The Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association (HDMA), GenNext and Northwood University completed its third Intern program at last week’s Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week (HDAW) in Las Vegas.
After bringing 21 students to last year’s event, the HDAW Intern program featured 25 Northwood students in 2017. The students spent the week shadowing their sponsor’s staff and executives during the various elements of HDAW, including the product expo, One-on-One meetings, customer dinners and meetings and a range of duties designed to give them a full and meaningful experience within the industry.
This intern sponsor organizations are AxleTech, Bendix, Bergstrom, CVSN, Dayton Parts, Denso, Dorman Products, Eaton, Grote, Haldex, HDA Truck Pride, HDMA, Hendrickson, Meritor, Minimizer, PSI, SAF Holland, VIPAR HD, Wabco, and ZF Services.
Organizers say each organization’s sponsorship covers their intern’s airfare, airport transport, hotel stay, meals, and Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue and HDAW registrations.
“HDMA has been highly successful in introducing well over 120 potential future professionals to our industry, via our HDMA intern program with Northwood University. Our HDMA supplier members and now many independent distributors are seeing the great value in exposing this high-potential group of university students to our industry, ” says Tim Kraus, President and COO of HDMA. “We thank our sponsoring companies and organizations for all of their support.”
Nearly fifty students applied for scholarships to attend HDAW, and after interviews, twenty five were chosen to receive scholarships to attend the conference.
“An internship program like this one is the best way to proactively target, interest and engage the talent of young adults. Our industry is pining for young talent, and this is a great way to attract just that,” says Steve Hansen, director of marketing for Minimizer and Ex-officio for GenNext.
