Growing Interest in Technician Competition
To the Editor,
Each year the Texas Motor Transportation Association holds our Technician of the Year Contest. We would be very interested in sending our winner to your competition. Do you have any additional information concerning the competition? Most importantly, the date. Our State Finals are held in June.
Thanks for your time.
Lance Shillingburg
Texas Motor Transportation Association
Austin, TX
Lance,
Coincidentally, about the time this letter came in, I was interviewing members of the Texas Motor Transportation Association about your Technician of the Year Contest and maintenance certification program; readers can find out what your organization is doing in the cover story on page 10.
To answer your questions, the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) Technician Skills Competition will take place during the TMC Fall Meeting, to be held in Valley Forge, PA, September 19-21. More information will be made available at the TMC Annual Meeting this month in Tampa, FL, and we'll continue to update our readers with all the information we can!
Meanwhile, speaking on behalf of the TMC Professional Technician Development Committee, we're looking forward to meeting your State Champion Technician in September, and may the best technician win!
-Editor
PS: This is not Fleet Maintenance Magazine's competition! This is a TMC event; we're just avid supporters!
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To the Editor,
Will OEM dealership techs also be eligible to participate?
Thanks,
Rocco Cavallo
Service Director
Palm Truck Centers
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Rocco,
The TMC is making the Skills Competition open to current State Maintenance Council technician champions (see Lance Shillingburg's letter above), and TMC member technicians.
Since there are TMC dealership members, it follows that dealership techs can enter, as long as they are TMC technician members. In future years, depending on the number of technicians applying for this first competition, there could be a pre-test to qualify technicians for the event and to limit entrants to a maximum of 50. In the event that a pre-test is held, only the standing state champions would be exempt from the qualifying test.
Several TMC fleet members conduct their own corporate technician championships as well, and some of them have inquired about entering their own company champions. The answer is, yes, corporate champions are eligible as well, as long as they are TMC technician members. Keep in mind that these plans are still being worked out, and may be subject to change.
On a final note, we talked recently with Bob Braswell, TMC's technical director, about entry requirements and eligibility, and his official comment is: "The more, the merrier!" In other words, TMC and the volunteers planning the Competition are committed to making the event open to the maximum number of technicians possible.
-Editor
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Novel Idea(?)
To the Editor,
Recently a vendor has contacted me concerning a stand alone 'electronic chip' that he proposes will dramatically increase vehicle mpg for both gasoline and diesel fuel. This 'chip' is simply glued to the bottom exterior of the unit fuel tank with no wires, etc. connecting any other components on the vehicle. In short, it is said to enhance the chemical balance and make up of the fuel in the tank thus creating increased mpg.
I have installed this 'chip' on three of my city fleet units. Results are pending. However, I wondered if you had come across this novel(?) idea and/or similar product? Any information would be welcomed.
Thanks,
Gary Miller
Fleet Maintenance Supervisor
City of Sherman, TX
Gary,
We don't blame anyone for having a certain amount of curiosity about a new fuel-saving product, but we don't review or endorse products here. I invite readers to respond to your question in our next issue.
Has anyone had an experience with this type of device that they'd like to share with us?
-Editor
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Predicting Component Life
To the Editor,
I'm in PA. I could not find a council for our state.
My question is, where can I find the life of components on our trucks and trailers? The OEM does not have anything. I want to change my maintenance to do more preventive maintenance and change components before they fail.
Thank you,
Joe Barber
Barber Trucking, Inc.
Brookville, PA
Joe,
There are no easy answers to that question. We know of some reputable consultants who provide fleets with vehicle life-cycle and replacement formulas, and the National Association of Fleet Administrators (www.nafa.org) offers its "Lifecycle Cost Analysis for Fleets," but if you really need to drill down to individual component life, you may want to look into a web-based product, such as TMC's new FleetPortal.com
By the way, we haven't tracked down any information on a Pennsylvania State Maintenance Council, either. If anyone has information on an active group in PA, please let us know and we'll post it at
http://www.fleetmag.com/council/index.shtm
-Editor