Navistar announces North American and Global Technician Rodeo winners
Symbolizing Navistar's commitment to customer uptime, technicians from Arizona, New Mexico and Florida triumphed in two recent competitions testing the skills and speed of service professionals from the company's dealer networks.
Nathan Reed took home the "Top Service Technician" Award for Truck and Dan Myers earned the same recognition for Bus at the 2016 10th Annual Navistar Technician Rodeo, which features Navistar's top American and Canadian commercial truck and bus technicians.
Meanwhile, Robert Ball triumphed at the 2016 Second Annual Navistar Global Technician Rodeo, which features the top Navistar service technicians from North America, Mexico and Latin America (Central and South America).
"We are very proud of this year's winners," said John Pfennig, director, Global Development, Navistar. "Among the top Diamond-certified technicians who competed in both events, Nathan, Dan and Robert 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 for RWC International in Phoenix, Ariz., and Myers, a service technician for Summit Truck Group in Albuquerque, N.M., were two of 13 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, held at the Navistar Woodridge Facility earlier this month.
Ball, a service technician for Maudlin International Trucks in Orlando, Fla., was one of three top service technicians from International dealers across North America, Mexico and Central and South America selected to participate in this year's Global Technician Rodeo, also held at Woodridge.
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.
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, it is our honor to recognize the people who choose the profession to perform the important work of repairing our customer's vehicles," said Pfennig. "The rodeo competitions are just one way that Navistar recognizes 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 10th annual rodeo were selected from an overall group of the top 400 technicians at International and IC Bus dealers. From there, the group was narrowed to 13 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 winner of the 2015 technician rodeo representing the U.S. and Canada region competed in the second annual global rodeo against two other participants, representing the Mexico region and the Latin America region (Central and South America).
Technicians from the following dealerships competed in the North America rodeo:
- RWC Group (Tucson, Ariz.)
- Truck King International Sales & Service (Bronx, N.Y.)
- Sun State International Trucks (Davenport, Fla.)
- Mid-State Truck Service Inc. (Plover and Marshfield, Wis.)
- Summit Truck Group (Lowell, Ark. and Albuquerque, N.M.)
- Summit Motors (Redcliff, AB, Canada)
- Tru-Nor Truck Centres (Sudbury, ON, Canada)
- RWC International (Phoenix, Ariz.)
- Lewis Motor Sales, Inc. (Barrie, ON, Canada)
- Cookson International Trucks Inc. (Penticton, BC, Canada)
Technicians from the following dealerships competed in the Global rodeo:
- Maudlin International Trucks (Orlando, Fla.)
- Sierra Norte (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico)
- Maco International S.A. (Santiago, Chile)
"Participants in this competition have completed all the required and optional trainings and are at the top of their game," said Pfennig. "They represent our 10,000-plus service technicians from International and IC Bus dealerships, the highest number of any medium/heavy commercial-truck and bus manufacturer."
Navistar customers are backed by the International and IC Bus dealer network, the industry's largest in North America, with more than 700 International dealer locations and 10,000 service technicians.
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 said. "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."
