“We are immensely proud of our lads bringing this high accolade for the first time to Great Britain and more specifically to the Warrington support centre,” comments Willie Watson the support centre manager. “Winning this trophy has given everyone here a sense of pride in their achievement.” He went on to comment that the three contestants complemented each other well based on their age and experiences. “Billy brought many years of experience to the team being aged 52, Chris aged 31 brought experience and logic to the problem solving and at just 23 Matthew has a great affinity with electronics and computers. The lads had a distinct advantage over some of the other teams who drew on individuals from different parts of their respective coun- tries who hadn’t worked as a team before.”
At each station the team was given a work order and 10 minutes preparation to discuss how they might approach the problem. For example, on the excavator station, contestants might be told the customer had been complaining about the slow boom-up speed. That was the only information they were given. The rest was down to them. While the service technicians poured over mechanical problems, their parts colleagues were given questions to answer, testing not only their knowledge but also their ability to use the information available to answer them.
In third place came team Kuiken, from the Netherlands, second place was Team Rudd Equipment from the U.S. and the title of Volvo Masters 2014 went to Volvo CE GB, represented by Billy Heywood, Matthew Needham and Chris Walker, with Mark Armsworth in support as team coach.
“Each team had already proven themselves to be worthy champions, having won through a series of local, national, sub-regional and regional finals since the competition began in May 2013,” said Pål Torgersen, director of global competence development at Volvo CE. “As expected it was a close race to become the Volvo Masters of 2014. Out of initially about 3,000 participants in the first round, 24 parts and service technicians had qualified for the global final and all merit recognition. My particular congratulations go to our deserving winners from Great Britain.”
Chris said: “It was a once in a lifetime experience — fantastic!”
Billy said: “A fabulous experience — everyone should have a go for it”
Matthew joined Volvo CE in 2006 as an apprentice and so this award is very special. He said” The competition was very well devised and we all felt pretty relaxed throughout and got on well with the other teams. The team from China did give us a run for our money though!”
Third in from left: Mark Armsworth (Team coach), Matthew Needham, Billy Heywood and Chris Walker receive the highest accolade at the 2014 Volvo Masters final
THE VOICE PAGE 45
“We are immensely proud of our lads...“
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72