Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/132138
start News & updates from the Volvo world Racing the clock From Left to Right: Matt Giesbrecht Tyler Kronebusch, Dan Orser, Clarence Oosterhoff VISTA contest challenges aftermarket teams Customers are the big winners in Volvo Trucks' VISTA competition, a mass training event and aimed at making aftermarket personnel even better at what they do. Still, teams gladly gear up for the bi-annual contest, hoping to lay claim to the VISTA title and global bragging rights. At the end of several grueling rounds of theoretical and practical challenges, the top 32 teams (from more than 4,400 this year) get to travel to Gothenburg, Sweden in June for the VISTA 2012-2013 World Final. For North America, VISTA 2012–2013 has been the biggest ever, and a 70 percent increase in dealer participation is key to the program's success. Five teams from the U.S. and Canada competed against the clock and each other in Greensboro, N.C., home of Volvo Trucks North America. Each of the five semi-finalist teams invested up to 34 hours of additional service training throughout their journey. By finishing first in the semi-final on March 12, Babine Truck & Equipment of Prince George, Canada, clinched their ticket to championship and can now claim a spot amongst the best of the best. SHORT FACTS BABINE TRUCK & EQUIPMENT RECORD NUMBER OF ENTRIES PARTICIPATION KEY TO SUCCESS This year, 16,800 participants signed up to compete, beating previous participation records by almost 3,000. From left, Denny Slagle, executive vice president, Group Trucks Sales & Marketing Americas, and Ray Dueck, technical service manager for Volvo Trucks Canada, with the Babine Truck & Equipment team (Clarence Oosterhoff, Tyler Kronebusch, Dan Orser, and Matt Giesbrecht). The higher the participation, the more training and more team development — which ultimately supports better customer satisfaction. Quality effort recognized Volvo Group President and CEO Olof Persson honored the Volvo Remote Diagnostics project team with the Group's Internal Quality Award for 2012. The project — selected from 25 entries across the Group— resulted in an innovative servicing solution that can be applied In markets around the world. It also reinforces Volvo's core value of quality for customers and the heavy-truck industry. "The team was able to build on our existing telematics technology to go far beyond traditional emergency call center service," said Stephen Roy, Senior Vice President, Commercial Aftermarket. "They stayed focused on our customer's needs from the beginning, and the result is a new way of vehicle servicing that will give us a competitive advantage in our markets. I'd like to congratulate everyone involved in the project for an outstanding effort." Remote Diagnostics Team Left to right: Evandro Silva, Todd Gardner, Magnus Gustafson, Olof Persson, Barry Morgan, Rich Glasmann and Conal Deedy. DRIVER 'S DIGEST #1/2013 DDQ113PG005-7_Start.indd 5 5 5/21/13 8:04 AM