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2 0 1 5 V 2 | BULLDOG | 2 7 Blood, sweat and gears Mack crowns inaugural Mack Masters competition champions TAILLIGHTS C ompetition makes us better, espe- cially with tough challenges, and the best part of a competition is the cama- raderie and team spirit among competitors. The competitors in the fi rst-ever Mack Masters competition are professionals from Mack dealers' parts, warranty and service departments who not only excel at their indi- vidual jobs but also shine as an integrated team. The excitement and pride carried through to the fi nal round of the inaugural Mack Masters competition, held in mid-June at the Mack Customer Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The competition by Mack Trucks Academy works as a team building and training opportunity for dealership ser- vice and parts professionals to learn together and to compete together and ultimately pro- vide better customer support. The contest featured the top fi ve customer support teams from Mack dealers across North America. Following an intensive, hands-on fi nal challenge, team Babine PG from Babine Truck & Equipment of Prince George, British Columbia, Canada, was crowned Mack Masters champion. Members of team Babine PG are Matthew Giesbrecht, Tyler Kronebusch, Clarence Oosterhoff and Dan Orser. Giesbrecht says not only was the win confi rmation of the group's talent, but it was also fun to challenge the group to work as a team. "People ask how you practice for some- thing like this, how do you study," he says. "You don't. You just have the experience and getting to do this with the people you work with, it's a blast. It's fun." "It's amazing," Clarence Oosterhoff adds. "It's recognition for all the years of blood, sweat and tears and long hours and all the training. It hasn't sunk in quite yet." Kick off! The Mack Masters competition kicked off in September 2014 and was designed to test participants' knowledge of Mack service pro- cedures and systems with questions and tasks that require the teams to work together to solve problems. Nearly 1,000 participants entered, making up 263 teams from 171 locations throughout the Mack dealer network. After competing in three rounds of online challenges, fi ve fi nalist teams were selected, with one team repre- senting each of Mack's sales regions: Canada, Central, Northeast, Southeast and one from the combined West & Southwest regions. The other fi nalist teams competing represented Westfall O'Dell Trucks Sales of Kansas City, Missouri, O'Connor Motor Company of Portland, Maine, Nextran Truck Center of Jacksonville, Florida, and Mobile Fleet Service Inc., of Yakima, Washington. Skills and thrills The fi nal round of the competition featured fi ve individual stations, each with a unique set of service challenges. Ranging from the installation of a complete engine harness to troubleshooting a truck with multiple service codes, each team had just 30 minutes to solve the issues. Once completed, teams rotated to the next station until they had tack- led all fi ve challenges. A panel of Mack experts at each challenge evaluated and ranked the teams' performance. And the winner is … Each team proved to be a strong competitor in a very close competition, but the team from Babine Truck & Equipment came out on top. "Mack Masters is all about recognizing our outstanding technicians who demonstrate the skills, collaboration and problem solving needed to service today's sophisticated trucks and maximize uptime for our custom- ers," says Stephen Roy, president of Mack Trucks North America. Mack Trucks crowned team Babine PG champion of the inaugural Mack Masters Competition. Members of the team from left: Dan Orser, Tyler Kronebusch. Matthew Giesbrecht and Clarence Oosterhoff. Technicians are tested on a range of service challenges.