Fleet panel: Finding skilled technicians, reliable parts still a challenge

At MEMA’s Heavy Duty Aftermarket Dialogue, fleet maintenance professionals who spoke during the event’s Fleet Perspective panel were not shy about sharing their top two pain points: finding both qualified technicians and quality replacement parts.

These included Nick Forte, VP of maintenance for Stevens Transport; Joe Phillips, VP of fleet maintenance and equipment for Eagle Transport; and Amanda Schuier, strategic maintenance director for Jetco Delivery and TMC General Chair.

The three fleet executives represented maintenance departments both small and large, with vehicles suited to various industries, including general freight (Jetco Delivery), petroleum and chemical delivery (Eagle Transport), and temperature-controlled delivery (Stevens Transport). Yet regardless of their size, purchasing plan, or fleet age, their concerns were largely the same. And the effects of not having the personnel or parts to maintain their fleets ripple throughout their businesses.

For instance, Phillips noted that his company would not be participating in prebuy before MY 2027 vehicles because he worried that his technicians would not be ready to efficiently service the more advanced trucks in-house. And part of his fears came from a similar experience a few years ago when the industry first integrated selective catalytic reduction technology.

“The last time we did a prebuy, I felt like it really put us behind the eight ball as far as technology,” Phillips explained.

Of course, one way to mitigate this fear would be to ensure technicians had the proper industry training to help them prepare. But here, too, the maintenance executives at HDAD feel that they’re fighting an uphill battle to find qualified, well-educated technicians they can train. In particular, Forte said that he felt technicians from vocational schools were coming into his shop unprepared for the work environment.

“They’re very book-driven and not hands-on, and whenever a technician comes in, you’ve gotta stick them in the shop and show them what a brake [system] is,” Forte stated. “They’ve done it on a computer or iPad, but they really have no hands-on experiences.”

And this kind of retraining can be difficult, Schuier said, because of their need for qualified help.

“My top two [challenges] probably are technician staffing and labor, and then the cost, and the continual [way that] I never feel like I’m getting a win for my boss,” she said.

Lack of quality parts

Additionally, Forte said that while he wasn’t struggling with the same parts shortages as he did during COVID, that doesn’t mean fleets are out of the woods yet. Instead, what “keeps him up at night” was the need for parts that lasted.

“I can go out and buy all the parts I like… but I’m not getting the quality that I used to,” he said.

He said that this was true regardless of whether he was purchasing genuine parts or those from the aftermarket, particularly for parts such as disc brakes, calipers, batteries, radar, harnesses and connection packs. Philips concurred, adding that finding quality air dryers, air system components and anything with electronics was difficult.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s genuine or aftermarket,” Forte explained. “It comes back to the point of who’s building the market.”

And worse, when delays did happen for parts or there were quality issues, the fleets all stated that their interactions with suppliers and distributors to handle the issue were often soured by poor communication.

“If you let us down, just tell us,” Schuier emphasized. “We’re gonna find out [eventually]. We need to know so we can block and tackle.”