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Tenneco Technology Tour and Monroe ‘Ride and Drive’ Events Train More than 5,000 Technicians on Ride Control Diagnosis and Selection
Las Vegas, NV - More than 5,000 technicians and parts specialists participated in 39 Tenneco Technology Tour events across North America this year. The program continues to expand its role in providing automotive service professionals with practical, hands-on technical training in ride control diagnosis and selection.
The Technology Tour enables aftermarket professionals to compare the steering, stopping and stability characteristics of popular import and domestic vehicles equipped with worn original equipment ride control units with identical vehicles fitted with new Monroe replacement shocks and struts. The program, which combines hands-on driving with in-depth training workshops, has enrolled tens of thousands of automotive technicians since its inception. In addition to the Technology Tour, Tenneco’s field training professionals and aftermarket sales team provide on-site technical education in hundreds of locations annually.
“Until you experience a Monroe Ride and Drive event, you do not realize how valuable it can be in helping technicians gain the knowledge and confidence to sell ride control parts,” said Michael Gordon, president and chief executive officer of Monroe Motor Products Corp., a replacement parts distributor based in Rochester, N.Y. “This experience is probably the single biggest driver in moving the needle for our ride control business. It significantly increases sales of shocks and struts.”
Following the Ride and Drive training session, the Tour’s ASE-certified instructors help participants learn how to communicate the value of ride control replacement to vehicle owners. Other technical content covers exhaust and emission control services, including sales opportunities in the performance exhaust category.
“The Tour is the cornerstone of an extensive technical and sales training program designed to help all of our trade partners – distributors, jobbers and shop professionals – increase the value they deliver to customers through more effective diagnostic procedures and the use of premium replacement products,” said T.J. Fontana, manager of training and operations, North American Aftermarket, Tenneco.
The Technology Tour will return in 2008 with an expanded schedule and new training content, according to Fontana. “Our customers have seen dramatic increases in ride control sales as a result of this program, and they obviously want to see it continue to grow – and it will,” he said.
For more information regarding the Tenneco Technology Tour and other training initiatives supporting the company’s ride control, brake, and exhaust/emission control businesses, please contact your Monroe shocks and struts supplier, visit www.monroe.com, or call (734) 384-7846.
Tenneco Inc. is a $4.7 billion manufacturing company with headquarters in Lake Forest, Illinois, and approximately 19,000 employees worldwide. Tenneco is one of the world’s largest designers, manufacturers and marketers of emission control and ride control products and systems for the automotive original equipment market and the aftermarket. Tenneco markets its products principally under the Monroe®, Walker®, Gillet™ and Clevite® Elastomer brand names. Among its products are Sensa-Trac® and Monroe Reflex® shocks and struts, Rancho® suspension systems and shock absorbers, Walker® Quiet-Flow® mufflers, DynoMax® performance exhaust products, and Clevite® Elastomer noise, vibration and harshness control components.
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