Hoglund Bus and Truck

In the quest to provide service technicians with invaluable education that’s so rare in the industry, IC Bus recently completed another session of our ongoing IC Bus™ University. Held during the week of May 18 in Tulsa, OK, 45 service technicians from over 40 school districts attended.

In a business where buses need timely maintenance, service technicians yearn for any update in training they can find. IC Bus University, the brainchild of John Thompson, dealer training director at IC Bus, has established a curriculum to keep technicians up to speed and able to avoid costly downtime.

“There’s a real thirst out there in the bus world for training,” Thompson observed. “Technicians can’t get this extensive training anywhere else. Buses are easier to work on right now, but only if you have the training and skills to do it.”

The recent training session started with a trip to the IC Bus plant, where technicians spent time observing how a bus is assembled. Over the rest of the week, they received specific instruction on bus electronics, engines, bus care and maintenance, Alison transmission systems, full power brake systems, AC systems and specialty manufacturing.

Technicians also received hands-on training with the one-of-a-kind IC Bus Training Bus, a fully operational bus (with its own VIN number) on which every kind of diagnostic can be performed, taught and evaluated. The Training Bus has cross-sections that display all electrical and mechanical elements present in an IC Bus brand bus.

The response by attendees has been uniformly enthusiastic. Here’s an example from Brian Koehn, who is the Lead Bus Mechanic for Noble Public Schools in Noble, OK:

“I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate IC Bus’s commitment to customer education and training. I just completed a run-through of IC Bus University and was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the training your people were giving. The instructors were informative and knowledgeable and the material was relevant. I believe IC Bus has got it right.”

Given the great response, IC Bus University will now offer an advanced session of instruction (ICU2) for technicians who have completed the first session. ICU2 will be more hands-on with a focus on advanced diagnostics. The class will be smaller, around 10 techs per class, and the first ICU2 will be held the weeks of October 19 and October 26 this year.

The next time the initial IC Bus University sessions will be offered is October and December 2009, followed by sessions in March and June of 2010.

The cost of IC University is $300. You will need a voucher from your dealership to register. Please contact Nicole Crum at 763-271-2983 or busadmin@hoglundbus.com if you are interested.

Registration is now open for IC University! Classes will be the week of March 23, April 13 or May 18.  The class fee is $300.  This covers all instruction, lunch and snacks daily (Tuesday through Friday), daily transportation from the host hotel (Doubletree at Warren Place in Tulsa, OK) plus daily seminars at lunch on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from various vendors and evening classes from 7:00 until 9:00 Monday through Thursday.  There will be a 4 hour class on Allison Transmissions on Friday of the week. Students should plan to arrive prior to 12:00 noon on Monday of the week.  The bus will leave the hotel at 12:30 on Monday.  The bus will leave the hotel at 7:30 am on Tuesday through Friday and return at the conclusion of classes each day.  Evening classes will be held at the host hotel.  Transportation will be provided back to the airport at the conclusion of classes on Friday of the week.  Students should not plan to depart prior to 2:00 pm on Friday of the week selected. Hotel rates at the Doubletree at Warren Place are $89 per night and this includes breakfast.  There is any number of restaurants within walking distance for evening meals. 

 Information about the ICU classes can be found at ISIS under dealer education.  ICU should be right at the top with information about the voucher program and directions about how to get registered.  If you have trouble getting registered you can send a “help” e-mail to dealer education and you will be assisted in the registration process.  

 This is expected to fill up quickly! Don’t miss this opportunity to get hands on training with experts!