Technicians In Training: Get It While It Lasts…

With the RV Technical Institute working hard to bring a new approach to training RV technicians, many dealers and technicians are wondering about the future of existing education programs; Technicians in Training (TnT), Registered Courses and Supplier Training.

What Should A Dealer Or Tech Who Wants Training ASAP Do?

TnT Supplier Component Training and Registered Technician training will continue to be offered during the build-out of the institute’s new curriculum and credentialing program.

Dealers and technicians should continue to look at the training section of the RV Industry Association website for upcoming TnT trainings by clicking here.

Credit for training completed at any time in the past or during the current transition period will be mapped to the future state RV technician credentialing.

“We have several TnT classes scheduled through the end of 2018 and into 2019,” said TnT Education Manager Tammy Holland. “We strongly encourage dealers or technicians to look at our offerings. And if any dealer would like to schedule additional training sessions feel free to reach out to me personally or talk to your regional TnT rep.”

Is TnT Supplier Component Training Going Away?

While it will no longer be branded as TnT, supplier component training will continue to be a major focus for the institute; the institute will be keeping the pieces that are currently working in the TnT program and fixing the things that don’t.

The TnT program itself was new to the industry in 2014. While the program grew from 2015 – 2017, growth began to flatten in 2018.

The inception of the new institute is being used as an opportunity to talk to suppliers, technicians and dealers about the areas that are working the best and the pieces of TnT that have not been performing as well.

“We have received both positive and negative feedback about the TnT delivery method and based on a recent meeting of major TnT participants, it’s likely that we will land on a hybrid model for future supplier component training,” said Senior Director of Education Sharonne Lee, “Some dealerships and technicians love receiving all the training at one time, while others feel that a technician can’t be out of the shop for such a long period of time. Many love that training can be brought directly to their dealership or region but don’t like how technicians are being trained on one specific area at a time, requiring multiple sessions in their facility or regions to get fully rounded training.”

Supplier stakeholders, meanwhile, are excited about revamping technician training because the current system can be adjusted and corrected. “Component suppliers feel that, working together, we can drastically improve the program because we now have the funding and industry support to do it,” said Lee.

“The support for the program from every corner of the RV industry allows us to incorporate feedback and perspectives from all key stakeholders. We expect the supplier component training offered by the institute will be the best of all possible approaches and we will be well positioned to adjust and implement necessary changes to meet our member and technician needs,” Lee concluded.