Trailers an Important Part of 2016 SuperTech
Check the lights? Sure. The electrical system was among 12 items tested in the Trailer Track competition at TMC’s SuperTech event in Raleigh, N.C., Sept. 18-21. Photos: Marsh Galloway
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Check the lights? Sure. The electrical system was among 12 items tested in the Trailer Track competition at TMC’s SuperTech event in Raleigh, N.C., Sept. 18-21. Photos: Marsh Galloway
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TMC’s SuperTech competition concluded Wednesday (September 21) with a special luncheon and reading of names of the numerous winners who trouped up one by one to get their awards.
It went on for more than two and a half hours, yet almost everyone in the audience, contestants and non-contestants alike, stayed ‘til the bitter end. Of course, they wanted to see who won. And they know that these young technicians are an important part of trucking’s future. (Do a subject search on the technician shortage on this website and you’ll find many columns and stories about how it’s only going to get worse.)
Because I write this weekly blog about trailers, I was pleased that the folks who run the Technology & Maintenance Council’s SuperTech program saw fit to inaugurate a Trailer Track for competitors. Trailers get little enough attention in the real world, and this new focus gives them the respect they deserve.
Trailers (and truck bodies) are where the payloads go, after all. Besides, they’re getting more complex, and mechanics need to know what makes them tick – or hum, preferably.
Anyway, among the winners announced were those in the Trailer Track. Its overall winners were 1, Scott Davidson, TravelCenters of America; 2, Robert Anderson, TravelCenters of America; and 3, Michael Kerfoot, TravelCenters of America. That’s right, techs from TA swept the top three places in the trailers competition.
There were 12 stations testing the techs’ skills on individual trailer systems, and TMC reported that the winners at each were:
T1. Brakes: …Read the rest of this story
