With Auto Glass Week™ (AGW) 2024 rapidly approaching, Caliber Auto Glass technicians are vying for a chance to compete by participating in the company’s own Auto Glass Technician competition in suburban Dallas this week. Caliber Auto Glass is holding the debut competition to select which of its technicians will represent the company in Orlando, September 19-21, 2024.

Caliber’s Auto Glass Competition began on July 8 and will conclude on the evening of July 9. The Lewisville, Texas-based company designed the competition to prepare the technicians for the AGW Auto Glass Technician Olympics (AGTO) while also ensuring their compliance with company standards. Eight technicians compete in two groups of four, with one group competing in a hands-on heat the first day and the second group competing the next day. All technicians also take a written exam.

Because of his respect for AGW, Troy Mason, the senior vice president and general manager of Caliber Auto Glass, wanted to establish a competition to get Caliber technicians to compete at the event. Mason says he went to his first AGW unsure what he’d think of the experience but left impressed.

Troy Mason was instrumental in establishing Caliber Auto Glass’ competition.

“I was blown away at how relevant the [AGW] competition really is, [it’s] testing all the right things,” he says.

Mason says the Caliber competition helps motivate both his general managers and their technicians to do their best work.

“This really does distill all the way down in every level of the field – to follow the right standards and focus on the right things,” Mason says. “I love the competition.”

Mason refers to the eight technicians competing at Caliber as “the best the company has to offer,” and he’s excited to support the top three in the AGTO at AGW 2024.

During the two competition heats, technicians worked on four Caliber-owned vehicles. Aside from quiet conversation among onlookers and communication between technicians and judges, silence reigned on the competition floor as technicians concentrated. Navigating sweat, onlookers and an hour-and-a-half time limit, competitors put their skills to work extracting and replacing windshields.

Each of the technicians took a different path to auto glass work and Caliber, but each is excited to be at the competition in suburban Dallas.

Neil Casteel says he’s honored to be at the Caliber Auto Glass competition.

Neil Casteel from Baltimore, Maryland, has been in the auto glass industry for almost a decade and with Caliber since September 2023.

“It’s an honor,” he says. “I love being here, I love the atmosphere and meeting the other guys.”

Casteel also just found out he’ll be a Caliber general manager for Maryland and Delaware when he returns from the competition.

For Austin Craddolph, who is local to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, coming to this competition helps validate his skill as a technician even though he’s only been in the industry since 2020.

“I definitely think it [validates] that I’m excelling at my glass career, and I’m not just any old technician anymore. I’m actually a good technician; I can actually say I’m a professional,” he says.

Erick Divas from Las Vegas said that, for him, preparation for the competition involved two facets. He relied on the skills and expertise he’s accumulated since he started in the industry in 2006, but he also made sure to practice to ensure he was following the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard (AGRSS) which would be expected of him during the competition.

“I got myself in that mindset and every job that I did, I kept repeating the same steps,” he says.

Lenny Pike from Baltimore, Maryland, says the competition is a great opportunity to both display his skills and learn new ones.

“I’ve been doing auto glass work for 11 years, and I enjoy it,” he says. “Any time I can showcase that or learn something from other guys, that is always fun.”

Leo Ramirez traveled from his hurricane-plagued hometown to compete.

Competitor Leo Ramirez from Houston was particularly dedicated to making it to the competition. Hurricane Beryl is currently devastating his hometown. He made sure his family was safe before making his way to the competition late on the evening of July 8.

Caliber will announce the first, second and third place winners of its competition at a banquet on the evening of July 9. These three will compete in the AGTO during AGW 2024.

This article is reprinted from: Finding the Highest Caliber: Auto Glass Company Holds Pre-AGW Technician Competition - glassBYTEs.comglassBYTEs.com