The CablePrice Christchurch Shakers are officially the Scania Top Team world champions for 2015, taking out the title in Sweden.
The Shakers were up against Brazil, UK (KelTruck branch), and Australia, who were the front runners in the lead up to the competition; having previously taken out the title in both 2011 and 2013.
Globally, more than 8000 technicians enter the bi-annual event with the championship final showcasing the most skilled teams of Scania technicians and parts personnel in the world.
The top team championship is founded on Scania’s approach to increasing the value of its service offerings, by providing motivation and training development to its service personnel.
For the Christchurch Scania side, the Top Team journey started at the beginning of 2015 with the Shakers competing and winning against eight other CablePrice branches around New Zealand.
From here, the Shakers flew to China to compete against five other countries in the regional finals hosted in Guangzhou, China. Despite the heat and tough competing conditions, the Shakers came out on top, qualifying them and runner-up; Singapore’s Team Kinetic, in the Sweden grand final.
There were 12 countries in the final competition which involved six station rounds, consisting of one theory and five practical stations. This determined which four teams would go through to the grand final knock-out challenge while the other eight were eliminated. Brazil, UK, Australia and New Zealand made up the final four competing in the elimination, all in front of a studio audience and streamed live on YouTube.
The start of the knockout involved theory questions, followed by two practical assessments; wiring up a cable harness and working on a Scania industrial engine. This saw Australia and Brazil eliminated, leaving New Zealand and the UK to face off.
The final task for the Shakers was to build a brain (create a user function for the trucks electronic system) and then execute that system on a truck, with the first team to successfully activate the system winning the competition. At this point, the UK team was ahead on points which awarded them a 15 second lead start time over the Shakers. However, the penalty had no effect on the kiwis, by successfully activating the truck in a few minutes, while the Brits were still only half way through.
“After coming second to Australia in the 2013 final and having never won before, to take out the title this time around was a huge feat for the boys,” says CablePrice national training manager Ross Wallace.
Wallace says he is extremely proud of the team for the effort they have put in, to even get to the finals, let alone win.
The Shakers have been awarded 50,000 Euro to go towards improving the training and development at their local branch.
