Michael Irvin of Sun State International in Florida took home the “Top Service Technician” Award for Truck, and Ben Bird of Worldwide Equipment in West Virginia earned the same recognition for Bus in the 12th iteration of the events, which feature Navistar’s top American and Canadian commercial truck and bus technicians.
New this year, the company also brought its Global Technician Competition into the same event, which brings all the regional winners throughout the world together to compete for top bragging rights. In the third iteration of the global event, Nathan Reed of RWC Group in Arizona earned first place.
“Michael, Ben and Nathan are all highly skilled technicians that reflect the best traditions of our company’s commitment to technical excellence and providing the best customer uptime in the industry,” says John Pfennig, Navistar director, global development. “We’re very proud of this year’s winners, and, frankly, all of its competitors, who are among the very best truck technicians there are.”
This year’s competition showcased 20 top service technicians from International and IC Bus dealers across the world, the largest amount yet for the event.
The technicians competed head-to-head in a series of stations designed to simulate service areas truck components and engines. The technicians were scored on how quickly and effectively they navigated their way through the stations, diagnosing and fixing the simulated problems.
All of the participants are Diamond certified through Navistar’s official certification program for its service technicians. In addition, all the technicians from the U.S. and Canada are all either Automotive Service Excellence or Canadian Provincial certified.
“Our rodeo competitions are just one way that Navistar personalizes the value of service technicians and continues to invest in the development of highly trained and skilled individuals capable of servicing our trucks and buses around the globe,” says Pfennig. “As a truck and bus manufacturer committed to leading the industry in uptime, we’re honored to recognize these professionals who perform the important work of repairing our customer’s vehicles.”
This year’s Truck and Bus Rodeo participants were selected from an overall group of the top 900 technicians at International and IC Bus dealers. From there, the group was narrowed to 16 participants through online testing, with the highest-scoring technicians in each region of the U.S. and Canada invited to compete in Woodridge.
Technicians from the following dealerships were represented in the Rodeo:
- Sun State International, Davenport, Fla.
- Mid-State Truck Service Inc., Plover, Wis.
- Summit Truck Group, Lowell, Ark., and Albuquerque, N.M.
- Truck King International, the Bronx, N.Y.
- Rush Truck Center, Springfield, Ohio
- Diamond International Trucks, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Altruck International Truck Centers, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
- Gibbs International Truck Centers, Fresno, Calif.
- Worldwide Equipment, Cross Lanes, W.Va.
- IRL International Truck Centers, Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
- DATTCO Inc., New Britain, Conn.
- RWC Group, Phoenix.; Tucson, Ariz.
- Cadisa S.A. de C.V., Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico
- Lewis Motor Sales Inc., Barrie, Ontario, Canada
- Navitrans S.A.S., Bogota, Colombia
- International de Guatemala, Guatemala City, Guatemala
- Camionera Catosa S.A. de C.V., Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico
“Participants in this competition have completed all the required and optional trainings and are at the top of their game,” says Pfennig. “They represent our 9,500-plus service technicians from International and IC Bus dealerships, the highest number of any medium/heavy commercial-truck and bus manufacturer.”
Navistar works closely with its dealers to train technicians on all vehicle systems. With training centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Latin America — as well as web-based training — the International and IC Bus dealer channel can assure customers they are getting the fastest and most accurate service in the industry.
“With the largest dealer network in the industry, International and IC Bus dealers service vehicles nearly anywhere, anytime,” Pfennig says. “The ability of International and IC Bus dealers to repair vehicles right the first time and get customers back on the road is a key business advantage.”
