SuperTech 2012 Champion Becomes ‘Go-to Guy’ for Fellow Mechanics

This story appears in the Sept. 9 print edition of Transport Topics.

One of the consequences of proving that you’re the best truck technician in the land is that you become the “Google” of your world, as in, “Let’s Google it.”

So when your colleagues have a work-related question, they don’t have to spend time rummaging through manuals looking for an answer: They call you.

That’s one of the things Chris Barnett has learned in the year since he won the grand championship at the Technology & Maintenance Council’s SuperTech 2012 competition.

Barnett, who works at Ryder System Inc.’s Hebron, Ky., shop, knows what it’s like to become the go-to guy for his colleagues.

“If they’ve got something they can’t figure out, they’ll tell their supervisor they need to have the ‘SuperTech’ look at it,” Barnett said. “Winning the SuperTech [competition] got my name out there a lot.”

Barnett also said he fields calls from fellow technicians at nearby Ryder locations looking for his help in solving the more perplexing maintenance problems. He’s able to help, partly because, “The SuperTech competition is so broad, you’re working on everything from the front bumper of the truck to the taillights.”

He said he’s picked up a wealth of knowledge from competing in the national skills competition and attending the training seminars that accompany it.

“Those are a great source of knowledge for any technician,” Barnett said. “Even if it’s about something you feel pretty strong in, I’ve never gone to one of those training seminars and not learned something from it, no matter how small.”

The 31-year-old resident of Crittenden, Ky., said he is prepared to defend his title when, for the second consecutive year, the event is held in Pittsburgh at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center from Sept. 9-12.

Helping to explain the company’s support of the contest, Melvin Kirk, Ryder’s vice president of maintenance and quality operations, said the skills competition promotes the professional development of its technicians.

“This program really encourages the technicians to continue to train,” he said. “We ultimately want them to learn.”

Kirk also said the competition results enable Ryder, which is based in Miami, to analyze what its technicians are learning and retaining — and where they could improve.

In addition to SuperTech, Ryder has held its own skills competition, Ryder Top Tech, for more than a decade. All of the company’s 4,800 U.S. and Canadian technicians are  eligible for the program, said Kirk, who oversees Ryder’s competition and coordinates its participation in SuperTech.

Prior to winning SuperTech, Barnett took first place in Ryder’s 2012 Top Tech competition — which earned him a new pickup truck, a trophy and a cash award, the company said.

“At the Ryder competition, you’re only competing against Ryder techs. But at SuperTech, you’re competing against techs from across the industry.” Barnett said, adding that the SuperTech victory was “another feather in my hat.”

However, Kirk said the internal competition is a way for the company to recognize “how important the role of the technician is to Ryder today and in its future.”

He also said that each year, Ryder sends the top performers from its internal competition, as well as past winners, to SuperTech. This year, Ryder is sending 11 technicians.

The event’s organizer, American Trucking Associations’ TMC, will expand the number of hands-on skills stations and expects to draw about 130 of the trucking industry’s top technicians to Pittsburgh.

SuperTech  is held in conjunction with TMC’s fall meeting, which will include an appearance by  Anne Ferro, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. She will discuss the agency’s Compliance, Safety, Accountability ratings program and how it has changed the way companies approach fleet maintenance. Ferro is expected to present an update on CSA and discuss the program’s vehicle maintenance component. The session also will feature presentations from carriers and enforcement representatives, TMC said.

Additionally, the meeting will include a session on how to conduct pilot reviews for new equipment. TMC’s Fleet Maintenance Management Study Group is currently developing a recommended practice on the subject.

And, there will be an educational session that will tackle the issue of cab corrosion.

“You’ve got a lot of stuff going on with these chemicals they put on the road now, and it’s tearing up these trucks,” said Carl Kirk, ATA’s vice president of maintenance, information technology and logistics, who oversees TMC.

Other topics include:

• Using engine software tools

• Tire and wheel maintenance

• Trailer stability

• Distracted driving

• Emissions tampering

Watching for emissions tampering and understanding its ramifications are important for fleets, but the issue also extends to others within the trucking industry, Kirk said.

“It is really important for the dealers to be alert to emissions tampering when they accept a truck,” he said.

Kirk Altrichter, TMC’s chairman, said he expects the session on hiring and retaining talent to attract a lot of interest from attendees.

“Finding good, qualified technicians is tough,” he said. “Finding people with no training and training them ourselves is not as tough, and that’s generally what we’ve had to do” at Gordon Trucking, where Altrichter is the vice president in charge of maintenance.

He also highlighted “Shop Talk,” a session where fleets discuss the various maintenance issues with which they’ve been dealing.

“It’s given me pause a few times to go back and look at things in our own fleet,” Altrichter said.