It has taken nearly 10 years of trying and failing, but one local FedEx Freight technician has finally earned a spot to compete among the nation’s best truck technicians in an industry-wide competition that will be held later this year in Orlando.
FedEx has annually held the Top Wrench competition for its fleet maintenance technicians since 2004. The competition is made up of multiple rounds of written tests and hands-on skills exams on engines, brakes, preventative maintenance, troubleshooting and shop safety, held over a three-day tournament. Of the roughly 750 participants, only the top 12 finishers advance to the industry-wide SuperTech competition, which will be held in September in Orlando.
Mark Galliand, who works the FedEx Freight Service Center on North Harrells Ferry in Baton Rouge, finished in 10th place at Top Wrench, making him the only FedEx Freight technician from Louisiana heading to Orlando the two-day SuperTech competition.
“When I started competing I guess it was to see if my skills and my critical thinking skills were enough to get me to the next level, and its the education you gain whenever you take the test and compete,” says Galliand, a Louisiana native who has worked for FedEx Freight for 22 years. “I tried for several years before making it to the top level.”
At the final Top Wrench event, technicians rotated through 34 timed-task stations, where they must do anything from computer-based tests and small-engine maintenance to larger repairs. A judge evaluates the technicians as they work and all actions taken to accomplish the task must be verbally described to the judge, which Galliand says is at times one of the most difficult parts of the competition.
“It was a daunting task the first time I went to the hands on level of the competition because the judges are basically getting to the point they crawl under the truck to make sure you’re doing it right,” Galliand explains. ”The hardest part is remembering to verbalize, you’re not used to it.”
Galliand says he encourages all of the technicians working in the Baton Rouge shop to try the competition each year, and he shares with them the skills he’s picked up from Top Wrench.
“Its about learning new things and helping teach jobs new things, whenever I go on these training trips, I try to spread it around,” Galliand says. “To get ready for SuperTech I’m studying some vendor manuals, some Automotive Service Excellence style questions, and reviewing some of the diagnostic programs we have that we use on our truck.”
The SuperTech competition, hosted by The Technology & Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations, will begin on Sept. 21. The annual competition not only gives technicians a chance to build their own skills, Galliand says, it also builds a community between technicians.
“There’s a few technicians in our region that I’ve gotten to know through this, it’s a good team building because I can can reach out and touch base with any of theses guys if I’m working on something and have a question about anything,” Galliand says.
—Deanna Narveson
