With the conclusion of the Italy, Spain and France VISTA semi finals, another five teams have now qualified for the world final. The winners were announced at an award ceremony last night in Madrid.
Yesterday, 3rd April, the first of eight semi finals in Madrid kicked off, with teams from Spain, France and Italy competing for spots in the world final. The winners will be announced tonight at an award dinner.
Babine Truck & Equipment, the VISTA team from Prince George, Canada, have become the first to qualify for the VISTA 2012-2013 world final after winning the North American semi final.
With the theoretical rounds of VISTA 2012-2013 now over, it’s time to go over the statistics and see if the competition lived up to its aim of being the biggest and best VISTA ever.
To reward and acknowledge teams that best exemplify VISTA values, Volvo Group Truck Sales & Marketing APAC is awarding Hero certificates to three teams after each round. Here are the winners from Round Two.
On May 17, a kick-off meeting for VISTA 2012-2013 was held in Bangkok, which was attended by 14 Asia VISTA market leaders. Representing an estimated 646 teams, the leaders discussed rules and guidelines, as well as their objectives and ambitious for the upcoming competition. The kick-off meeting follows on from a marketing communication managers kick-off meeting held in Korea last month.
With over 13,700 participants, VISTA 2011 was the biggest in the competition’s 53-year history. By the time registrations closed in September 2010, there 3740 teams made up from personnel from Volvo Trucks’ and Volvo Busses’ global service network. It was also the most global, with 75 countries represented and a host of new markets taking part for the first time.
On June 29, Avesta Cruising Club from Sweden was announced as the winner of the 2011 VISTA world final in Gothenburg. The World Champions can now return home from a competition that originally started with over 13,700 participants from 75 different countries within Volvo Trucks and Volvo Buses global service network.
Regular visitors to VISTA’s Facebook page will already know Boualem Ghaleb. As the VISTA leader for Algeria, he has been one of the more enthusiastic users of the social networking site, frequently promoting his teams and offering encouragement to fellow competitors.
Top technicians from Volvo Trucks’ workshops all over the globe have qualified for in the VISTA 2011 world final which will be held in Gothenburg, Sweden in June. The competition originally started with more than 13,700 technicians and workshop personnel from all over the world is now down to just thirty teams.
The 2011 VISTA world final includes a number of teams who have taken part in a world final before, including defending champions Team Impact from Austria. However most teams that are attending have qualified for the first time and will arriving in Gothenburg not really knowing what to expect. We ask some of the teams what they’ve learnt from VISTA so far and what their expectations are for the final.
In 2011 VISTA grew rapidly in the Asian region, with 565 teams taking part. Most remarkably, just about every team went on to complete all three theoretical rounds with almost zero dropouts. The competition standards have never been higher, making Lambung Mangkurat’s achievements all the more impressive.
Team Mission Impossible, from the city of Zelenograd, will be representing Russia this year at the world final after finishing first in the Russian semi final, in Thessaloniki, Greece last April. The team members are Aleksei Vasilyev, Warranty Engineer; Pavel Tabachkov, Technical Support; Aleksander Polyansky and Aleksander Zhurakovsky, both Supervising Foremen.
Veskun Poppoo, from the small Finnish city of Kuopio, have participated in a number of VISTA competitions before but this is the first time they’ve gone further than the first three rounds. “We have been taking part in VISTA every time it has been possible to attend, but not one of us have even reached the semi finals before, let alone the final,” says Ari Savolainen, team leader of Veskun Poppoo.
Last September, before Round One of VISTA 2011 had even commenced, Chile’s VISTA leader Harry Opitz was determined to see a Chilean team reach the world final. “Expectations are very high,” he said at the time. “We have trained our people so they can perform at a very high level. Our technicians have a lot of motivation and conviction that they can win.”
For Taquions it was a case of third time lucky. The team from Porto, Portugal have qualified for the past two VISTA semi finals in 2007 and 2009, but only in 2011 have they managed to go one better and qualify for the world final.
Combined the four members of Band of Bluekens can boast nearly half a century of Volvo experience. Each team member has qualified for a VISTA semi final at least three times, and even reached the 2009 world final, where they finished ninth. Its therefore not that surprising that the team are once again Dutch champions and qualified for the world final for the second time in a row.
“I’m very nervous. I feel like I have snakes in my stomach,” says Chen Shem Tov, the youngest member of MS Group, Israel’s representative at the region East VISTA semi final in Thessaloniki, Greece. There are eighteen teams taking part, hoping for a spot in the world final, and like all teams MS Group have no idea what is in stall.
In 2011 the Serengeti Boys were formed and took part in their first ever VISTA competition. It was the start of a remarkable journey that took them all the way to Gothenburg, Sweden, for the world final.
VISTA 2011 saw more participants than ever before - it also saw the debut of As Panteras: VISTA’s the first ever all-female team.
