TMC Heads Back to Raleigh With Revamped Competitions
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After several years in Cleveland, American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council is returning to familiar territory for its 2024 Fall Meeting & National Technician Skills Competitions.
The event, scheduled for Sept. 15-19, will take place in Raleigh, N.C., a city that’s hosted a number of TMC gatherings in the past — most recently in 2019.
“Raleigh is always a very good fit for us,” TMC Executive Director Robert Braswell said. “It’s a good location, and the fleets like it. We’re very pleased to be coming back home.”
The change in venue isn’t the only update for 2024. Both the TMCSuperTech competition, beginning Sept. 15, and the TMCFutureTech student competition, starting Sept. 16, will feature revamped formats.
In previous years, TMCSuperTech devoted its first day to written tests and the second to hands-on demonstrations with tractors and trailers on the trade show floor. The 2024 event will blend written and hands-on components on both days.
“[The competition committee] wanted to have more of a mix on the floor where it would flow better,” Braswell said. He added that the Raleigh Convention Center’s larger space would better accommodate technicians moving between stations.
“Last year, we had to run four stations on six trailers,” he said, referring to the tighter quarters of the previous competition.
The competition tracks are also being restructured. Last year’s event featured three categories: heavy-duty, medium- and light-medium-duty, and trailer. For 2024, the tracks will be simplified to two designations: professional for TMCSuperTech and student for TMCFutureTech.
TMCSuperTech this year is expected to draw more than 100 technicians, with an additional 21 students competing in TMCFutureTech. Participants will face challenges at various stations, testing their skills in areas like coolants and diesel exhaust fluid, electrical systems, automated manual transmissions and electric vehicle safety.
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Braswell explained that the competition categories are carefully selected to challenge technicians and highlight critical issues in automotive technology. Each station reflects areas that fleets and service personnel should focus on in their work.
Competitors are evaluated on a 100-point scale at each station. Lower average scores, Braswell said, indicate areas where technicians industrywide may need improvement.
“We tend to keep a station for a very long time, especially if it’s getting low scores,” he said. “If you’re seeing scores that are averaging 85 and 90, that’s probably not a challenging station.”
A contestant competes at the 2023 TMC Fall Meeting. (Blake Franko/ATA)
Braswell cited the trailer electric corrosion skills station as an example of this approach. After consistently high scores two years ago, the station was redesigned last year, resulting in average scores dropping by 20 to 30 points.
The overarching aim of TMCSuperTech, after all, is to offer the most rigorous test possible for automotive technicians nationwide, Braswell said.
“The people that come to compete at TMCSuperTech, they tend to be the cream of the crop or the best technicians in a given operation,” he said.
The TMC Fall Meeting will also feature technical sessions on topics including cybersecurity and technician retention. One session, “Cyber and Data Security Playbook for Fleet Managers,” will simulate a real-world cyberattack on an on-highway commercial vehicle.
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“The session is going to give you an idea of what the bad guys and the good guys might do during an attack,” he said. “It will be kind of role play.”
Another technical session, “Technician Onboarding: 90 Days to Success,” will address the industry’s technician retention challenges. The session will offer strategies for creating a stable workforce and boosting employee morale through targeted support for new hires.
“The technician shortage is about retention. People will matriculate out of school, go into the workplace, and we lose them in the first year. There’s got to be a reason for that,” Braswell said. He added that the panel will share recommended practices and lessons learned from various fleets and service providers.
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