Meet Richard Musgrove, Technical Training

“I never imagined I would have the opportunity to both teach and turn wrenches. It is truly a blessing.”

Meet Richard Musgrove, Training Manager who’s responsible for the development and implementation of training for HIAB’s technicians. The way Richard ended up at HIAB and his current position, has been an interesting path throughout the organization. His career at Cargotec started back in 2012 when he went to work for Kalmar as a Service Technician in a small intermodal yard in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was promoted to be a Maintenance foreman and moved to Cincinnati to manage Kalmar's operations there: 

“I worked there until the intermodal division was sold at which point I was recruited by HIAB to be a Field Service Technician. Then I was asked to join the HIAB USA Tech Support team where I would provide support to our Service Technicians across the US.”

During his time in Tech Support Richard realized that Hiab needed to do a better job providing training for the Technicians. He began to push for better training and at the same time, it was clear HIAB was beginning to come to the same conclusion: “Eventually, I was given the opportunity to do something about it. Since then we have developed a multi-tiered training program. It is my hope that in the future we will be able to offer a library of e-learnings and video tutorials to enhance our current learning program.”

Growing up Richard always thought he would end up teaching history classes in some form or another but life had other plans for him. After his four year military service in the United States Marine Corps he was presented with the opportunity to work as a heavy equipment mechanic:

“Good pay, no stress why not? - I thought. Boy was I wrong. It is amazing how you realize just how much you don’t know the more you know. Once I started turning wrenches and learning how much there was to learn I became truly fascinated. I never imagined I would have the opportunity to both teach and turn wrenches. It is truly a blessing.”

Richard’s work is mainly around training but the tasks vary depending on the day. One day he spends time preparing and ensuring that they have everything they need for a successful event, the other day he has a training class to train. Usually after the training class comes recovering and cleaning up from the week’s class. Other times he spends time working on training materials and other special projects.

“Sometimes when you are up there leading a class everything just falls into place and you can tell you’re not just teaching a class anymore, instead, we are learning from one another, together. I enjoy helping people and being in a position where I reach so many. It’s very satisfying. If I can help make one person’s job just a little easier, it's a good day.” Says Richard.

Richard attributes most of the success he has seen to the mentors he has had through the years, both before his career at Cargotec and during it. They have helped him through difficult times and made him realize that anything is possible if you are willing to dedicate the time and effort to make it so: “Always try to do more than you can with what you have.” he says.

“I can only speak from my personal experiences. But at least for me, if you are willing to work hard and dedicate yourself to success, the sky is the limit at HIAB.”