Fleet Maintenance - 37

TRAINING
»We need students and schools to
know they are important to us and that
we are willing to invest in them.
Photo courtesy of TMC

Supporting today's
students and
tomorrow's technicians
Invest in the industry's future by helping students
compete in TMC's FutureTech competition.
Thank you to all those companies and individuals that supported students and instructors at TMC FutureTech 2019. More and more of
you are asking how and making the investment
in our future technicians. For all companies
and individuals that did, thank you; you are
part of the solution. We are making a difference, as more educators and schools are asking
how their students can participate.
Last year, the advisory committee for the
diesel program at Forsyth Tech, a vocation-

George Arrants

TRAINING CONSULTANT,
K&D TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS
As an automotive education consultant specializing in ASE
Program Accreditation, Arrants works with instructors
and administrators to develop partnerships with local
business and industry through program advisory committees. He is past chair of the Technology and Maintenance
Council's TMCSuperTech the National Technician Skills
Competition and the TMCFutureTech the National Student
Technician Competition. His entire career has been in the
automotive service and education industries. He works
with the ASE Education Foundation as the Medium/Heavy
Truck Alliance manager.

al school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina,
pooled their money and together sponsored 12
students to compete. There was also a company
that sponsored two students last year and the
results were so positive they will be sponsoring
six students this year.
What would it take for you and/or your
company to get involved and invest in our
industry's future technicians?
We have now entered the 20th year of this
century, and the more than 20-year-old topic of
"technician shortage" is still at the forefront of
many conversations. Companies that are still
doing the same thing they did 20, 10, or even
five years ago are still getting the same results.
During meeting after meeting, people
continuously ask manufacturers, suppliers,
trade associations, and others to come up with
a solution. By now, most know my position
on this subject, and it's simple: if you are not
involved in your local schools and programs,
you are part of the problem. Get involved,
make your voice heard, and engage in local
programs that can provide you with the workforce you need.

Those of you still looking for that perfect or
near-perfect technician should stop wasting
money and resources searching for someone
who may not exist. Most of the best technicians
are being taken care of by their employers, and
those who continue to move from location to
location are doing so for a reason.
Many schools and course titles refer to our
industry as "diesel technology," and most
students who take "diesel" want to work on
trucks or heavy equipment. We, as an industry, need to engage these schools and students
and let them know what we have to offer. We
need to continue to promote the Technology
& Maintenance Council (TMC) and the benefits of the organization and its members. If we
don't, we are just another table with a banner
at career fairs handing out trinkets. We need
to make the instructors and schools aware of
the value of our industry and opportunities at
the beginning of their education.
I am asking you to invest in the industry's
future and your company's future by sponsoring or donating funds for students to compete
in FutureTech at future TMC fall meetings.
Most of you reading this know the industry
has been good to you and your family, and now
is a good time to pay it forward.
All contestants need to be enrolled or have
graduated six months prior to the date of
the competition. You can choose to support
a student in a local program or a person you
recently hired from a technical school or
community college or from the school you
graduated from.
I personally support one to four students
annually. It is really simple; I take out my credit
card and make it happen.
The cost of sponsoring a student typically
includes flights to and from the location of
the event, a hotel room for three nights (about
$195 plus taxes), and the registration fee
(normally $200, which includes most meals).
My average cost without using miles is about
$1,200 per student, but you can use airline
miles and/or hotel points to reduce the cost. If
there are two students from the same school,
at times they will share a room and further
reduce the cost.
This is our industry. We need students and
schools to know they are important to us and
that we are willing to invest in them. We all
probably spend this amount of money on
things less important in our lives. Also, if you
are a parent, wouldn't you want the industry
your child is interested in to invest in them? If
your child has been involved in an internship
or summer program, then that company or
industry has made the investment. It's your
turn to invest in someone else's child and
their future. Don't be part of the problem, be
part of the solution. Get involved and invest
in the future.

May 2020 | VehicleServicePros.com

http://www.VehicleServicePros.com

Fleet Maintenance

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