The technician shortage is no joke—and I’m sure you can attest to that. The latest numbers from the TechForce Foundation, a non-profit organization focused on championing and aiding aspiring vehicle technicians, depict an analysis of the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) data that projects an average annual new entrant demand of 28,300 diesel technicians for the 2016-2026 period, exceeding the previous projected demand of 7,690.
What has exacerbated the technician shortage to the point of the perfect storm are essentially three things, according to Greg Settle, TechForce director of national initiatives: “We’re caught in the middle of a strong growing economy, a ‘catch-up’ demand for technicians created by the Great Recession of 2008 and the increasing complexity of vehicles.”
As a fleet manager, you feel the impact of the technician shortage every day. While technology can’t replace a well-trained, qualified technician, it could possibly help you fill the service gaps. The data streaming off of your trucks can provide insight into making smarter service decisions. And there is no shortage of decisions to make.
“Do you want technicians spending their time switching between various applications based on which vehicles they are diagnosing and repairing or remaining in a single application that offers the same interface regardless of the vehicle makeup?” asked Dave Covington, Noregon’s chief technology officer. “Do you want to spend the time and resources to ensure each technician is trained on countless tools, or enroll them in a single course to repair all makes and models such as the JPRO Certification program?
“Anything you can do to simplify the job of the technician, whether diagnosing remotely or in the shop, will directly relate to your bottom line.”
Before your service process is simplified, we have to dive into the complicated data-driven details. With the proliferation of remote diagnostics, remote engine updates and telematics, you have the opportunity to address a truck service issue before it hits the service lot.
Covington ran through a Noregon TripVision service example.
“Let’s say TripVision alerts the user to an issue on the engine that requires immediately routing to a service center. If that vehicle is routed to a service provider who uses JPRO in their shop, the staff at that facility can access the same fault history available to the TripVision user to understand which faults have been present leading up to the issue.”
This level of visibility into the service event is being introduced across OEMs and data solution providers alike. When you’re looking at integrating your truck’s on-the-road data with your in-shop tools, Covington recommended looking at the impact that data would have on diagnosing a root cause.
“If a TripVision user detects an issue on the vehicle, he or she can view the fault history from every JPRO connection that vehicle has experienced,” he said. “If the user sees a commonly recurring fault, it should be relayed to the service provider that the root cause is likely not being detected and only temporary fixes are being applied to the problem.”
