GETTING IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME Attention to detail sets Maintenance Technician of the Year apart


BY JENNIFER BARNETT REED Contributing Writer


he works on. “Sometimes they come in on a tow truck, and I just enjoy getting them back running. Some are simple to work on, and some you have to troubleshoot. … I’m always learning something—every single day something else comes up that’s different.” Empire Transport’s service shop


supervisor, Rick Pruitt, said he nominated Garcia for Maintenance Technician of the Year because of his outstanding performance and his dedication to the company. One quality that sets Garcia apart is the amount of time and effort he puts in to stay current with changes in engines and technology, Pruitt said. “He does a lot of reading and studying


on his own time to keep up with the new things,” he said. And plenty has changed since Garcia,


 Frank Garcia, Empire Transport Frank Garcia’s official title may be


maintenance technician, but what he really is—what he really enjoys being—is a puzzle solver. After more than 13 years at Empire Transport’s Fleet Center in Mesa, the Arizona Trucking Association 2011 Maintenance Technician of the Year said he still finds new challenges on the job every day.


“I just enjoy repairing them,” Garcia said of the Empire Machinery fleet trucks


49, talked his boss at a tire dealership into giving him a shot at a mechanic’s position. He was about 18 then, and was working as a tire mounter, but had previously worked as a mechanic’s helper for the Arizona Department of Transportation and had grown up watching his mechanic father at work.


“He was kind of hesitant,” Garcia said


of his then-boss. “I said he could try me out, and if I don’t work out, put me back mounting tires. That’s where I started.” It did work out, and Garcia went to the


Arizona Automotive Institute in Glendale for formal training as well. Since then he has continued to take classes and seminars to keep his skills up to date. “With the newer engines, you’ve got to


keep going to school to keep up with all the changes,” Garcia said.


Pruitt also praised Garcia’s work ethic. “He is constantly checking to see that


every little detail you can go through to make it as right as possible is done,” Pruitt said. “I call it very meticulous about his work. After he’s completed a job he will test it and wait and test it again to make sure it is completed.” Garcia said he just doesn’t like to have


to do a job twice. “When I work on something, I try to


fix it where I don’t have to come back to it a second time,” he said. He also tries to save other mechanics


extra work by sharing what he’s learned after he figures out a particularly sticky repair. “If I come up with a problem and I


solve it, I’ll go up to other mechanics and let them know what I found, what I did to correct the problem,” he said. “Most people, when they repair something, they don’t go around telling anyone. I go to that extra effort to let them know what I’ve found so when they come up with that problem they can fix it.” Pruitt said this makes Garcia—whose


coworkers have elected him the Empire fleet center’s technician of the year three times —a great mentor to younger mechanics. He not only has the knowledge, Pruitt said, but he’s able to coach rather than correct. “He’s very diplomatic about it,” Pruitt


said. “He will explain to them why they’re looking at it in the wrong way, and explain that this is the way it actually operates, not the way you’re thinking. He’s a very calm, level-headed person.”


54


Arizona Trucking Association 2012 Yearbook


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