16 December 2011 - From November 6th until November 12th, six KYOCERA MITA service engineers from Europe, the U.S., Canada and Brasil took part in a unique incentive trip to KYOCERA MITA facilities in Japan and China. This trip was the first prize of the 2011 International Service Award competition organized by KYOCERA MITA. On the trip’s agenda were Tokyo and Osaka, where KYOCERA and KYOCERA MITA are headquartered, then to Hong Kong and Dongguan in China, where KYOCERA MITA operates its Shilong factory. The engineers also visited the cities of Ise and Kyoto in Japan.
Every year engineers from EMEA countries in which KYOCERA MITA operates are invited to test their skills and knowledge against one another in areas ranging from product knowledge and technical understanding, to highly complex hardware fault diagnosis and repair. This competition is unique in the industry and shows KYOCERA MITA’s commitment to excellent service and customer satisfaction. This year, over 600 engineers from nine countries competed for the title of the local Service Award Champion. There are several qualifying rounds, and only the best-in-class from each country can proceed to the finals, the European Service Award, to determine the overall winner.
The European competition was held in May this year at KYOCERA MITA Europe’s branch office in Meerbusch, Germany. The final competition was won by the following Service Engineers:
1st: Stephan Callm of Bureau Knipper GmbH Dealership (Germany)
2nd: Martijn Jansen of L&N Printing Solutions B.V. Dealership (The Netherlands)
3rd: Jesper Johansson of STAPLES Advantage Dealership (Sweden)
In addition to the European competition, engineers from KYOCERA MITA America (KMA) also participated in their own Service Award competition this year. No fewer than 1,011 engineers took part worldwide.The winners from KYOCERA MITA America were:
1st (U.S.): Michael Parmer from Quality Digital Office Solutions Dealership
1st (Canada): Marcel Bureau from COPICOM INC. Dealership
1st (Brasil): Ednei Cristin Barbosa from POSITIVA DO BRASIL Dealership
At the Head Office in Osaka the winners were officially welcomed by KYOCERA MITA Corporation’s President Mr. Komaguchi and the company’s board members. The trip was a great opportunity for KYOCERA MITA to showcase its very high standards of its manufacturing, production and quality assurance processes, and all the participants were left extremely impressed by both the company, and the unique countries and cultures of Japan and China.
Next year, the 5th anniversary of this competition, we are going global as KYOCERA MITA Australia and KYOCERA MITA Asia also plan to participate in the scheme.
