John Deere Press Room 2009

Six John Deere service technicians have become the first to be presented with their LTA3 industry accreditation, as part of the industry’s recently established Landbased Technician Accreditation scheme.

This certifies that they are recognised as advanced technicians with expertise in diagnostics and specialist product knowledge. The six, who were presented with their LTA certificate and jacket on the John Deere stand at LAMMA ’09 in January, are:

• Chris Jacques – Agricultural Machinery (Nantwich), Cheshire
• Neil Hardie – W M Dodds, Jedburgh, Roxburghshire
• Tom Cooper – Ben Burgess, Norwich, Norfolk
• Mark Cann – Ben Burgess, Norwich, Norfolk
• Carl Pitelen – Ben Burgess, Norwich, Norfolk
• Nick Wilby – Ben Burgess, Norwich, Norfolk

To achieve full LTA3 accreditation, the technicians had to achieve a large number of training credits in various disciplines covering both selling and marketing as well as product knowledge, including customer care and technical resources. This was followed by an Engineering Council and IAgrE approved interviewing process conducted by John Deere’s manager, customer support Peter Leech and industry consultant Richard Trevarthen.

LTA3 accreditation through this approved interview process also includes registration with the Engineering Council as an engineering technician (EngTech), with the ability to display the technician’s full qualifications on his service vehicle. Currently John Deere’s agricultural and groundscare dealers in the UK and Ireland have 900 staff registered with the LTA scheme, including 452 at LTA1 level, 442 at LTA2, and six at LTA3.

“The LTA scheme is designed to raise the profile of dealership technicians and underline their value to the industry,” says Peter Leech. “By reaching this stage, these six John Deere dealer technicians have proved that they are suitably experienced and qualified to provide an advanced level of after-sales support to customers.”

February 2009