employees to open a line of communication within
their organization. At the national level, a skills
competition provides technicians an outlet to
network with other peers at diff erent companies
to increase knowledge.
“In many companies and locations vehicle
maintenance is taken for granted,” Karim says.
When Karim managed the fl eet maintenance
operations at USPS, she confi rms experience and
feedback from technicians who competed in previous
TMCSuperTech competitions helped improve
the overall company culture. Th is holds true to
the examples she sees today with other organizations
as well.
“Once technicians and shops started receiving
recognition through TMCSuperTech, management
started taking notice and new avenues of communication
were opened,” she says. “A big benefi t has
been networking among technicians from diff erent
companies... Instead of keeping information to
14 Fleet Maintenance | November/December 2017
themselves, they make friends, share ideas, problem
solutions, etc. and even contact each other for
technical support on diffi cult problems.”
Another benefi t, according to TMC’s Braswell, is
skills competitions can be good, clean competition.
“Certainly whatever you can measure can be
fun as well,” he says. “Th at’s a kind of motivating
factor for the technicians who are competing, not
only at TMCSuperTech, the national technician
skills competition, but also all of the feeder competitions
that take place before that.”
A summary of the national
skills competition
Th e TMCSuperTech National Technician Skills
Competition is designed to determine and honor
the industry’s top commercial vehicle technicians
through a variety of troubleshooting tests and
skills challenges.
“Th ere are thousands of people who are competing
and trying to see if they know as much as they
think they know, and trying to fi nd out what it is
they need to work on,” TMC’s Braswell says.
All diesel technicians are welcome to register
and participate in the national competition.
He says corporate fl eets and smaller operations
alike hold their own company competitions,
and oft entimes opt to send winners to the
national competition. State-run competitions held
through numerous state trucking associations
also provide a means for technicians to advance
to the national competition.
Th e competition itself consists of three specifi c
areas: a written exam, pre-qualifying round and
fi nal round.
State trucking association skills competition
winners automatically bypass the written and
pre-qualifying rounds, to compete in the fi nals.
The written exam is based on tests by
Automotive Service Excellence (ASE). The
pre-qualifying round includes a number of tabletop
and written exams. Participants are awarded
points based on their written exam and pre-qualifying
events. Participants with the highest scores
move ahead to the fi nals, where they complete a
number of hands-on skills stations.
“It’s actually working on bugged trucks, or
bugged tractors,” Braswell explains. “We set up
a problem, and you have to diagnose and do
complaint, cause and correction.”
During the fi nal round, each station has a
panel of judges who award points based on set
criteria reviewing skill and performance. A
winner is announced for each station, as well
as an overall winner for the entire competition.
“Hands-on skill stations are chaired by industry
experts in diff erent areas who design challenges to
test specifi c skills, particularly those identifi ed as
critical to operational performance,” Karim says.
“Challenges and stations vary from year to year.
PTDC developed a guideline book used by station
chairs to ensure consistency, fairness and integrity
of the competition.
Th e traditional TMCSuperTech competition
began in 2005 with a focus on straight trucks.
But, in recent years, TMC has added additional
tracks specifi cally for trailer technicians as well
as a post-secondary student-focused competition
known as TMCFutureTech.
Held at rotating locations around the U.S., TMC
will host the 14th annual TMCSuperTech Skills
Competitions again Sept. 15-20, 2018.
» A technician works at a hands-on
station during a skills competition.
Photo courtesy of Ryder
» During the fi rst round of the annual
TMCSuperTech National Technician Skills
Competition, participants complete a written exam.
Photo courtesy of Technology & Maintenance Council
» A technician tests electronics
during a skills competition.
Photo courtesy of Ryder
Continued Page 16