Terex Utilities held its 39th annual Service School at Lake Area Technical College, in Watertown, South Dakota. The service school, attended by 56 participants from across the United States and Canada, provided a hands-on experience that helps equipment technicians understand more about 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,” said Will Biberdorf, product support tech. “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 toward technicians who work on the equipment, other individuals such as trainers, can benefit from this hands-on learning experience, Terex said.

“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 Roger Pothier, owner and instructor at Live Line Utility Training in Canada. “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, a mechanic with Highline Construction in Minnesota, attended the Terex Service School for a second time. He said there were more stations this year 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,” Nienaber said.