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Auto glass technician helps repair Acuras in Shanghai
The man was one of 12 selected from around the country to participate in the mission.
GIRARD — Whether working from the familiar surroundings of the Mahoning Valley or standing on the distant shores of China, Dwayne Klimenko knows his glass.
Klimenko, 42, a technician with Safelite AutoGlass in Girard, was chosen to join a select group of expert glass technicians who returned in April after spending three weeks in Shanghai repairing 500 Acura TLs damaged during export to China.
Klimenko has been installing auto glass for nearly two decades.
Klimenko was one of only 12 technicians selected from across the United States to be on the team. The company said he was selected for the trip based on recommendation from his division or general manager, his skills and expertise, productivity and availability.
According to Klimenko, the 500 cars were supposed to travel by train from Marysville to California then be sent on to China. A wind storm along the train route damaged the glass in every car being shipped.
“It’s hard to get shipping space on these big boats, so they figured it would be easier to ship the cars then have us follow and fix them in Shanghai,” Klimenko said.
Klimenko and his 11 brothers in glass heeded the call to duty, packed up tools, clothes and a little spending money and headed overseas.
The dozen technicians had little time to take in the culture. Klimenko said the trip was definitely more business than pleasure.
“There were 534 cars and every piece of glass needed to be replaced in those cars; that’s 3,600 pieces of glass,” he said. “They were picky about how this was done. We had to be absolutely perfect. Someone from over there inspected everything we did and that kept us on our toes.”
Klimenko said all the damaged auto glass was destroyed at the demand of Acura so it would not be sold on the used market.
Klimenko said there was a language barrier with people of different countries working to get such a large quantity of work done in a relatively short period of time, but that gap was bridged by a team member who spoke fluent Chinese and an interpreter traveling with the group.
Klimenko and the other technicians did have some down time, spent mostly shopping and exploring the different types of food Shanghai had to offer.
“We did eat really well. Some of the meals were phenomenal. We even tried some of the stuff we would consider weird like snake or eel, but everything was good,” he said.
The shopping, Klimenko said, was different from dropping by a local store in the United States. Every price was negotiable and if the customer walked out, the shopkeeper would just follow with yet a lower price.
“This has been one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done. If I hear of an opportunity like this again I would probably fight someone to get it,” Klimenko joked.
jgoodwin@vindy.com