LISLE, Ill. — Symbolizing Navistar’s commitment to customer uptime, technicians from Florida, West Virginia and Arizona took home first place in the three categories of the 2018 Technician Rodeo. The competition is hosted at Navistar’s Woodridge, Illinois 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, while Ben Bird of Worldwide Equipment in West Virginia earned the same recognition for Bus in the 12th iteration of the events. Navistar’s top American and Canadian commercial truck and bus technicians are featured.
New this year, the company also brought its Global Technician Competition into the same event, which brings all of the regional winners worldwide 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 [who] 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 [the] competitors, who are among the very best truck technicians there are.”
This year’s competition showcased 20 top service technicians from International and IC Bus dealers worldwide, the largest number yet for the event.
The technicians competed head-to-head in a series of stations that were 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.
All of the participants are Diamond certified through Navistar’s official certification program for its service technicians. In addition, all of the technicians from the U.S. and Canada are 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 – 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 training 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 can assure customers they are getting the fastest and most accurate service in the industry. Navistar works closely with its dealers to train technicians on all vehicle systems. The company has training centers in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Latin America—as well as web-based training—the International and IC Bus dealer channel.
“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.”
About Navistar
Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) is a holding company whose subsidiaries and affiliates produce International brand commercial and military trucks, proprietary diesel engines, and IC Bus brand school and commercial buses. An affiliate also provides truck and diesel engine service parts. Another affiliate offers financing services. www.Navistar.com
