Canadians dominate Volvo tech competition
Dennis Baehnk of Beaver Truck Centre in Winnipeg
GREENSBORO, NC – The team from Beaver Truck Centre in Winnipeg won the recent Volvo International Service Technical Association (VISTA) competition for North America. It celebrates the best of the best amongst service and parts personnel from the company’s dealer network.
The Beaver crew consisted of Dan Teleglow, Dennis Baehnk and Chris Dunn, each of whom took home a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle and top-of-the-line Snap-on tools.
Placing second in the final six, and creating a Canadian sweep, was Surgenor Truck Centre in Ottawa.VISTA is a hands-on competition to select Volvo’s top dealer service and parts personnel, and to highlight technician excellence. It’s also an effective way to maintain a high level of technical skill and proficiency in its 325-strong dealer network, the company says. Hundreds of people compete in the six-month program, which requires a significant dedication of time and effort by the participants. The competition is held every two years among three-person teams fielded by Volvo dealers, usually consisting of a mix of service and parts experts.
There are three rounds of competition involving online technical questions to produce six teams of finalists — one from each of the four U.S. regions and two from Canada. The six teams then travel to Volvo’s North American headquarters in Greensboro for the final round. The final competition consists of written questions based on Volvo service and parts literature, and troubleshooting pre-determined faults placed on a Volvo truck.
Since the VISTA program began in Scandinavia in 1977, Volvo says it’s seen a strong correlation between dealers with teams in the final round and high customer satisfaction indexes. This has been linked to dealer leadership and willingness to invest in training.
The winners from Beaver Truck Centre credit much of their success to effective teamwork.
“The nerves really kicked in at first, but we came through as a team,” said Dennis Baehnk. “We always work as a team at the dealership.”
The four other teams in the competition’s final round came from Sioux City Truck & Trailer, Sioux City, IA; Burr Truck & Trailer, Vestal, NY; Volunteer Volvo & GMC Trucks, Knoxville, TN; and TEC Equipment, Portland, OR.
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