Training on wheels

How an Alabama team is streamlining service technician training to serve customers even better

Learning about natural gas appliances, including how to install and troubleshoot them when they aren’t operating is a key component to service technician training. Now, thanks to the hard work of two Alabama employees, technician training just got a lot more efficient.

For more than a decade, Chase and Brad, distribution evaluators in Alabama, have been working to streamline service technician training. That hard work paid off with the launch of a mobile training trailer.  

The trailer, formerly a race car hauler, was a completely blank canvas, allowing Brad and Chase to use their 20 years of experience as service technicians to design and build it from the ground up.

^{The new operations support mobile training trailer.}

Brad and Chase spent countless hours customizing the trailer to make sure apprentices will be able to train with equipment that will give them the knowledge to evaluate and repair almost any gas appliances they might encounter in customers’ homes. This was all in addition to their “day jobs.”

“This mobile training facility has been a long-term vision, and to be able to build that vision with the collaboration of Alabama’s operations support group and leadership has given us the opportunity to create an environment that has no limits, only possibilities,” Chase said. 

“It has truly been inspiring to see a dream become a reality, knowing that it provides the tools and knowledge for a future filled with unlimited possibilities.”

The mobile training trailer contains fully operational natural gas appliances, including seven furnaces of varying efficiency levels, two tankless water heaters, two space heaters and gas logs. It also features a large screen monitor for presentations and a large toolbox containing all the tools required for training. The electricity is supplied by an onboard gas generator, and there are external hookups for natural gas and water.

^{A seating area, toolbox and seven natural gas furnaces are only a few of the features in the new trailer.}

In its inaugural week in action, 22 service technician apprentices were trained to perform furnace installation, meter and fuel line sizing, venting/combustion air and troubleshooting. Based on a post-training survey, apprentices enjoyed their time in the mobile training center and the hands-on approach to learning.

“I'm very excited to even be a part of this project and cannot wait to see where it goes. I can’t explain how rewarding it is to see our vision to start resonating with the trainees,” Brad said. “I love the idea of empowering employees with mobile technology that brings education and knowledge to their fingertips, ensuring knowledge is never confined to a single location.”