Volvo Penta expands its service school offerings in North America

Volvo Penta of the Americas is expanding its service school offerings by partnering with vocational technical schools in the United States and Canada.

Volvo Penta is now offering technical training classes at Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario; Oak Harbor Vocational School in Oak Harbor, Ohio; Lake Career & Technical Center in Camdenton, Mo.; and New England Institute of Technology in Providence, R.I. Volvo Penta instructors will conduct the classes at the schools’ campuses for dealer and OEM service technicians, and also train the schools’ technical teachers to conduct future classes.

According to Magnus Gedda, manager of product training for Volvo Penta of the Americas, the program helps regional technicians receive the training they need, without having to travel too far. The primary objective of the program is to develop and prime the pool of talented technicians for employment at Volvo Penta dealerships.

“Working with these established vocational training schools will provide a major boost in capacity, allowing us to increase the number of technicians we train this year,” said Gedda. “We will continue reaching out to other schools and training facilities to further broaden opportunities for regional classes.”

“Regular training for our front-line service technicians is a key element in sustaining our consistent high customer satisfaction scores,” said Martin Bjuve, vice president of customer support and training for Volvo Penta of the Americas. “It’s critically important that techs stay current on all the new products and technologies that we’re bringing to market. That’s why we’re making a big investment to grow our service school locations and training staff.”

The regional locations will augment Volvo Penta’s primary North American training centers in Chesapeake, Virginia, and Burnaby, British Columbia. The company also schedules classes at a training facility in Vero Beach, Fla., for the large number of dealers in Florida, as well as special training sessions in Central America and North America. The technical training classes complement Volvo Penta’s computer-based training program, which technicians can take online as their schedules permit.

For information about Volvo Penta’s service school offerings, visit www.volvopenta.com.