploration beginning at the eighth-grade level. There are 11 career pathways open to students in the Career Exploration Program. One is diesel technology. F4K functions to connect prospective employers with graduates of the program. Shaw notes, "Fleets can get involved in the program by contacting F4K at F4K.org."
Another program, Auto Youth Education Services (AYES), was begun in 1995 by General Motors CEO Jack Smith in response to a need for auto techs. This program continues to run and has plans to develop a similar program for the heavy-duty diesel industry.
Larry Cummings, executive director of AYES notes, "We have been asked by the American Truck Dealers' Association to develop a heavy-duty diesel curriculum that will include core elements of the existing auto tech program, including job shadowing and mentoring. If we are successful, the program will be taught through the free public school system, where it is most needed. But it isn't a done deal."
Maintenance continued...
