The winners of the 2024 Penske Guild Master Technician awards have been named.
Penske Australia & New Zealand presented Jason Gavin with the on-highway award and Frederich Pfuhl with the off-highway award.
Penske Guild members from around Australia and New Zealand competed in qualification rounds prior to the final, vying for the title of Master Technician.
Twelve finalists competed against each other and the stopwatch by performing general procedural tasks and advanced diagnostics scenarios.
Based in Penske’s Perth branch, Gavin has expertise across the full range of Western Star, MAN, and Detroit product portfolios, particularly Western Star, having worked with the brand for 14 years.
“The on-highway battle was fierce,” said Penske Australia & New Zealand Training Manager – Northern Region, Russell Koch.
“Demonstrating his competitive spirit and commitment to excellence, Jason is a worthy winner.
“In his acceptance speech, Jason humbly credited his win to the supportive culture and the training investment made in him by the organisation.”
Having joined Penske in 2017, Pfuhl is a field service technician based in Auckland. In addition to his wide-ranging field experience, he has completed multiple mtu 2000 series and 4000 series mechanical, electrical, and automation training courses, leading him to work across all off-highway markets, particularly energy solutions and marine.
“Among a very experienced field of technicians, Frederich is a very worthy winner of the off-highway Master Technician award, showcasing his vast expertise,” said Penske Australia & New Zealand Technical Training Manager, Daniel Raine.
“All competitors did a fantastic job on the day, and it’s a testament to the depth of capability we have at Penske to support our mtu customers across various industries, including mining, energy solutions, marine, rail, defence, construction and industrial, and oil and gas across Australia and New Zealand.”
The Master Technician competition is in its ninth year, having commenced in 2016 with former winners on hand to congratulate their fellow champions.
“Over the years, the calibre of participants has gone from strength to strength,” said Penske Australia & New Zealand CEO and Penske Guild Chair, Leigh Henderson.
“While being crowned a Master Technician is prestigious, customers benefit most from our Penske Guild program.
“Covering the breadth of operations, Penske Guild represents a tangible standard of excellence that ultimately delivers high quality and prompt solutions for customers.”
Award winners Gavin and Pfuhl will enjoy trips overseas to the US and Germany to visit the Rolls-Royce Power Systems’ mtu plant and Detroit plant respectively.
In other news, Cornwall Logging expanded its fleet with a new Performance-Based Standards (PBS) approved MAN TGX.
