Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Dayton Parts, Haldex, Mahle Clevite and SKF on Thursday, Feb. 19, announced David Bryan Lewis as the 2008 Technician of the Year award recipient at the Heavy Duty Aftermarket Week Awards luncheon. Lewis is a lead technician and supervisor for Wal-Mart Transportation’s fleet maintenance facility in Sutherland, Va., where he has served for more than 16 years.
Lewis has achieved many successes during his 25 years of service to the heavy-duty industry that qualify him for this award. He is an Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Master Truck Technician with T2-T8 certifications, and is L-2 certified in advanced medium-/heavy-duty electronic diesel engine diagnostics. He serves on the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) Technology Maintenance Council (TMC) and has participated in all four TMC SuperTech competitions, leading his team to three top-five finishes.
Lewis is the only technician in competition history to be awarded the competition’s highest honor, “Overall Grand Champion,” back-to-back. In addition, he also was named “Top Performer of the Repair Order Skill Station” at the TMC SuperTech 2008 competition. Other accomplishments include five consecutive Wal-Mart National Technician Champion titles (six titles overall) and the February 2008 “Associate of the Month” award for exhibiting outstanding troubleshooting abilities.
Lewis’ nomination form cited his ability to identify the root causes of challenging maintenance issues, as well as his willingness to provide solutions that prevent future problems. At the facility where he works, the conventional shop tooling was creating too much movement when performing tandem alignments. So Lewis designed a one-piece frame jig that removes the slack at the ends of the tool where the alignment measurements are referenced, resulting in more accurate alignments the first time, as well as increased user confidence.
“Bryan constantly studies and researches the industry’s ever-changing equipment, utilizing all types of resources not only to benefit himself, but to make the fleet better as a whole,” says Eric Benge, regional maintenance manager for Wal-Mart Transportation. “He has a strong passion for training and utilizes all resources available to gain and share knowledge.”
In May 2008, Lewis graduated with Summa Cum Laude honors from Southside Virginia Community College (SVCC), receiving degrees in both automotive and diesel technology. Today, he gives back to the community as an instructional assistant for SVCC’s diesel technology program.
An independent panel of judges extensively reviewed the pool of nominations. The panel consisted of heavy-duty trucking experts holding backgrounds in various areas of the industry, from nationally recognized heavy-duty trucking magazine editors to former fleet managers to heavy-duty aftermarket product manufacturers. For more information on the Technician of the Year Program, its winner and its sponsors, go to www.techoftheyear.com.
