CAPE TOWN
- Thinking on your feet, staying calm under pressure and applying months of
training and practice. This was what Isuzu truck technician Miles Swanepoel had
to do, to beat 64 other technicians from across the world in the recent Isuzu
World Technical Competition in Japan.
Swanepoel
ended in fourth place overall in the individual I-1 Grand Prix’s Commercial
Vehicle division of the competition. The top three positions were taken up by
technicians from Japan (first), Indonesia (second) and Australia (third). The
competition, which was hosted over two days, consisted of individual and team
divisions with representatives from 32 participating countries.
The
technician from Isuzu Truck Centre Cape Town, said even though he was hoping
for a good position in the individual competition, he wasn’t sure where he
would end up since the level of the competition was very high and every year it
is raised to a higher level.
“As a
team, we had to work on a power steering box and individually we had to solve
problems on a stationary truck, each one with the same fault. In the individual
competition it was required of us to carry out the 50-point inspection to
identify six faults on the truck, a complete vehicle inspection. We had three
minutes to strategise individually without our coach and 17 minutes to apply
the practical work individually,” said Swanepoel.
Swanepoel,
who has 17 years’ experience in the industry, has spent the last 10 years at
Isuzu Truck Centre in Cape Town where he also started his career as an
apprentice in 2000. He said he would recommend the competition to all Isuzu
technicians because of the four months intensive training and preparation work
ahead of the competition. “It helped me to gain valuable information that I use
in my daily work. You learn so much and challenge yourself. Even though I have
worked on other trucks that belong to our customers, I prefer the tough Isuzu
models – I maintain it is the best truck option on the market,” said Swanepoel.
He was
also part of the Isuzu team that ended in sixth place overall in the
same
competition. “The level of expertise gets higher and higher every year.
Particularly the theoretical test was very challenging – you need to know everything
about the vehicles - from bumper to bumper. The judges were very
procedure-orientated and want you to follow the manual step-by-step.”
It was
the 13thyear that Isuzu Motors Limited hosted the I-1 Grand Prix,
to honour top service staff and technicians from all over the world to compete
against each other by testing their technical skills and expertise to motivate
and elevate their service skills levels. Swanepoel thanked Isuzu Motors South
Africa for the level of training the company provides and praised team coach,
Steven Smith, for the continuous technical support and guidance during the
competition.
