Sydney, Australia, 07 December, 2016: Jaguar Land Rover Australia's top technicians have gone head-to-head in a tough competition for the coveted Technician of the Year award, a battle to find the best of the company's best.
Twenty-four technicians representing the country's Jaguar and Land Rover dealerships were put to the test, competing first in an online elimination round which sent the winners through to the regional finals and the final five going through to October's National Final in Sydney.
That final round, says Jaguar Land Rover Australia Technical Training Manager, David Foster, brought together five of the best automotive technicians in the country and put their usually cool demeanours into a pressure cooker environment.
"They had an hour for each exercise at the Regionals. For the Nationals we cut the time to 40 minutes for each," Foster said, adding that each exercise led into the next with each requiring evidence gathering and analysis, fault location, rectification or elimination and assurance the repair was permanent.
This meant the top five needed to make quick, accurate decisions for each exercise.
"If any had gone straight to the fault without going through the steps they would have been marked-down straight away. It was all about following the set programs. They were all very nervous," he added.
At the end of a long day it was Craig Yore, from Sydney's Concord Jaguar, taking out the win for the Jaguar brand and David Sherlock from Macarthur Land Rover, Narellan, who snared the prize for Land Rover.
How was it from a competitive viewpoint? "It wasn't easy, put it that way," said Craig Yore. "We had five different problems, mainly electronics, and what we had to do was start from scratch, diagnose each one and away you go. It was very, very strong on procedure."
And how does it feel to be declared a winner?
"It feels very special. I never thought it would happen to me."
Demonstrating the experience of the winning pair, Craig Yore has 21 years' experience with Jaguar Land Rover and David Sherlock 10 years and both men represented Australia in the international competition held in Britain.
This year was the first time since 1998 the contest has been run in Australia and the desire for it to be repeated next year is so high David Foster says he is already looking at tentative 2017 dates.
Following the final the National winners joined more than 130 guests at Jaguar Land Rover Australia's Graduation and Awards Dinner at Simmer on the Bay, Dawes Point, Sydney, an event attended by the company's directors and staff, dealer representatives, apprentices of the year and families of graduates.
Apprentice instructors Robert Borg, Ben Scharkie, Brian Monk, Nicholas Kay and Jaguar Land Rover Australia technical trainers Peter Bastow and Adam Moxey were also among the guests, as were the 24 graduates from the company's 2016 apprenticeship program, including Roxanne Russell, the first female graduate.
The event gave Jaguar Land Rover Australia management the opportunity to commend the commitment shown by the apprentices, to thank parents and partners for their support and mentoring and to recognise the commitment of dealership service managers for their continued support and education.
As part of the Graduation and Awards Event, achievement certificates were presented to 2016 graduates. They recipients were:
- Parts Apprentice Program Apprentice of the Year - Matthew Kelly, Neil Buckby Motors
- First Year Technical Apprentice of the Year - Aaron Bouman, Brighton Jaguar Land Rover
- Second Year Technical Apprentice of the Year - Josh Mills, Solitaire Jaguar Land Rover
- Third Year Technical Apprentice of the Year - Aaron Kemp, Tamworth Jaguar Land Rover
- Jaguar Australia Technician of the Year - Craig Yore, Concord Jaguar Land Rover
- Land Rover Australia Technician of the Year - David Sherlock, Macarthur Jaguar Land Rover
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