It's Here! - CablePrice

TRACK & WHEELCPL takes out Asia Pacific HitachiTop Technician CompetitionSelected to represent CablePrice and New Zealand in theHitachi Regional Top Technician competition, Roger Urquhartof the company’s Christchurch branch travelled to Singaporein April 09 to compete against seven other regions nationalchampions from within the Asia-Pacific catchments.The competition consisted of both theoretical and practicalevaluations. The theory examination required 80 multi-choicetechnical questions to be answered in 75 minutes – without theaid of manuals or other resources. In the practical component ofthe competition each contestant again had 75 minutes, but thistime had to diagnose and solve three faults in a specially preparedHitachi ZX200-3 20-ton excavator, with one fault being hydraulicand the other two electrical.As temperatures reached in excess of 35 o C and with stiflinghumidity, the pressure of the competition on the competitorswas palpable. With an outstanding achievement that sawhim take out the practical component and place second in thetheory examination, Roger won the overall Hitachi Asia-Pacificcompetition and the right to challenge for the global title in Japanlater in the year.At the Hitachi global finals in Tokyo in June 09 Roger competedagainst some of Hitachi’s best technicians in the world. Thestructure of the test was this time broken into theoretical,practical, and report based challenges, included a strong focuson health and safety protocols. With all the hype and pressure ofa world final, Roger was consistently under the close inspectionof judges, support staff, photographers (including a live camerafeed), and had to formally address gatherings on numerousoccasions. For a South Island based diesel technician, this is notalways the easiest of tasks, yet he completed the competition withdistinction and displayed a level of integrity and sportsmanshipthat represented CablePrice aptly.While the Chinese representative won the inaugural GlobalHitachi Top Technician Competition, no further rankings wereannounced at the awards ceremony. Although his formalplacing remains unknown, a Hitachi spokesman commented thecompetition was extremely closely contested and it was pleasingto see the advance skill levels displayed by all competitors.Roger’s achievement to reach the global final was a credit to theeffort he put into preparing for the events, and the company’straining and development programmes that have developed thework-ethos of many of our senior technical staff such as Roger,nationwide.Roger was supported in preparing for the regional and globalcompetitions by the company’s Training Manager RossWallace and Internal Trainer Darren O’Connor, who combined,deliver and co-ordinate all equipment technical training for thecompany’s equipment technicians.45