April 9: The competition in the Central Europe VISTA semi final has now ended, with staff at the Volvo Training Centre in Madrid hosting another successful semi final.
This time 15 teams from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, meet up for a full day of competition, with the winners being announced tonight.
“Some teams are very satisfied, others missed one question from a task because of the time pressure, but I answer them, it’s okay, it’s only one question,” says Lars Ludwing, Technical Trainer from Germany says: “It’s an interesting way of training. You don’t feel you are training, but you are and you learn many new things.”
In previous VISTA competitions, teams from this region have performed strongly in the world final, suggesting the level of competence is exceptionally high. This year German teams were particularly motivated to reach the final, with no German team having qualified for the 2011 world final.
“We are used to work in this way, so it’s not so different from how we do it at our workshop,” claim team VTC Stuttgart, in between workstations.
“Everyone is a little bit nervous so it’s easy to make a mistake,” add team Lübeck, another German VISTA team. “But if you concentrate it’s possible to solve the tasks.”
Swiss team NTC 1 is one of the more experienced teams taking part, having finished second in the 2011 world final. Yet for all their experience and competence, they’re also still learning new things in Madrid.
“You learn a lot through VISTA,” they claim. “You improve team coordination and get used to working under time pressure. You learn a lot with Volvo systems, where you have to look things up, through which system, what methods, and so on…you learn a lot!”
The Central East semi final is the third semi final to be hosted in Madrid this month, and has once again been concluded successfully. “We put a lot of pressure on the Spanish organization, but they are doing a very good job,” says Lennard Talp, Sweden VISTA staff “Fantastic support. VISTA has been very professional and is going very smoothly.”
Two teams will earn a spot in the world final, with the winners being announced tonight.
