Reed took home the “Top Service Technician” award for Truck and Bird earned the same recognition for Bus at the 2017 event, held earlier this month at Navistar’s Woodridge, Ill., facility.
“We are very proud of this year’s winners,” says John Pfennig, director, Global Development, Navistar. “With each year, the competition among the top Diamond-certified technicians is even fiercer and without exception, Nathan and Ben demonstrated the highest skills and abilities in key areas of commercial servicing. They reflect the best traditions of the company’s commitment to technical excellence and customer uptime.”
Reed, a service technician at RWC’s facility in Phoenix, Ariz., and Bird, a service technician for Worldwide Equipment in Cross Lanes, W.V., were two of 16 top service technicians from International and IC Bus dealers across the United States of America and Canada selected to compete in this year’s Navistar Technician Rodeo.
Navistar says the technicians competed head-to-head in a series of stations designed to simulate service areas for air conditioning, brakes, drive train, electrical and Navistar and Cummins engines. The technicians were scored on how quickly and effectively they navigated their way through the stations, diagnosing and fixing the simulated problems, the company says.
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.
“As a truck and bus manufacturer committed to being the leader in uptime, we are honored to recognize the professionals who perform the important work of repairing our customer’s vehicles,” says Pfennig. “The rodeo competitions are just one way that Navistar personalizes the value of the service technician and continues to invest in the development of highly trained and skilled individuals capable of servicing our trucks and buses all around the globe.”
Participants for the 11th annual rodeo were selected from an overall group of the top 1,400 technicians at International and IC Bus dealers. From there, Navistar says he 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 the rodeo at Woodridge.
The company says technicians from the following dealerships competed in the North America rodeo:
- RWC Group (Tucson, Ariz.)
- Worldwide Equipment (Cross Lanes, W.V.)
- Truck King International Sales & Service (Bronx, N.Y.)
- Maudlin International Trucks (Orlando)
- Mid-State Truck Service Inc. (Plover and Marshfield, Wis.)
- Summit Truck Group (Lowell, AR and Albuquerque, N.M.)
- Summit Motors (Taber, Alberta, Canada)
- Tru-Nor Truck Centres (Sudbury, Ontario, Canada)
- RWC International (Phoenix)
- Lewis Motor Sales, Inc. (Barrie, Ontario, Canada)
- Cookson International Trucks Inc. (Penticton, B.C., Canada)
“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 9,600-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, the company adds.
“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.”
