It’s only natural the first woman to achieve Kenworth Certified Master Technician status has the skills and determination required to work from a service truck. A very well-equipped, sharp-looking service truck.
Thirty-two-year-old Jenn Lesnik has worked for the Edmonton Kenworth Group for 13 years. She grew up helping family members work on farm equipment and machinery, was impressed by trucks her grandfather owned, and encouraged by her mother to be whatever she wanted to be.
“I learned at an early age that I didn’t mind getting my hands dirty,” she says. “I like figuring out how to fix things. When I got interested in being a mechanic, my mother was my biggest supporter.”
Lesnik entered the Registered Apprentice Program (RAP) while still in high school and started her career as a mechanic at an agricultural equipment repair shop. Her fascination with trucks eventually led to a job with Kenworth as a shop mechanic.
“I never saw myself in a service truck,” she says. “But I got a taste of what working in the field is like, and now I can’t imagine not working out of a service truck. I like the one-to-one communication with customers. I like the challenge of being on my own to figure out and fix problems. I like having to think outside the box to get trucks running again.”
Customers are sometimes taken aback when they call to schedule repairs for their truck and a woman answers.
“I’lI get a call at 3 in the morning, and when I start asking questions so I can diagnose the problem, they think they’re talking to someone at a call center and say, ‘Uh, can I talk to an actual mechanic?’ I kind of smile to myself when I tell them, ‘I’m the one who’s going to come out and fix your truck.’ After I explain, there’s rarely an issue, and most people are actually really happy to talk to me and have me work on their truck.”
Lesnik’s base of operations is a 2013 model T370 Kenworth with a Paccar PX-8 engine rated at 300 horsepower turning an Allison 3000HS automatic transmission. The chassis carries a service body built by Western Truck Body. A heated, walk-in “dog house” behind the cab provides shelter for her and her tools during frigid Alberta winters.
“(The dog house) has a bus-type heater that runs off the engine’s coolant when the truck is running, and a Wabasto heater to keep things warm when I have the truck turned off,” she says. “It’s nice to work with warm tools. I keep all my frequently-used hand tools in there. There’s a small work bench and a desktop area for my laptop and printer.”
A 3,500-pound Venturo-brand ET12KX crane helps with removing damaged radiators and other heavy-lifts. A Vanair Air N Arc 300 All-In-One Power System in the service body’s bed provides an air compressor, generator, welder, battery booster, and battery charger in one com- pact unit.
“All my other tools and supplies, and especially parts, are stored in the truck’s side compartments,” she says. “Lots of Paccar parts and affiliated brands. I’m not going to pull a transmission on the side of the road, but I want to be ready to diagnose and fix just about anything else that can go wrong with a Kenworth truck.”
Lesnik jokingly calls her truck, “The Bill- board” due to its eye-catching graphics and chrome accessories.
“It’s definitely an attention-getter. Its appearance matches the level of service I want to bring to my customers. At the end of the day, I simply enjoy fixing stuff, helping people get back to work. I started out as a farm girl working on equipment, and now I’m doing it for a living.
What’s not to like about that, right?”
Paying It Forward
Lesnik is proud of her status as Kenworth’s first female Certified Master Technician, but doesn’t want to be the only woman in that position. She volunteers with Careers: Young Women in Trades and Technology, attending career fairs to educate young women about the opportunities available in the trucking industry.
“Many people assume working on trucks is a skillset only men have, but that’s not true,” she says. “It’s all about figuring out how to fix things, and women can be as good at that as men.”