Mr Dickson is a leading hand from Kings Park, NSW who competed with five other off-highway finalists to be crowned the category’s Master Technician.
For Mr Bell, a diesel technician from Perth, this year’s win was his second on-highway Master Technician award. He also competed against five other on-highway finalists.
Open to all Penske Guild members, the Master Technician contest involves participants from around Australia and New Zealand in qualification rounds prior to the final.
The annual competition includes general procedural tasks as well as advanced diagnostics scenarios, with finalists contending against the stopwatch.
Penske Australia & New Zealand group learning and development manager Kathy Bandounas described this year’s Penske Guild Master Technician contest as “our most competitive yet”.
“Congratulations to Shannon and Bryce, as well as our other ten highly talented participants who were pipped at the post.
“We’ve seen the skill level increase year-on-year, and the competition gets tighter as the 12 competitors strive for the spoils.”
Encompassing Penske’s product portfolio of on- and off-highway brands, the breadth of the challenges undertaken by the finalists is indicative of the daily tasks a Penske technician faces.
Penske Australia & New Zealand managing director Hamish Christie-Johnston said the high level of ability demonstrated in the competition directly translated to the excellent service delivered to customers.
“Our highly-skilled Master Technician finalists are indicative of our broader technician base at Penske and what we deliver to customers across our Australian and New Zealand branches,” he said.
“Our staff live our company values of ownership, teamwork, integrity, care, and especially passion, which is evident in this competition.
“All our technicians, from our Penske Guild members to our most recent apprentices, have the opportunity to work on a wide range of products across our varied customer group.
“This diversity yields a significant opportunity for our team that provides personal growth and career fulfilment – and this is our Penske difference.”
Newly-crowned 2022 Master Technicians Mr Shannon and Mr Bryce will respectively take trips overseas to visit the MTU plant in Germany and the Detroit factory in the United states.
The Penske brand is represented in Australia and New Zealand through on- and off-highway businesses including Penske Australia, Penske New Zealand and Penske Truck Rental.
It distributes commercial vehicles from Western Star Trucks, MAN Truck & Bus, and Dennis Eagle, as well as diesel engines, gas engines, and power systems from MTU, Detroit, Allison Transmission (Australia), DEUTZ, and Sauer Compressors (Australia) with related parts and service support.
Penske Australia and Penske New Zealand are 100 per cent subsidiaries of Penske Automotive Group, a Fortune 500 company that operates automotive and commercial vehicle dealerships across the US, the UK, Germany, Italy, and Japan, and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
By Neil Dowling
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