DeF Nightshift from Winnipeg, Canada will be the first North American team ever to take part in the VISTA world final after successfully winning the North American final in Greensboro, USA last week.
VCV Townsville parts and service personnel, Sunil Pinto, Mark Borm, Linda Casey and Adam Johns, will travel to Gothenburg for the VISTA World Final in June to compete with the other 29 area finalists from around the globe.
Today in Greenboro, USA a North American VISTA team will qualify for the VISTA world final for the first time in the competition’s history. However VISTA isn’t a new concept in the US and Canada. In fact Volvo Trucks North America have been holding their own VISTA competition since 1995, and started a competition for Mack Trucks in 2009.
Three more teams have now qualified for the VISTA 2011 world final after another highly successful semi final in Latin America. Last week 21 teams from ten different countries met in Curitiba, Brazil, each hoping to earn a place in the world final.
This June Volvo Trucks HQ in Gothenburg, Sweden will host the world final of VISTA 2011, in what will be the culmination of a year-long competition that originally started with over 13,700 participants from 75 different countries. Last April Dubai hosted the Northern Africa Middle East semi final.
The first round of VISTA semi finals concluded last week, with nine semi finals taking place in Verona, Beesd and Dubai. In what was a busy week for the competition, sixteen teams qualified for the world final, while all teams enjoyed a memorable few days.
This week 19 teams from all over South America will be in Curitiba, Brazil, taking part in the Latin American VISTA semi final. Already VISTA 2011 has been a huge success in the region, with record high participation rates. By Tuesday, we’ll learn which two teams will represent the continent at the world final.
With the third and final round of theoretical questions ending last month, VISTA 2011 has unfortunately come to an end for many of the thousands of teams who took part. But as we go over the results and statistics from all three rounds, it is clear that the lucky teams who progress to the semi finals are not the only winners.
Round Three, the final round of theoretical questions for VISTA 2011, ended last month. As with the two earlier rounds, the final results and statistics have revealed high participation rates and strong performances in all markets, making it another successful round.
VISTA – Volvo Trucks’ and Volvo Buses’ worldwide competition and training programme for mechanics and service personnel – has now reached the semi finals after the completion of the third and final round of theoretical questions last week.
VISTA 2011 has not only seen the highest participation in any VISTA competition since its inception in 1957, but it has also seen the competition expand into a host of new countries, one of which is Mexico.
With its warm Mediterranean climate and close proximity to the Costa Blanca, Alicante has become synonymous with sizzling summer holidays. But as we discovered on a recent visit, it is also a hotbed of VISTA participants.
After two rounds, teams from Estonia, Slovakia and Poland are leading the way in Central East Europe, in what is one of Volvo Trucks’ fastest growing markets. 173 teams from the region have registered for VISTA 2011, but only fifteen will qualify for the semi final in Verona, Italy, and only three will make it to the World Final in Gothenburg next summer.
As Volvo’s Latin American markets continue to grow, so does the region’s participation in VISTA. With Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Paraguay already active participants, VISTA 2011 will see three news markets in Latin America: Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
China’s booming economy means many companies are now doing business in the world’s most populous country, but Volvo have been selling and delivering trucks to China since 1934. In the last few years that relationship was expanded rapidly, and in 2004 Volvo Trucks became the first European truck manufacturer with local production with the opening of their first plant in Jinan.
As one of the largest car manufacturers in the world, Korea has a proud history in the motor vehicle industry, including trucks and buses. It is a legacy that Korean teams will be looking to live up to when they take part in VISTA 2011.
There is no escaping the fact that Volvo Trucks operates in a traditionally male-dominated industry. This is reflected in the low representation of women in VISTA, however fostering diversity and gender equality have long been amongst Volvo’s core values, and VISTA does play an important role in breaking down barriers.
Steve Randall has worked in service for over 16 years, and VISTA 2011 will be his third competition. His teammate, Matt Elias, is taking part for the first time having only worked in parts for a year. Together with Nick Larman and Michael Lennon, they make up CMV Team 3, and despite the differences in age and experience amongst them, they all agree that the have a lot to learn from VISTA 2011.
In June 2009, Josef Mikula and three of his work colleagues stood in front of the very best technicians and personnel in the whole Volvo Trucks’ and Volvo Buses’ global workforce, and were the envy of all. Together they formed Team Impact, and they had just won the VISTA 2009 World Championship: Volvo Trucks’ international competition for aftermarket personnel.
For VISTA 2011, India has continued its rapid growth and has put together its biggest team yet. With a new VISTA-inspired internal competition also underway, the standards are growing just as quickly, and Indian teams could be the dark horses of this year’s competition.
VISTA 2011 will not only see a number of new markets taking part for the first time, but also the return of some seasoned competitors.
Volvo’s continued expansion and growth means VISTA 2011 will see a number of new markets taking part for the first time. Belarus have entered three teams, all eager to prove themselves.
