Technician Spotlight: Brian Lentz, Swisslog

Brian Lentz, Swisslog
Title: Senior field service engineer
Location: Newport News, Va.
Experience: Eight years as a field service technician
Primary Focus: Providing electrical and mechanical support for Swisslog installations around North America.

Modern: How did you first get interested in this field?
Lentz: I was trained as a nuclear electrician in the Navy, stationed in Norfolk on the USS Enterprise. When it was time to leave the Navy, I knew I wanted to do something similar that would allow me to work with my hands and be challenging. I went to a job fair in the area, and Swisslog was high on my list because automation seemed interesting and it was a local company.

Modern: You’ve been in the job for eight years. Tell us a little about how your role has evolved.
Lentz: When I first started out, my title was field service engineer, but what that really meant was that I was a road warrior and away from home most of the time. During the first six months, I traveled back and forth between a few sites where we were in the construction and commissioning phase. I did a lot of electrical work and testing, but the biggest part of the job was working with the controls engineers who got the system up and running. I really didn’t know a lot about automation, so this was my on-the-job training. Once those sites were up and running and I’d learned about the systems, I was on my own, working at customer sites. In that role, we’d help them address any issues, train their mechanics to maintain the systems and train their operators to run them. Some of the other tasks would be a system audit, sometimes it was changes or retrofits or preventative maintenance. A few months ago, I moved into a non-traveling role as the lead electro-mechanical engineer on our STAR team, which actively monitors all of our systems around North America from a central control room in the Newport News office. I focus on training employees to solve electrical and mechanical issues remotely, and with working with our training department to develop the curriculum for new hires.

Modern: Is there a career path to being a technician?
Lentz: There are many different paths. We still have technicians who are road warriors after several years because that’s what they enjoy. We’ve had others transfer to a software or programmable logic controller (PLC) engineer role or some kind of management position. One of the key things is that almost every installation is a little different and each uses some proprietary things. It is important to have experience from the customer’s viewpoint.

Modern: How important are customer relationship skills to being a technician today?
Lentz: It’s equal to or more important than the technical side. You can be the smartest guy in the room, but if you can’t get along with the customer, they’re not going to come back. What’s more, a critical skill is the ability to do troubleshooting over the phone, without actually seeing the equipment. That, too, is part of keeping the customer happy.

Modern: What’s the best thing about the job?
Lentz: There are great benefits, and there’s a variety to the job. The people are great to work with. You’ll have the opportunity to work with a variety of equipment and solutions, and do something different almost every day.

Modern: Our industry is facing a real technician shortage. Now that you’re in the field, what would you say to that student in tech school, community college or the military who is thinking about what to do next?
Lentz: This is not an easy field. It is faced paced and you’re going to be required to learn a lot of information very quickly. But, if you can cut it, it’s very rewarding.