Stellar and Tire Training
Stellar Industries crane handles tire during a training workshop.Photo courtesy of Stellar Industries Inc.
Across all industry sectors, it is not uncommon for successful businesses to explain how one of the keys to taking care of customers is to provide on-going, professional training for their own employees.
This principle certainly applies to the service truck industry, which is why various learning opportunities are usually available for service technicians every year. When it comes to tire-related training, though, the Tire Industry Association is a clear leader.
Based in Bowie, Md., the TIA provides training and certification opportunities for both entry-level, and experienced tire technicians via DVD/workbook programs, as well as through TIA Online University. Subject matter for these training include best practices for the servicing of automotive, commercial, farm, earthmover, and industrial tires.
The association has also begun offering training opportunities at various sites around the country after many people expressed interest in more hands-on, in-person options.
One of the TIA’s onsite options is the Basic Farm Tire Service class, a 200-level, minimum-skills training and certificate program. This year’s class took place at the home of Stellar Industries Inc., a well-known manufacturer of tire service trucks and service cranes. Classes were scheduled for June 14-16, July 12-14, and Aug. 16-18 at the company’s headquarters in Garner, Iowa.
PETER KUHN
Stellar and Tire Service
Service truck crane lifts farm equipment tire during a 2014 training session.Photo courtesy of Tire Industry Association
“The program outlines and explains the guidelines for servicing farm, agricultural, and construction tire and wheel assemblies,” explains Christine Hoogenboom, TIA’s director of training. “It includes step-by-step procedures for demounting, mounting, and inflating single, dual, and three-piece assemblies in addition to service truck operation and liquid ballast installation and removal.”
Donna Popp-Bruesewitz
The training gives attendees an opportunity to learn how to do the service the proper and safe way, rather than trying to muddle through it on their own.”— Donna Popp-Bruesewitz, communications manager, Stellar Industries Inc.
Hoogenboom said the TIA started offering hands-on classes in 2014, but this is the first year the farm tire service training were held at Stellar Industries. Past hosts have included Becker Tire in Great Bend, Kansas; Unisan in Gothenburg, Neb.; and Tandem Tire in Maquoketa, Iowa.
“The end user is the tire technician who services farm tires, but for these hands-on classes we sometimes get a manager, or even an owner who wants to get this knowledge firsthand so they can pass it along to their technicians when they return to the shop,” Hoogenboom says.
Each participant received a certificate of completion after successfully demonstrating the required skills and completing a 70-question exam.
Company offers “ideal location” for training
Even though Stellar Industries is a first-time host for these trainings, the company has been a longtime supporter of the TIA. Stellar employees have also assisted with other service-related classes throughout the United States and Canada. And the company recognizes the value in playing a key role in these instructional sessions.
“We’ve had positive feedback from our customers and other tire service techs. The training gives attendees an opportunity to learn how to do the service the proper and safe way, rather than trying to muddle through it on their own,” says Donna Popp-Bruesewitz, communications manager for Stellar Industries.
Popp-Bruesewitz says the popularity of Stellar trucks among tire service technicians is a draw. The company also provides an ideal location, as well as the tools, equipment, and classroom setting needed to conduct a successful training in a controlled environment, she adds.
“We felt like we could help out the TIA by offering our facility, both conference rooms, audio/visual equipment, and the service truck, as well as plenty of room to run both portions,” offers Popp-Bruesewitz. “This also gives participants an opportunity to see where their service trucks are manufactured.”
For more details on TIA, visit www.tireindustry.org.
Mark Yontz is a freelance writer from Urbandale, Iowa.
