Technicians from Florida, West Virginia and Arizona took home first place in the three categories of Navistar’s 2018 Technician Rodeo, a competition hosted at the company’s Woodridge, IL facility that tests the skills and speed of service professionals from throughout its dealer networks.
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 twelfth iteration of the events, which feature Navistar’s top American and Canadian commercial truck and bus technicians.
For the first time, Navistar added 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,” said John Pfennig, director of global development at Navistar. “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.”
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.
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,” said 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 at Woodridge.
Technicians from the following dealerships were represented in the Rodeo:
- Sun State International – Davenport, Florida
- Mid-State Truck Service, Inc. – Plover, Wisconsin
- Summit Truck Group – Lowell, Arkansas; Albuquerque, New Mexico
- Truck King International – the Bronx, New York
- Rush Truck Center – Springfield, Ohio
- Diamond International Trucks – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
- Altruck International Truck Centers – Cambridge, Ontario, Canada
- Gibbs International Truck Centers – Fresno, California
- Worldwide Equipment – Cross Lanes, West Virginia
- IRL International Truck Centers – Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
- DATTCO Inc. – New Britain, Connecticut
- RWC Group – Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona
- 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,” said 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 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.”
