july2022 - 21

[ EMPLOYMENT ]
he transportation industry's maintenance
technicians were once viewed
as expendable as wear items, like tires
or brake pads. After grinding them down
with excessive use, fleets could replace them
with a fresh one. Because these workers are
humans, not replaceable parts, that strategy
has worn thin, and now fleets and shops find themselves
in the throes of a technician shortage that
is projected to worsen over the decade.
" For a long time, people in the industry treated
a lot of technicians like they were a number-
'Oh, fine, I'll go get somebody else,' " said Tyler
Robertson, founder and CEO of Diesel Laptops, a
provider of diagnostic tools, software, parts, and
training. " And those days are long gone. "
Fleet leaders report that finding and keeping
technicians is one of the industry's top challenges.
According to Fullbay's 2022 State of Heavy-Duty
Repair Industry Report, more than half of the fleet
and independent shops surveyed said hiring technicians
was the top challenge, while 65% found
hiring " difficult. "
Now, employers will be lucky to get the attention
of any qualified candidate, let alone one with
the acumen to perform complicated truck repairs,
and possibly ascend to a management position.
Fresh management will be needed as the Silver
Tsunami, or massive wave of baby boomers leaving
the workforce, builds over the decade.
" This is a crisis, and it's a permanent one if
we don't get our heads around these sourcing
and retention issues, " warned Gary Beeman,
CEO of New Village Institute (NVI), a Blairsville,
Pennsylvania-based diesel and automotive training
school that opened in January.
The campus, an hour east of Pittsburgh, is
tucked on the Allegheny Mountains' western
ridge, among sprawling forests and cragged hills.
It was once a flourishing WyoTech campus, but it
closed in 2018. (WyoTech is under new management
and runs a nine-month auto and diesel technician
training program in Laramie, Wyoming.)
NVI's first modestly sized class of diesel technicians
just graduated in June. The six-month
program is broken into four six-week units.
The first is fluid power, where they learn about
hydraulics, control systems, pumps, and basic
electrical-which becomes more important as
trucks transition to fully electric powertrains.
This is followed by powertrain and brakes; engine
management; and finally the engines themselves.
By the end, students will understand how to
replace a clutch, troubleshoot lighting issues,
perform preventive maintenance, diagnose
aftertreatment issues, and even tear down and
reassemble an engine.
Beeman noted fleets asked NVI to compress
the training time to six months " because they're
desperate for techs. " These fleets, such as PGT,
United Rental, Pitt Ohio, Penske, Ryder, and Waste
Management, have helped tailor the curriculum
and provide resources to ensure these new technicians
can contribute from day one.
" We want to get them in here, give them a skill
set, and get them back out into the industry as
quickly as possible so that they can start to earn
a living, but also help serve that need for technicians
in the industry right now, " Beeman said.
What shops need most are workers they can rely
on, and NVI's classroom instruction goes hard on
soft skills, those work ethic-related intangibles.
" The soft skills and the life skills are just so
important, " Beeman said. " Ninety percent of the
game is to be reliable, show up, and have a positive
attitude. "
And Beeman is postive NVI will help with the
shortage. At max capacity, NVI's limit is 2,400
students per year, and he said they could reach
that number " in the next few years. "
Over at WyoTech, which started back up in 2018
with 12 students, the student body has swelled to
685 this spring, an increase of 2,300%. WyoTech
CEO Jim Mathis expects 800 students by the fall.
And fleets and dealerships are traveling out
to Wyoming to court them. A job fair this spring
attracted more than 70 employers from across the
country. Suitors included construction and agricultural
companies. John Deere went as far as flying
students out to a Colorado equipment dealer.
" If a student wants a job, they could leave with
10 job offers just in those two days, " Mathis said.
" That's how intense and how needed our students
and other tradespeople are. "
Twenty years ago, Mathis said the Laramie
campus had nearly 2,200 students, and the
Blairsville site had 1,500 at one time.
" Our ultimate goal is to have 10,000 students in
Laramie on campus by 2030, " Mathis said.
So while help is coming, from these two schools,
and several others, it won't be enough.
As this is one of the most pressing issues facing
commercial vehicle maintenance management,
Fleet Maintenance visited experts, instructors,
and even students throughout the industry, and
talked to several more, to find solutions to the
problem. While we don't claim to have discovered
a panacea to quell this growing epidemic, we have
found some best practices that any fleet or shop
can enact to make recruiting and retention far
more manageable.
The big shortage
Damage control always starts with first assessing
the situation, and this one ain't pretty. As
Robertson pointed out, reducing technicians to
a number helped create this shortage. Now the
industry is left scrambling to add technicians
within its ranks.
According to TechForce Foundation's 2021
Transportation Technician Supply & Demand
Report, there are five open automotive or diesel
jobs for each new technician completing a
post-secondary program.
" Postings for diesel mechanics on Indeed.com
have increased 450% since February of 2018, " noted
Tim Spurlock, CEO and co-founder of American
20%
of post-secondary
graduates never
enter trade
Source: ASE
Diesel tech
median pay (2020):
$50,200
Source: BLS
Projected diesel
tech job openings
per year until 2030:
28,100
Source: BLS
Auto technician
median pay (2020):
$47,620
Source: BLS
Projected
auto tech job
openings per
year until 2030:
69,000
Source: BLS
July 2022 | FleetMaintenance.com
21
21%
leave within
two years
Source: ASE
5:1
TECHNICIAN SHORTAGE
BY THE NUMBERS
55,000
open diesel tech jobs on
Indeed.com as of Feb.
2022, which is 4.5 times
more than in Feb. 2018
Source: American Diesel Training Centers
ratio of open diesel/auto
jobs to technicians completing
post-secondary program
Source: TechForce Foundation
http://www.Indeed.com http://www.Indeed.com http://www.FleetMaintenance.com
july2022

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