Mercedes-Benz Technician of the Year

Kiwi named top tech in Annual MB awards

New Zealander Matt Gillatt has taken out the Mercedes-Benz Truck Australia/New Zealand Technician of the Year award.

The 31-year-old from Keith Andrews Trucks service centre in Whangarei, 150km north of Auckland, emerged the winner from an extremely tight contest of the best Mercedes-Benz commercial vehicle technicians in Australia and New Zealand.

His prize is an all-expenses-paid trip to Germany in September to visit the massive truck production plant in Worth, attend the IAA Commercial Vehicles show in Hannover and visit the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart.

Iain Dorward, from Daimler Trucks Adelaide, finished a whisker behind Gillatt when the final points were tallied. The 32-year-old from Ireland did his apprenticeship at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in England before moving to Australia in January 2014.

Luckily for Mr Dorward, Mercedes-Benz Truck made a last minute announcement that the runner-up would also be going on the same trip to Germany.

Other technicians who made the final, which was held at the Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus training centre in the Melbourne suburb of Mulgrave, included Bill Gauci and Terry Larkin of Daimler Trucks Sydney, and Gary Bradshaw of Daimler Trucks Adelaide.

The Mercedes-Benz Truck Technician of the Year competition is a one-day event designed to test many different skills. Each competitor is given a practical test, which requires them to detect a fault in a Mercedes-Benz truck and to develop a plan to fix it. They must also sit a detailed theory test and work together with the other competitors to solve a problem in a team environment.

Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus director, Michael May, says he was impressed by the quality of the finalists: "These five finalists are our best certified Mercedes-Benz Truck diagnostic technicians, the cream of the crop, and it was a fantastic effort from all of them to reach the final," he said.

"The competition was close and all of them showed great skill throughout the day, but Matt emerged as the winner, which is a great achievement," he added.

Mr May said the competition is a reminder that Mercedes-Benz Truck and Bus values its technicians and encourages skill development.

"We want to keep our customers moving, to keep earning money, that is the bottom line, and our network of highly skilled technicians is absolutely critical," he said.

"Honouring the best of the best with this competition is one way we can show our gratitude.”

Mercedes-Benz Technician of the Year

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