Recently, Linde Material Handling (UK), manufacturers of fantastic forklifts and materials handling equipment, held the Ultimate Operator Challenge for 2014 in Bolton. This is but the second year of this competition, but it is already making waves in the forklift training world. In this post, we will tell you more about just what the Ultimate Operator Challenge entails. We will also talk about why we love it as a training event for forklift operators. Lastly, we will tell you who won this year’s contest and what they received.

What’s This Event?

The Linde Ultimate Operator Challenge 2014 was just as exciting as it sounds. Top forklift operators from around the country gathered to test their prowess in the seat. And how did they do that? Why, with challenges, of course! Each competitor was given 4 different practical challenges to work their way through. Then, their results were judged based upon their performance. In just the past few years, competition among this group has seriously heated up. At the end of the Challenge, winners were declared, with the top candidates advancing on to the next international round of the contest.

Why It’s Important

Here at Pro-Trainers, we love this event idea. It incorporates training with friendly competition. When you pitch the idea of professional safety and technical skill as a competition, employees are likely to get much more excited about it. Not only that, but they are much more likely to remember this training while working or even training others. We often utilise these sort of events when training employees, as well. By organising more events like this, plenty of firms can better beef up the training regimen for their drivers, increase awareness, and even work on team building skills.

The Winners…

We are proud to announce that the winners for this year’s Linde Ultimate Operator Challenge 2014 was the Boots UK firm, as led by driver Andrew Rawson (first place). To no one’s surprise, Kris Scarborough of Wilko’s (the top driver last year) came in second. Victrex plc and operator Jake Walmsley managed to come in third. We would like to offer sincere congratulations to all of the winners. Each of them will have our support as they move on to the next round of the competition in the Tenth Annual International Forklift Cup, to be held in Germany this September.