The ser­vice mec­ha­nics of Ponsse and its dea­lers batt­led it out to see who was best. Con­sis­ting of various main­te­nance tasks, the com­pe­ti­tion was ext­re­mely close, and the first place was sha­red by two mec­ha­nics for the first time.

The first place in Ponsse’s inter­na­tio­nal com­pe­ti­tion for mec­ha­nics was sha­red by Mike Froe­lich from the US and Andre Rorke from South Africa.

“I couldn’t even ima­gine that the com­pe­ti­tion was going so well!” said Mike Froe­lich, ser­vice mec­ha­nic at Ponsse North Ame­rica, after being given his prize. “I tried to do my best. While the tasks invol­ved regu­lar main­te­nance, but the time limit made them a chal­lenge,” he said.

Froe­lich sha­red the first place with Andre Rorke, ser­vice mec­ha­nic at M.T.S. Parts, Ponsse’s dea­ler in South Africa. Marko Sopa­nen from Kone­huolto Sopa­nen Oy, Ponsse’s cont­rac­tual ser­vice part­ner, came third.

In the com­pe­ti­tion, ser­vice mec­ha­nics from Ponsse and its sub­si­dia­ries, cont­rac­tual ser­vice part­ners and dea­lers batt­led it out to see who is best. The com­pe­ti­tion was held for the fifth time after a break of a few years. This year’s com­pe­ti­tion was held in hot Iisalmi in Fin­land at the begin­ning of June.

A COM­PE­TI­TION THAT CHAL­LEN­GES AND TEAC­HES YOU

This year’s com­pe­ti­tion had 15 par­tici­pants who came to Iisalmi from 14 dif­fe­rent count­ries.

“Many of our sub­si­dia­ries and dea­lers held local pre-com­pe­ti­tions to select the best ser­vice mec­ha­nic to com­pete in Fin­land. While this is a com­pe­ti­tion, this is also a good place to learn somet­hing new quickly from chal­len­ging tasks and get to know other Ponsse’s mec­ha­nics from across the world,” says Jarkko Kopo­nen, Ser­vice Trai­ning Coor­di­na­tor at Ponsse.

“This com­pe­ti­tion is sig­ni­ficant in demon­stra­ting the impor­tant work done by ser­vice mec­ha­nics and con­si­de­ring their moti­va­tion, as they have the oppor­tu­nity to par­tici­pate in such an event,” says Terho Tans­ka­nen, Ser­vice Mana­ger at Ponsse.

FROM DAILY MAIN­TE­NANCE TO CHAL­LEN­GING TROUBLES­HOO­TING

The com­pe­ti­tion con­sists of a writ­ten test and prac­tical tasks. The tasks mea­sure skills ran­ging from mac­hine main­te­nance to more chal­len­ging troubles­hoo­ting situa­tions. The time limit for comple­ting each task ran­ges from 30 to 45 minu­tes.

“The time was an irre­le­vant fac­tor in sco­ring, as the jud­ges watc­hed each per­for­mance clo­sely to eva­luate each com­pe­ti­tor,” Kopo­nen says.

AN OPPOR­TU­NITY TO LEARN FROM COL­LEA­GUES

The com­pe­ti­tors were also able to visit the Vie­remä fac­tory. All in all, the com­pe­ti­tion offe­red a won­der­ful oppor­tu­nity to learn somet­hing new.

“It was great to meet other ser­vice mec­ha­nics from dif­fe­rent parts of the world and share thoughts about our work and Ponsse’s solu­tions,” says Mike Froe­lich.

“It is won­der­ful to learn all the dif­fe­rent ways in which main­te­nance tasks can be car­ried out,” says Marko Sopa­nen who came third in the com­pe­ti­tion.

Ylä-Savo Voca­tio­nal Col­lege has part­ne­red with the com­pe­ti­tion from the very begin­ning. Ponsse is enga­ged in coo­pe­ra­tion with Ylä-Savo Voca­tio­nal Col­lege in many ways, this com­pe­ti­tion being one of them.