Ongoing training is essential if dealer technicians are to continue to provide the high level of service customers expect, and during 2005 CLAAS UK ran over 1,900 man training days covering 250 technical courses for dealer personnel.
Having completed their apprenticeship, the technician has the option after four years experience to gain one or more Master Mechanic certificates for combines, foragers, balers, telehandlers or tractors. This requires them over that period to attend a stipulated number of training courses for the product group and successfully pass the assessment at the end of each course.
The Master Technician qualification is open to those who have been recognised as a Master Mechanic in one or more categories. To achieve this higher status, in addition to an assessment from senior managers, the candidate has to achieve at least a 70% pass in both a theoretical and practical test each lasting half a day, which so far 29% of candidates have passed. The theoretical written test covers systems and functions on machines, whilst the practical test requires the candidate to diagnose demanding faults introduced into machines and then to explain the processes they used to identify the fault. Having achieved this level, the candidate will then have to pass a similar test every year to re-qualify.
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