Marking their 10th anniversary in 2024, UD Trucks Australia’s frontline staff shone in the 2024 Gemba Challenge, a global bi-annual technical competition.
Australian participation and performance reached new heights with two teams qualifying for the global final at the home of UD Trucks in Ageo, Japan, in November.
The Gemba Challenge ran locally from March to August this year, entailing two qualifying rounds of theory.
Australian participation was up by more than 200 per cent since 2022 with 105 teams competing, comprising of more than 400 frontline staff.
“The teamwork, dedication and skill we’ve seen from our Australian teams in this year’s Gemba Challenge is a demonstration of their Gemba Spirit and the passion that drives them to go the Extra Mile for our customers day in and day out,” says Volvo Group Australia’s vice president, Martin Jerresand.
The UD Trucks Gemba Challenge is part of UD’s heavy investment in developing and empowering frontline staff through hands-on training and support across its leading dealer network – being the largest in Australia.
“The theme for this years’ competition is ‘All Stars’, and it couldn’t be more fitting given the level of performance we’ve seen,” he says.
“Each team has completed a combined 80 hours of training as part of the challenge, which is a solid commitment from our dealer network to developing its people.”
The word ‘Gemba’ loosely translates to “where value is created”, which for UD Trucks and its customers, is on the dealership and workshop floors with their passionate workers.
Vice President of UD Trucks Australia, Philippa Wood says their core value is delivering Ultimate Dependability to customers.
“The Gemba Challenge supports this by ensuring our customers and their fleets are backed by some of Australia’s most skilled, capable and passionate technical staff,” she says.
The Australian team from CMV Truck & Bus Epping, STOP LOOKING AT ME QUON!!!, placed first nationally.
The all-technician team, led by Justin Westcott, includes members Nitin Soman, James Greenwood, and Rob Boletti, all of which began their careers with CMV and UD Trucks as apprentice technicians and share a passion for customer success.
Truck Centre WA Forrestfield, Team UD11 also performed well and earned one of the two coveted wildcard spots up for grabs among the 650+ global competing teams.
The team is led by Sam Morris, with team members Neil Aramil, Nik Glovata, and Chris Gunning, the team embraces a culture of learning and leadership.
Wood congratulates the Gemba All Stars team that participated in this year’s competition and looks forward to seeing the Australian finalists compete on the Gemba Challenge Final world stage in November.
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