Terex Utilities Service School Provides Hands-On Instruction for Techs
Terex Utilities in June held its 39th annual Service School at Lake Area Technical College for 56 participants from across the United States and Canada. The service school provides a hands-on experience that helps equipment technicians understand more on inspecting, maintaining, troubleshooting, servicing and operating equipment.
This year, the school consisted of nine stations, with Terex team member instructors from the Technical Support, Field Service, and the Regional Production Support Managers group. Stations included training on specific aerial devices and digger derricks, and general instruction on maintenance and inspections.
“We are constantly looking for ways to improve the school by receiving feedback through surveys each year,” Will Biberdorf, product support tech said. “This year we added a class on the new ANSI standard for 15-year structural testing, which states that structural tests are required when a unit reaches the age of 15 years, then every 10 years. This station went over what this all entails and participants got to perform the test on an aerial unit.”
While the training is geared for technicians who work on the equipment, other individuals such as trainers, can benefit from this hands-on learning experience. Roger Pothier is the owner and an instructor at Live Line Utility Training Inc. in Canada. With 20 years of experience as an automotive and heavy-duty mechanic, Pothier opened Live Line Utility Training in September 2023, which is an accredited training supplier for the Canadian Utility Fleet Council.
“My goal is to be able to go back to Canada with more Terex content for my training program. The demonstration materials and teaching aides they are using here are second to none,” said Pothier. “I am learning a lot of small tips and tricks that will definitely add value to my courses – and I know I will better represent the Terex product because of this hands-on learning.”
Andrew Nienaber is a mechanic with Highline Construction in Minnesota. This is Nienaber’s second time attending the Terex Service school. “This year there were more stations, and the sessions were shorter. I appreciated this as it provided more variety and exposure to new information. I learned more about the Terex Customer Portal that contains unit specific schematics. I look forward to utilizing this and finding what I need when I need it.”
For more information on the Terex Service School and other Terex training offerings, visit www.terex.com/utilities.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.