Mercedes Benz

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE

Stuttgart, Germany, Nov 19, 2010

- Dr. Joachim Schmidt: “Keeping customers satisfied with our services is our top priority. We’ve made tremendous progress over the last few years and achieved outstanding results in many studies around the world. All of this is due to our highly motivated and qualified employees. The Global TechMasters competition, which we’re staging for fifth time this year, is an important instrument that enables us to continually enhance the expertise and motivation of our service staff around the world. After all, it’s the outstanding work of our employees that makes it possible for the Mercedes-Benz brand to live up to its claim and deliver premium quality each and every day.”
- The best Mercedes-Benz service center team for 2010 is from Russia, followed by teams from Germany and the U.S.
= 70 national winners from 14 countries took part in the final round in Stuttgart

Mercedes-Benz held its fifth Global TechMasters competition for international aftersales service staff and service center employees from November 16 to 18 in Stuttgart. The best Mercedes-Benz passenger car service center team for 2010 is from Russia. The German team came in second, followed by the team from the U.S.. In the individual categories, the specialist panel chose Luxembourg as the best in Diagnosis Technics, and South Korea as the top team for Maintenance Technics. A total of 70 national winners from 14 countries qualified for the final round, and more than 12,000 employees took part in the national competitions that led up to the event in Stuttgart.


“Keeping customers satisfied with our services is our top priority“, said
Dr. Joachim Schmidt, Executive Vice President Mercedes-Benz Cars Sales and Marketing. “We’ve made tremendous progress over the last few years and achieved outstanding results in many studies around the world. All of this is due to our highly motivated and qualified employees. The Global TechMasters competition, which we’re staging for the fifth time this year, is an important instrument that enables us to continually enhance the expertise and motivation of our service staff around the world. After all, it’s the outstanding work of our employees that makes it possible for the Mercedes-Benz brand to live up to its claim and deliver premium quality each and every day.”

Dr. Frank Reintjes, Head of Global Service & Parts, Mercedes-Benz Passenger Cars, Vans, Trucks and smart: “Our offerings in the service and parts business stand for expertise, availability, partnership, and customer proximity. The Global TechMasters competition is a key instrument for enhancing the skills and training of our employees all over the world. Among other things, it helps us to continually improve the quality of our service and parts business, and also boosts the appeal of service careers worldwide.”

The best technicians and service consultants throughout the organization qualified for the final round in Stuttgart by winning their national competitions in Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, the UK, Brazil, India, Korea, Japan and - for the first time ever in 2010 — in the U.S., South Africa, Russia, and Luxembourg as well. In Stuttgart, theoretical tests, practical tests, and expertise assessments were conducted on November 17. These tests and evaluations were based on the Group’s definition criteria for Service & Parts professions. The panel of judges examined both the theoretical knowledge and practical abilities of each participant in terms of their job profile (e.g. maintenance technician), and then evaluated their direct communication with customers. The expertise assessment focused on interaction within the teams. The assessment simulated and evaluated the entire service process - from discussions with customers when they bring their vehicle to the workshops to preliminary diagnosis, repair work, and the subsequent return of the vehicles to customers. The evaluation was rounded out by general questions concerning the tools, products and processes in the service and parts business, as well as the culture and country-specific contact behavior of the service consultants. The panel used the results of the assessment and tests to select the world’s best national team from among the various winning teams from individual countries. In addition to determining the overall winning team, the competition honored the best technicians and service consultants in five separate categories.

Along with its importance for ensuring high-quality long-term continuing education, the Mercedes-Benz Global TechMasters competition also shows how the members of a very diverse team actually interact. The optimal use of team member skills creates an actively practiced culture of top performance. Besides taking the test, which was given in 12 different languages, the participants also had plenty of opportunities during the event to get to know their colleagues from other markets.

Mercedes-Benz Service and Parts

In conjunction with dealers and company-owned retail outlets worldwide, the Mercedes-Benz Service and Parts unit is responsible for the entire global service and parts business for Mercedes cars, vans, and trucks, as well as for Maybach and smart vehicles. The service business includes a service network of more than 5,000 facilities worldwide as well as a central service center in Maastricht, the Netherlands, for handling customer inquiries. The parts business encompasses parts marketing as well as the development of innovative parts products and parts logistics systems. The Mercedes-Benz offerings in the service and parts business stand for expertise, availability, partnership, and customer proximity.



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