The GM Field Service Engineer (FSE) Technician Recognition Awards (U.S.) celebrate the skill and dedication of dealership technicians who have recently worked with FSE’s on challenging repairs.
Technicians at GM dealerships in each region — East, Central, and West — are selected for recognition based on their focus on safety, customer satisfaction, personal accountability, training achievements, diagnostic abilities, and the level of repair documentation.
Each recognized technician receives a Service Excellence magnetic plaque and an Excellence in Service Award certificate. (Fig. 9)
Fig. 9
1st Quarter 2021 Technician Recognition Awards
EAST REGION
Technician: Tony Costanzo
Dealership: Jon Hall Chevrolet, Daytona Beach, Florida
FSE: Scott Lewiston
Service Excellence: A 2017 Chevrolet Silverado HD had a vehicle surging condition during braking when towing a loaded gooseneck trailer. As the first step to identify the condition, Tony road tested the vehicle with the customer. He found that when coming to a stop, if the brake was applied just one time, the vehicle and trailer would stop normally. But if the brake pedal was applied, released and then reapplied, the vehicle would shudder until coming to a stop. After testing, making several adjustments, and trying multiple solutions, Tony arranged to have another vehicle, trailer and similar load brought in to test, compare, and swap trailers. At the conclusion of testing, we were able to identify and verify that the customer’s concern was directly related to an excessive trailer load and trailer brake adjustments.
Technician: James Locke
Dealership: Rosenthal Chevrolet, Alexandria, Virginia
FSE: Charles Mielke
Service Excellence: James takes his job as a technician and shop foreman very seriously. He is always on top of the latest information, training and tools – for himself as well as all of the shop technicians. Recently, James was involved with a customer concern of an intermittent dead battery on a 2020 Chevrolet Silverado. The vehicle had been back to the dealership multiple times, but a diagnosis could not be made since the condition could not be duplicated. James took the time to go to the vehicle the next time the customer experienced the dead battery condition to better understand the issue and make progress toward a diagnosis. Ultimately, he found the battery itself to be the problem. It is an effort like this that “Think Customer” and “It’s on Me” looks like.
CENTRAL REGION
Technician: Ted Reardon
Dealership: Tom Peacock Cadillac, Houston, Texas
FSE: Bruce Morris
Service Excellence: Ted is a very knowledgeable technician who embraces using all of the new diagnostics. He was one of the first technicians using the PicoScope for battery draw and always tries to improve his skills. As a result, he has become one the youngest shop foremen in the Houston area. Ted always strives to understand how it operates and why it’s broken, making sure he stays with the diagnosis to the end.
Technician: Roger Morris
Dealership: Demontrond GMC, Houston, Texas
FSE: Bruce Morris
Service Excellence: Roger recently worked on a repair case that had been through three different technicians. Roger never stopped trying to understand the cause of the condition and was very thorough in diagnosing an issue that was damaging new replacement steering racks. Each time, the new rack would exhibit the same failure as the replaced part. Roger then noticed contact between the steering gear and cradle, even though the cradle did not appear damaged. Finally, a new cradle repaired the concern. His dedication and perseverance to find a resolution to the repair was a great credit to the dealer and GM.
WEST REGION
Technician: Frankie Garcia
Dealership: Mark Christopher Auto Center, Ontario, California
FSE: Wade Hanna
Service Excellence: Frankie was instrumental in helping identify a build issue with some Chevrolet pickup tailgates. Frankie opened a TAC case and worked diligently to replace the complete tailgate while taking multiple measurements for engineering. When there wasn’t any change to the condition after repairs, Frankie walked the dealership lot to check similar vehicles to verify that every truck had the same issue. Engineering is now working on the issue. Frankie never questions anything asked of him. He works tirelessly and takes pride in his work. He helps other technicians at the dealership and goes above and beyond to try to solve an issue before having an FSE come out for assistance. Frankie has a “Don’t Give Up” attitude when working to correct any issues on customers’ vehicles.
Technician: Eduardo Cordova
Dealership: Mark Christopher Auto Center, Ontario, California
FSE: Wade Hanna
Service Excellence: Eduardo is the “go to tech” when answers are needed on a specific vehicle operation or diagnosis. He is extremely helpful and a very hard working technician. Recently, a 2017 Acadia had the A/C turning off while driving without any codes, no inhibit reasons and no information other than the ECM was turning off the A/C relay. Eduardo worked continuously on this vehicle trying to determine the root cause and repair. Every time he was asked, Eduardo provided session logs or more information with no resistance or concern as to how he would get paid. His dedication and pride in fixing customers’ vehicles is evident in everything he does, which demonstrates his excellent work ethic. After many hours and much pain, Eduardo was able to identify a relationship between high battery voltage and the A/C compressor turning off. Even though Engineering stated that voltage has nothing to do with the A/C turning off, because of Eduardo’s hard work, we were able to verify that it does. When voltage goes above 14.8 V, the ECM will turn off an A/C relay request. Eduardo was able to find a backed-out connector at the battery BEC that is the ground for the BCM, which controls alternator output. Once the connector was repaired, the concern was corrected. He always works very hard to take care of customers and does whatever is asked of him to make the correct repairs.
– Thanks to Hank Poelman
