Fleet Maintenance - 21

offered some form of remote training prior to this
year. This gave all of them an advantage when the
COVID-19 pandemic made travel less than ideal.
In many cases, remote training is now the only
training available.
Others such as AIRman Products, a manufacturer of pneumatic solutions for the commercial
transportation industry, used a more hands-on
approach previously and has
had to adapt. While they did
have options such as remote
over-the-phone support, the
majority of their training exercises were conducted in person
at the fleet's location. The need
for more robust remote training has prompted AIRman to
develop new options.

uct expert in the same time zone to support and
facilitate that training. If the participant needs
something outside of the times we have available for live training, we are open to supporting
what they need and scheduling for a time they
prefer. Also, if that doesn't work, pre-recorded
training is an option for them to watch at their
earliest convenience."

we have
ALL the parts
you need

Types of remote
training
Companies have taken different approaches to remote
training. Some offer video
tutorials, others offer live hosted webinars, and still others
provide full web-based training portals.
Video: Shane LaHousse,
vice president general manager of AIRman Products, says
when customers purchase an
AIRman product, the documentation will now include
QR codes linked to training
videos. He uses the example of
the company's new Automated
Landing Gear for which they
have created animated instructional installation videos.
"Installing our system onto
a trailer is primarily [done
in] four individual steps,"
LaHousse says. "That can be
shown through this animation
exactly how things go together.
It allows the end user to rewind
and go to specific sections quite
easily. It is video and moving
pictures, we're not recording
people installing it. It shows the
system in a much more simplified manner [and] reflects the
core process of installing an
actuator onto a trailer."
Webinars: Phillips' Vincent
confirms the company provides
videos, hosted on YouTube
as well as their website, as a
form of training for technicians using their products.
Additionally, Phillips also
offers live webinar-type video
calls, mostly via the Zoom
video conference platform,
in which an instructor leads
a training session multiple
times per week. The company
has set up a new section of their

website to allow technicians to schedule times to
attend these training events.
"Participants have the opportunity to select
their topic, date, and time," Vincent says. "We
have it set for two days a week, and we offer
three sessions each day. It was essential to cover
times that work for North American time zones.
Depending on the time chosen, we select a prod-

275+ Branches in 46 states

40+ Drive-in Service Centers
5 Distribution Centers
260,000+ Parts

We ARE the Heavy-Duty Experts™
Find a branch: www.fleetpride.com

VehicleServicePros.com/10120810

July 2020 | VehicleServicePros.com

http://www.fleetpride.com http://www.VehicleServicePros.com/10120810

Fleet Maintenance

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Fleet Maintenance