WOODRIDGE, Ill. — Technicians from Arizona and West Virginia triumphed in two recent Navistar competitions that tested the skills and speed of service professionals from the company’s dealer networks.

Nathan Reed took home the “Top Service Technician” award for the truck category, and Ben Bird earned the same recognition for the bus category, at the 11th Annual Navistar Technician Rodeo. The event was held at the Woodridge facility of Navistar, the parent company of IC Bus. 

“We are very proud of this year’s winners,” said John Pfennig, director of global development for Navistar. “With each year, the competition among the top Diamond-certified technicians is even fiercer and without exception, Nathan and Ben demonstrated the highest skills and abilities in key areas of commercial servicing. They reflect the best traditions of the company’s commitment to technical excellence and customer uptime.”

Reed, a service technician for RWC International in Phoenix, Arizona, and Bird, a service technician for Worldwide Equipment in Cross Lanes, West Virginia, were two of 16 top service technicians from International and IC Bus dealers across the U.S. and Canada selected to compete in this year’s rodeo.

The technicians competed head-to-head in a series of stations designed to simulate service areas for air conditioning, brakes, drivetrain, electrical, and Navistar and Cummins engines. The technicians were scored on how quickly and effectively they navigated their way through the stations, diagnosing and fixing the simulated problems.

All of the participants are Diamond certified through Navistar’s official certification program for its service technicians. In addition, all the technicians from the U.S. and Canada are either Automotive Service Excellence- or Canadian Provincial-certified.

Rodeo participants were selected from a group of the top 1,400 technicians at International and IC Bus dealers. From there, the group was narrowed to 16 participants through online testing, with the highest-scoring technicians in each region of the U.S. and Canada invited to compete in the event.

Technicians from the following dealerships competed in the rodeo:

•    RWC Group (Tucson, Arizona).
•    Worldwide Equipment (Cross Lanes, West Virginia).
•    Truck King International Sales & Service (Bronx, New York).
•    Maudlin International Trucks (Orlando, Florida).
•    Mid-State Truck Service Inc. (Plover and Marshfield, Wisconsin).
•    Summit Truck Group (Lowell, Arkansas, and Albuquerque, New Mexico).
•    Summit Motors (Taber, Alberta).
•    Tru-Nor Truck Centres (Sudbury, Ontario).
•    RWC International (Phoenix, Arizona).
•    Lewis Motor Sales Inc. (Barrie, Ontario).
•    Cookson International Trucks Inc. (Penticton, British Columbia).

“Participants in this competition have completed all the required and optional trainings and are at the top of their game,” Pfennig added.