Mechanic competitions are held every two years in Iisalmi in cooperation with the Ylä-Savo Vocational College. The two-day competition measures the skills of mechanics in 12 different tasks. Tasks range from mechanical installation and maintenance tasks to electrical and hydraulic fault finding and forest machine information systems. Also a written task is included. Competitors have 45 minutes to complete each task.

This year Swedish Mats Axelsson won an even competition with 227.5/330 points. Atte Arola from Konehuolto P. Kula Oy, Finland came second with 223 points and Ernests Mozka, representing Baltic Agro Machinery, Latvia was third with 210 points.

"The competition was tight, and the win came with a small difference in points. All participants are true professionals. The competition days were surprisingly challenging, but at the same time rewarding,” thought Axelsson after the winner was declared.

”In the competition, we were not allowed to use a computer to analyze faults, but we used secondary means to retrieve them. This brought an additional challenge compared to normal everyday work,” Axelsson recalled the competition tasks.

"Many of our country companies and retailers organize qualifying competitions locally, from which the best mechanic is invited to the final competition in Finland. We hope to see more qualifying competitions in the future,” says Jarkko Koponen, Leader of the Global Technical Training team and the competition director.

”In order for the competition to be fair to all participants, they have access to tasks and materials in their native language and in English. In this way, we also aim to lower the threshold for competitors to participate in the competition,” says Terho Tanskanen, Senior Manager of Global Technical Support and one of the competition directors.

Competition motivates the development of professional skills

Competition is a good place to learn new things, both through assignments and from colleagues. During the competition, judges closely monitor and evaluate competitors’ performances. Among other things the judges assess occupational safety, troubleshooting skills, working methods, ability to follow instructions and perform machine testing in maintenance tasks.  

Each competitor receives personal feedback on their performance, as well as a written job description to enable learning. Only the three best performances will be published in the competition, giving each participant their own peaceful space for learning.

” Our goal is to increase the appreciation and recognition of mechanics' work, as well as to increase motivation for developing one's own professional skills. Some of the participants in previous competitions now work, for example, as trainers for mechanics,” Koponen continues.

In addition to the competition, all participants had the opportunity to visit the Ponsse factory, and this visit was one of the most anticipated moments of the whole competition event.

Originally national mechanic competitions have grown into international competition. The competition is intended for Ponsse's own mechanics as well as for mechanics of Ponsse’s contractors and resellers. From the very beginning, the competition has been arranged in cooperation with Ylä-Savo Vocational College, which has offered suitable premises for the competition in Peltoniemi. Ylä-Savo Vocational College is also involved in preparing competition tasks.

Further information
Jarkko Koponen, Team Leader, Global Technical Training
jarkko.koponen@ponsse.com
+358 40832 3042