The 15th European annual Komatsu ATC (Advanced Technical Contest) was held on 19 September at the Komatsu UK manufacturing Plant (KUK) in Birtley, North England.
The contest consists of 3 categories in which MKL staff competed against staff from other European depots – Troubleshooting, Mechanical Repairs and a Walk Around Inspection for the PSSR. The aim of the contest is to improve product knowledge, trouble-shooting expertise and communication skills across the depots, feeding into maintaining and increasing customer service levels and satisfaction.
Kevin Henderson (Lead Field Service Technician at CLS) helped coach and mentor the three MKL entrants with training sessions held at the MKL Chester Le Street depot, alongside study they undertook in their own time.
The contest took place on the KUK demo ground, with 17 other distributors from across Europe to compete against:
- Mechanical Repair – contestants had 45 minutes to change a part on a PC210-11EO excavator, this entailed reading and understanding a work report from a previous engineer, meet and greet the customer or operator, correct isolation of the machine, carry out the work in accordance to the shop manual, then answer questions on the repair and suggest any follow up work etc.
- Mark Mitcheson represented MKL and came first in this category!
- Troubleshooting – contestants had a 30 minute question and answer session, 30 minutes to meet and greet the customer and ask questions regarding a fault on a PC210-11EO then identify parts of the machine, Then 1 hour to trouble-shoot and identify the fault on the PC210-11EO using Komatsu best practise and the shop manual.
- Dale Redden represented MKL and came in the top 5!
- Walk Around Inspection – contestants had 30 minutes to carry out a walk around inspection on a used PC190-8 excavator, then 15 minutes to compile a report, and then complete a parts questionnaire for 15 minutes (1 hour total).
- Our PSSR Michael Patterson represented MKL and came in the top 5!
The ATC consisted of 36 competitors with 14 coaches from 17 different distributors, with over 80 staff involved in the day.
We’re very proud of the results our staff achieved and appreciate the effort and hard work they have all put in to remaining at the top of their game and being able to offer our customers the best experience – thank you!
