Components Of A Fleet Technician Certification Program

The overriding consideration in developing a fleet technician certification program should be the needs, goals and objectives of the fleet maintenance shop or organization, and how the fleet maintenance technicians individually and collectively contribute to them. To accomplish this objective, a certification program plan should be tailored to the individual technician. A shop full of "master" technicians is of marginal benefit if work is assigned on the basis of specialties, such as HVAC, cab and sheet metal, or maintenance, for example.

An individualized career development plan  should be established for each technician as a foundation for any certification program. The career development plan should consider:

• A job description outlining the duties and responsibilities expected of the individual. The job description should consider the types of equipment, systems or other work parameters with which the individual will be tasked. See TMC RP 519 for specific guidance on developing job descriptions.
• Short term (one year or less) goals and objectives, in terms of performance, training and certification expectations should be discussed, agreed upon, and documented between the technician and management. These goals should be reviewed and revised periodically.
• A review/evaluation process should be established with specific checkpoints within the evaluation period. See TMC RP 519 for additional and specific guidance.
• Both the job description and review plan should be developed within the context of a longer-term, individual, clearly-defined career/advancement path or plan established and agreed to between the technician and management.
• Based on the above considerations, an individualized training plan should be developed, outlining the short-, intermediate-, and longterm steps to attain the desired certification goals and progress against the career development plan.

Certification implies that the knowledge and the skills required for competent performance in the certification area have been attained through education, training, on-the-job practice, or a combination thereof. Therefore, an important component of a fleet technician certification program is the development of individualized training plans  . Although an assessment of individual training needs could be incorporated, at least by reference, in the career development plan described above, this assessment should, at a minimum, consider:

• the performance of the individual technician within their current job responsibility and identify specific technical training requirements to attain desired performance within that responsibility.
• the training required for the individual technician to develop or advance within the shop, department, fleet or other organizational unit. The implication within this consideration is that as this training is successfully completed the technician will realize advancement opportunities within the organization.
• developing any individualized training plans within the context of the overall training needs of the department, shop or fleet.

There are various methods available to the fleet manager for performing training needs assessments. The method or methods selected should consider the organization, culture and other unique requirements of the shop. Some possible assessment sources include:

• Employment screening tests.
• ASE Detail Score reports provided to all certification candidates following each test [2].

  [2] The National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) prepares a Detail Score Report to technicians following their attempt at certification. This report outlines the number of questions in each certification specialty content area and the number of questions the candidate answered correctly. Provided only to the technician, the Detail Score Report, may be a useful tool in discussing individualized training and development plans.

• OEM Direct Warranty training requirements.
• Employee performance appraisals.
• On-the-job observation.

At some point in the process, the fleet technician certification program will need to be justified on it's merits as a business case. An implementation plan for management  should be included to address, at a minimum the following business factors:

1. Costs  -Some of the program cost elements could include:
   • Direct training cost  -such as tuition, registration, books, videos, etc.
   • Indirect training cost  -including travel, lodging, meals, per diem allowances, lost productivity (while attending training), etc.
   • Certification fees  - including registration fees, test fees, etc.
   • Incentive/compensation cost  -such as hourly rate increments, bonuses, stipends, etc.
2. Benefits  -Benefits should be stated in terms of expected outcomes including, but not limited to:
   • Productivity  - should be expected to increase, as measured by criteria such as labor units paid vs. clock hours, throughput, etc.
   • Repeat repairs  - should be expected to decrease.
   • Staffing requirements  - may be reduced as a benefit of expected increased productivity.
   • Technician turnover  - may be reduced as a function of increased morale.
   • Equipment breakdowns  - should be expected to decrease.
   • Quality audit scores  - should be expected to improve.
3. Responsibility  -The implementation plan should detail who in the fleet management organization will have responsibility for what tasks, both from an implementation, or development perspective, and as an ongoing job responsibility. This component of the plan should consider such personnel as:
   • Maintenance Director
   • Shop Service Manager.
   • Shop Foreman.
   • Training Director.
   • Trainer(s).
   • Technician.
   • Dispatcher.
   • Human Resources personnel.
4. Timeline  -Each task in the implementation plan should be assigned a realistic completion date. This timeline is particularly important when the implementation plan tasks are delegated to various individuals within the fleet management organization.

One key to the ultimate success of a fleet technician certification program is the selection of the individualized technician certification  vehicle(s) to be utilized. This section discusses some of the issues that should be considered in this selection.

'Certification,' as it applies to the field of professional credentials, is generally accepted to mean that the credential is:

• voluntary,
• administered by a professional association, and;
• is intended to demonstrate advanced standing or specialty knowledge [3]. This meaning and structure is the basis for ASE certification, for example.

  [3] Other professional credentials generally fall into the categories of licensure or registration. In contrast to certification, these two types of credentials are both mandated by law, administered by a government, are intended to protect the public, and restrict either the use of a title and/or the practice of a trade.

The term 'certification' has also, through usage evolved in the field of technician training to indicate the completion of specific training, which includes (usually) some end-of-course/program assessment on a specific system, technology, or process. For example, some automotive refinishing suppliers provide this type of certification to users of their product or family of products, following completion of specified training requirements.

Another certification alternative is the performance evaluation of a procedure completed by a technician or certification candidate. In this meaning the certification candidate performs a procedure and the result is evaluated against predetermined criteria. The Certified Welder (CW) certification of the American Welding Society (AWS) is an example of this type of certification.

In addition, a customized certification program may be developed to meet the needs of an individual fleet operation. One consideration in this approach, however, is the additional cost of developing such a program.

Some of the criteria for selecting the certification program include:

1. Recognition and Acceptance  -Is the selected certification program recognized and accepted at the national, regional or local level?
2. Multiple Certification Specialty Areas  -Does the certification program offer certification specialties consistent with the way or type of service delivered by the fleet. For example, an engine overhaul certification might not be applicable to a fleet that does not perform this type of work. On the other hand, a brake certification might well be applicable to a preventive maintenance shop.
3. Job-related  -An important consideration is that the certification measure the types of experiences the technician is likely to encounter in the course of performing their job on a day-to-day basis. Also, selection of the certification specialty should consider the assigned responsibilities of the technician. A fleet would not realize the full benefit of an electrical systems certification attained by a technician responsible for performing brake, suspension and steering repairs.
4. Training-related  -If not incorporated within the training itself, do the individualized training plans provide an appropriate and adequate basis for developing the knowledge to be covered in the certification assessment.
5. Appropriate preparation and review materials  -In addition to selecting the certification program or vehicle, an important consideration is the availability of materials to help the technician review, practice or otherwise prepare for the certification test.

The final component of a fleet technician certification program should be an evaluation plan  . The program should improve both fleet maintenance performance (in terms of reduced cost) and technician productivity and/or morale.

If adequate planning is completed in developing the implementation plan, this evaluation could be as simple as measuring results against the expected benefits outlined therein. For convenience, the considerations are described below, although these are not intended to be inclusive:

• Productivity
• Repeat Repairs
• Staffing
• Technician Turnover
• Equipment
• Quality Audit Scores