Penske invests in next generation of truck mechanics

Vehicle rental giant Penske Truck Leasing Co. will collaborate with a group promoting student careers in vehicle maintenance as the company tries to address an industrywide employment shortage of truck technicians, Penske said today.

Reading, Pa.-based Penske will contribute funds and resources to a publicity and training effort by the TechForce Foundation, a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based nonprofit that works to raise awareness with school-age students about career opportunities as professional technicians. Specifically, Penske will become an early adopter in the foundation's FutureTech Success campaign, helping it to raise awareness by rolling out a national multiyear, multimedia campaign, the company said.

The combined effort is intended to address TechForce's recent assessment that the trucking industry needs nearly 300,000 new technicians over the next 10 years to meet demand. A shortage of that degree could hit Penske hard, since the company operates a vast, North American truck fleet of over 298,000 vehicles, and a truck maintenance workforce of some 8,000 people.

"We're at the forefront of an exciting time in our industry, as a new era of connected, autonomous, shared, and electric vehicles will evolve the already highly-advanced, traditionally-powered vehicles on the road today," Gregg Mangione, senior vice president of maintenance at Penske Truck Leasing, said in a release. "We're investing in TechForce to help cultivate and build a pipeline of the next generation of truck fleet maintenance technicians to meet our needs today and well into the future."

In addition to making a financial contribution, Penske says it will support campaign marketing materials and advertising campaigns, share campaign content on Penske social media channels, sit on the campaign's National Leadership Cabinet, participate in the FutureTech video series titled: "When Techs Rock, America Rolls" to highlight Penske's best practices, and join the foundation in speaking events at schools nationwide.