LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Since the start of the pandemic, supply chain disruptions have made truck drivers some of the most sought-after employees. Students enrolled in Butler Tech’s commercial driver's license training can expect job offers before they complete the course but before they could hit the road, there was a bottleneck.
The county’s busy test site often meant week-long delays for new drivers hoping to tryout for their licenses. That’s why Butler Tech built its own.
The new facility at Butler Tech’s Liberty Campus debuted in October, and examiners like Tim Reynolds said it’s been busy ever since.
“We’re doing probably around 16 tests today,” he said, pouring over a particularly packed schedule.
As the CDL Training Manager, Reynolds knows both sides of the process well.
Through Butler Tech’s five-week course, Reynolds makes sure his students know their trucks inside and out. CDL exams start with pre-trip inspections, so drivers remain aware of any potential safety risks they need to check before hitting the road. Then once they’re behind the wheel, Reynolds said he makes sure his driving students know the power of the vehicle they’re driving.
“When they leave here and they go out to start their career, we want them to take that safety aspect with them,” he said.
Reynolds said it’s good to make sure they log enough hours behind the wheel that they’re well practiced before the test.
“The issue we were having was getting them trained and nowhere to test 'em,” he said.
Before Butler Tech built its facility, Reynolds said there was only one testing site and one examiner in the county, which meant students would leave his course then wait up to six weeks to take their exams.
“Or they’d have to travel somewhere 40-50 miles to get a test done,” he said.
Often, that meant students were out of practice and success rates were falling.
Meanwhile, Butler Tech already had the space to manage it themselves, plus knowledgeable staff members like Reynolds to administer the tests.
Nick Linberg, the director of adult education at Butler Tech, said the college started planning to build the testing site before the pandemic, but when shutdowns temporarily stalled testing and training cutting off the supply of new talent into the trucking industry, the issue became even more urgent.
According to the American Trucking Association, the industry needs to hire about 110,000 drivers every year to meet the country’s shipping demands.
With the need so great, Linberg wanted to ensure Butler Tech could get students into the workforce as efficiently as possible. At the new site, Linberg said most students get tested within three days of finishing their training, and examiners are working through dozens of tests every week.
“Not only just for Butler Tech students but for any student that gets training at another school around or another company that does training, our site is open for them as well,” he said.
To avoid conflicts of interest, Butler Tech instructors never test the students they train, but Reynolds said there has been a steady stream of hopefuls from other schools to keep them busy. Besides CDL licenses, the facility is also equipped to test bus drivers and other professional licenses.
“It’s been a very successful facility for this community,” Reynolds said.