july2022 - 29

For Pitt Ohio, honing in on electrical training
will be increasingly important as it adds more
electric vehicles to its LTL fleet. The company
just received two Class 7 Volvo VNR Electrics to
operate in the Cleveland area. It has extended
service agreements with a Volvo dealer, but at
some point, the fleet wants to do its own warranty
work on them, and that will require electric
vehicle training. Volvo has eight Volvo Trucks
Academy Learning Centers across North America
to complete the battery-electric truck training.
" All these high-tech vehicles are going to need
really good people to maintain them, and we're
going to have a bigger problem than our supply
chain issue if we can't invest in these young folks, "
Darakos said.
He also noted one key to success in this area
will be to ensure techs have the skill level and
interest to get value from the training.
" There could be somebody that's really competent
and really sharp, but if they don't want to go
there, that would be a bad choice from the start, "
he said. " Because I think you need somebody
willing to learn and grow, and they're going to be
engaged and understand that it's not all going to
be roses, and there's probably going to be some
hiccups and hang-ups. "
Pitt Ohio also has vendors come on-site to
perform training on safety, tires, and brakes and
also has technicians go out to OEMs to learn about
specific engines.
Overall, Darakos said techs need 30 to 50 hours
of professional development a year to keep from
getting behind.
Training is a huge component of Bendix
Commercial Vehicle Systems' plan to serve
customers and make the roads safer through its
advanced driver assistance systems, electronic roll
stability, brakes, and other related components. In
fact, the centerpiece of the OE's new headquarters
in Avon, Ohio, is a large, glass-enclosed classroom
filled with dynamic training boards that include
functioning air and electrical systems.
Unlike with a static drawing, someone trying
to learn about these pneumatic and electronic
systems can see how exactly how systems integrate
with each other, much like doctors learn
about living organs by working on corpses. The
difference here is that these systems are still alive
thanks to shop air and an electric cord. These " air
boards " can also be rolled onto trailers and delivered
to fleet facilities or other training locations.
They were getting plenty of use at a recent
two-day training event at the building, which
fully opened in April. A few dozen technicians
from various fleets filled up the room to learn
how to work with the OE's product lines. On day
one, they covered air disc brake maintenance and
performed a Tappet Boot replacement; on day
two, they spent several hours going over ADAS
troubleshooting, talked through specific sensor
issues, and watched some videos on the Bendix
ESP electronic stability technology followed by
a technical discussion.
After lunch, in likely one of the industry's most
stunning cafeterias, the fleet technicians reconvened
and broke into teams to test their diagnostic
acumen on the air boards as well as other handson
troubleshooting exercises.
" A technical mind is a visual learner-I know
mine is, " offered Brian Screeton, Bendix supervisor
of technical training. " And I can talk about it
all day, but if I can show them up there, and then
come over [to the air board] and actually show
them how things flow, how things work, where the
air is going, what it's doing-that really cements it
in. And I love seeing that light coming through. "
One huge loss during the pandemic was preventing
techs from in-person learning like this, which
has no substitute. Not only do learners get to work
with actual components under the supervision of
OE experts, they learn from each other.
" We did a lot virtually through COVID, but one
of the huge benefits of being back in person is that
people feed off each other, " noted Nicole Oreskovic,
Bendix VP of marketing, product planning, and
sales operations. " And one question may lead to
another question to another question. "
" Chances are they're not the only ones that may
have experienced that same issue or have that
question, " she continued. " It's no different than
when you're in grade school, and your teachers
encourage you to ask a question because everyone
in the class learns from it. "
To borrow from Pitt Ohio's Darakos and his
simile about training techs being like nurturing
» Volvo recently opened an electric truck
training facility in Tinley Park, Illinois. The Volvo
Trucks Academy has eight total sites to teach
technicians how to work on electric vehicles.
Photo: Volvo Trucks North America
» On the to-do list for Taki Darakos, VP of
fleet maintenance at Pitt Ohio, is training
some of his technicians to work on the Volvo
VNR Electrics the LTL recently received.
They have a service plan, but he wants
to do some warranty work in-house.
Photo: John Hitch | Fleet Maintenance
plants, training techs together is an act of cross-pollination
to ensure the whole field will thrive.
" The benefits are you get everybody's perspective
and experiences in one room, " Screeton said. " And
they're always different. Maybe you were troubleshooting
and you didn't get it-let's bring it up and
we'll talk about why we can solve it in the class. "
Getting techs up to speed won't only help their
fleets manage downtime and get ahead of problems;
it ensures trucks' emergency braking works
as intended, or that a trailer won't tip over. And
overall, it's making stronger diagnosticians, which
is where the industry is heading.
" Especially as the products are evolving, and the
systems are getting more complicated, it's important
to understand how they work so [technicians]
can troubleshoot them effectively, " Oreskovic said.
" [This ensures] that when they are doing maintenance
or having replaced a part, they're replacing
the root cause of the problem and not something
that's just a symptom of it. "
For related content go to
FleetMaintenance.com/shop-operations
July 2022 | FleetMaintenance.com
29
http://www.FleetMaintenance.com/shop-operations http://www.FleetMaintenance.com
july2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of july2022
