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Diesel technician jobs are becoming more high-tech and specialized as truck manufacturers progressively adopt digital componentry. The profession is suffering from a worker deficit, and fleets find themselves hiring recruits fresh from technician school.

Trucking companies are pulling out all the stops to find, recruit, educate, train, develop and recognize the next generation of commercial vehicle technicians. It’s a fundamental issue as the industry’s workforce of technicians continues to age toward retirement, while at the same time, there’s a scarcity of young men and women coming into the profession to fill their ranks.

Penske Truck Leasing has partnered with TechForce Foundation on the latter’s FutureTech Success campaign, which supports the recruitment of new fleet-maintenance technicians.

Tire wear often is blamed on a number of things, and many times, on the brand of the tire. But aggressive tire wear is a symptom that something else is wrong with a truck.

Mack Trucks announced it is partnering with colleges in Florida, Ohio and Texas to offer the Diesel Advanced Technology Education program beginning in early 2019 to address a shortage of skilled vehicle service technicians.

When Jeff Harris, vice president of maintenance at USA Truck Inc., first started as an apprentice truck mechanic 29 years ago, he had a trade school diploma, a basic set of tools, a couple of crusty old mechanics who took him under their wing and showed him the ropes, and a desire to learn.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More technicians will be needed soon, nearly 77,000 more by 2026. However, plenty of students are in the pipeline. But questions remain about their ability to meet real-world needs in a shop, and about how to keep them once hired, experts said.

The work of servicing and maintaining a fleet of trucks presents a wide assortment of potential dangers to technicians, but the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “lockout-tagout” regulations provide guidance to reduce the risk of injury or death.

The trucking industry needs to hire about 30,000 maintenance technicians to keep up with demand.