Page 37 - Newcom

TRUCK NEWS
April 2016
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guy isn’t going to buy a big screen TV to put in his man cave. You’re basi- cally reinvesting in the company be- cause you know those tools are going to be bought and will be in the shop.”
Edmonson also agrees the work- place environment is important. Technicians don’t want to work in a dingy, rundown shop, he reasons. And flexible working hours are im- portant if employers want to hang on to technicians as their lives evolve.
Edmonson says flexible working hours are one of the reasons he has remained at Transaxle despite fre- quent offers to go elsewhere. When he began his career he regularly put in 60-70 hours a week.
Now, with a young child at home, he has scaled back his working hours to 40 or 50 per week – straight days – so he can spend more time with his family.
He also relishes the opportunity
to do side jobs, repairing trucks for friends and family, something that many employers won’t tolerate.
“At dealers, you’re often asked to sign a contract saying you will not work elsewhere,” he says. “I won’t stand for that.”
Edmonson enjoys working at an in- dependent service shop because of the regular hours, the accessibility
of the owners and the ability to work outside a major city.
“Everybody calls you by your name. You put your name on the work order, not a mechanic’s number that’s four or five digits long,” he says.
But he acknowledges training op- portunities are sometimes too few when you are working for a smaller, independent organization.
“If you’re not working in a dealer- ship environment, training oppor- tunities are few and far between,” he claims. “Everybody wants to be con- tinually trained. The technology is changing so fast now. You don’t want a truck rolling in the door with some- thing you’ve never seen before. It’s going to be pretty intimidating, to say the least.”
Failing to provide adequate ongo- ing training, when truck technology is evolving so rapidly, will leave tech- nicians in the lurch and unable to ef- fectively do their jobs, according to Loblaws’ Roeder.
“If the truck can’t do its work, it’s no good to anybody and if we can’t fix it, that’s an even bigger challenge,” he said. “It’s no offense to the techni- cians – it’s about training. Training, and patience on an employer’s part
to allow these people to get better at what they do and to understand the products that are out there.”
Second career
Samantha Sharpe, a first-year die- sel mechanic apprentice with Nova Truck Centres in Dartmouth, N.S., says companies looking to proactive- ly develop new talent should seek out future technicians who are looking for a second career. And she speaks from experience.
Sharpe earned a diploma in ear-
ly childhood education, a field she worked in for about six years before seeking something that would be more rewarding. She enrolled at a lo- cal college part-time and was paired with Nova Truck Centres, which hired her full-time just four shifts into her work term there.
Now, she’s working towards obtain- ing her red seal certification, a Cana- da-wide program that requires 8,000 hours of work experience and four blocks of classroom instruction, each lasting six to eight weeks.
Sharpe says she joined Nova Truck Centres because it was the most visi- ble among employers in working with local colleges.
“As far as I was concerned, Nova Truck Centres was the only truck cen- tre that was looking (for apprentic- es),” she says. “If you’re not already into the trucking or car industry, you have no idea these places exist.”
Sharpe is now active in promoting the trade to others – male or female.
“It’s an interesting job in general, not just for a female,” she says. “I re- ally don’t like to be treated any differ- ently than anybody else.”
She says to attract more young peo- ple into the trade, employers need to do a better job with outreach to stu- dents and educating them about the opportunities that exist. Edmonson agrees, but adds they should take it even further and seek out potential recruits where they spend their recre- ational time.
“Not only should they go into high
schools to approach kids, but when trying to find truck and coach tech- nicians, go to where you think future technicians may be,” he suggests. “Go to the truck show, the local drag strip, the race track, where gearheads tend to congregate during their leisure time. Set up a booth there. Get them interested. That way it’s not a blanket approach like going to a high school where only 1-2% of the kids will be interested.”
And once you find these potential recruits, don’t forget to mention that it’s an extremely rewarding career – and the rewards come in many forms, it’s not all about the money.
When asked about the most re- warding aspects of their career, young technicians turn surprisingly sentimental.
For Sharpe, it’s about contribut- ing to the success of the company she
works for and its customers. She cites “Growing clientele,” as the most re- warding aspect of the job. “Helping people,” she adds. “Sometimes they’ll come back and they specifically ask for you to work on their truck, which is nice. Knowing that when I pass a truck on the highway, that it was one I worked on.”
Edmonson agrees.
“I couldn’t be happier,” he says of his career choice. “I’m always learn- ing. Everything is constantly chang- ing and to me, it’s a necessary job. Freight has to move. People have to eat. Food has to get from the farmer’s field to the supermarket to your kitch- en and if the truck stops, everything grinds to a halt. Watching that truck go down the road loaded after you did a ton of work on it, knowing every- thing is working as it should be, is one of the most satisfying things.”
Right to Repair agreement opening access to OEM software
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
Canadian fleets and independent service centres will soon have access to the same software the OEMs and their dealers enjoy.
A Right to Repair Memorandum of Understanding has been agreed to by OEMs and the service industry, after lengthy negotiations. Heavy-Duty Aftermarket Canada was among the organizations at the table, lending support from this side of the border.
During an update at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s spring meetings, Marc Karon, president of Total Truck Parts, said while the MoU is not a legally-binding agreement, it appears all OEMs will honour it by uploading their software to a Web site overseen by the National Automotive Service Task Force (NASTF) at www.nastf.org.
Vehicles of the model year 2010 and newer are covered by the MoU but some OEMs will provide software for older vehicles as well, Karon noted.
“The OEs are going to supply everything they give to their dealers,” he explained. “If the dealer gets a code, we get the code. If the dealer gets the ability to recalibrate, we get the ability to recalibrate.”
Other information to be shared includes sensor locations, wiring diagrams and the ability to re-flash on-board computers. Visitors to the NASTF site will have access for a “reasonable” fee, Karon added. NASTF is a non-profit organization that will simply host the software and process questions from users. It will also try to resolve disputes between OEMs and end users.
By 2018, all OEM software will be designed to be compatible with an off-the-shelf PC, so independent service shops won’t require different computers to service different makes of vehicles. Telematics is not covered under the agreement.
In addition to the heavy truck and engine manufacturers, suppliers including Bendix, Allison, Eaton and Meritor-Wabco have agreed to participate. The OEMs won’t provide training on how to use the software but Commercial Vehicle Solutions Network (CVNS) is working on training modules that will be available at www.cvsn.org.