Page 34 - Commercial Vehicle Engineer - October 2019

PEOPLE
Sam Whittaker
Sam Whittaker has been appointed national sales director at Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, moving from customer service and parts director.
Whittaker joined Mercedes-Benz UK as a trainee in 1992, and since 1997 has worked for the Truck business unit in a succession of increasingly senior management positions covering all aspects of vehicle sales, marketing, key account management and aftersales.
In his new role, Whittaker will be responsible for all Mercedes-Benz and FUSO new truck sales and used truck remarketing activities. He
will also oversee the manufacturer’s Truck Connectivity business, as well as its TRUCKTraining and Product Demonstration operations, and the new Mercedes-Benz Truck Experience Centre at Wentworth Park.
Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK’s managing director, Mike Belk, says that Whittaker is ideally placed to drive the Mercedes-Benz Truck
sales business to further success.
“His background, coupled with our structure, means we are ideally placed to provide fully integrated sales support set-up for both established customers and new prospects.”
Whittaker adds: “In my time at Mercedes-Benz it has been my goal
to have an extensive network of trusted relationships with customers, suppliers, our dealers and colleagues. I’m passionate about delivering on our ‘Trucks You Can Trust’ brand promise and looking forward to getting stuck into my new role.”
VISTA is the largest and growing service market competition in the world.
R egistration opens on September 30 for the
Volvo International Service
Training Awards (VISTA), with up to 20,000 technicians expected
to participate from the global dealer network of Volvo Trucks and Volvo Buses.
Even though VISTA is a competition, the main objectives are to encourage teamwork to build team spirit and pride, while also inspiring self-improvement and competence development. It’s a
way for service market personnel to increase their knowledge and the quality of their work which, in the end, leads to improved customer service and greater customer satisfaction.
Highly skilled technicians enable Volvo Trucks’ workshops to carry out fault diagnosis and x vehicle problems in a timely manner while also meeting high quality standards. These skills are key in helping customers to achieve maximum uptime for their truck
or bus.
“A top service network is crucial for our customers’ truck business,” says Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks.
“VISTA shows how important our technicians are and, at the same time, the competition improves our skills so we can deliver outstanding service provided by the best service crews in the world.”
VISTA will see 20,000 attendees from the global Volvo dealer network work together in about 5,000 teams. The competition is a way for Volvo Trucks to address the worldwide challenge of recruiting and retaining workshop technicians.
Anna Rogbrant, VISTA project manager, explains: “The VISTA
World Championships give teams an opportunity to show the world what they are capable of and compete against the very best in front of an audience of tens of thousands.
“VISTA is more than a competition, it is a celebration of teamwork, diversity and talent and this is what makes it unique.”
34 OCTOBER 2019 > COMMERCIAL VEHICLE ENGINEER