From left to right: Hendre Hulscher of Reeds N1 City; Ian Nicholls, GMSA President and Managing Director; and Gawie Engelbrecht, the 2016 GMSA Top Technician Skills Awards first-place finisher
General Motors South Africa named Gawie Engelbrecht its best technician in the entire country this month during its annual GMSA Top Technician Skills Awards. Engelbrecht, the 11-year employee of Williams Hunt Port Elizabeth, beat out respective second- and third-place finishers Hendre Hulscher and Sujit Munnisunker for the prize.
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“Winning the competition and having your skills and abilities recognized is a huge honor,” Engelbrecht told GM. “I must admit that I feel very proud of myself. Our Chevrolet, Opel, and Isuzu customers are everything and they deserve technicians that are trained to the highest standard.”
The GMSA Top Technician Skills Awards are determined by pitting 327 of the country’s best techs against one another in a tournament-style competition. The field is ultimately whittled down to 67 technicians who vie for the opportunity to make the top 10, which is then cut down to the top five.
Those five technicians must them compete against one another over the course of two days in competitions that test their diagnostic and problem-solving skills. In addition to Engelbrecht, Hulscher (Reeds N1 City), and Munniseker (South Coast Motors), top-five finishers included Kieran Vermaak of Edmond Auto and Michael Nyakudya of Imperial GM Germiston.
The top three earn prizes of R30,000, R12,000, and R10,000. The first- and second-prize winners also earn trips to Thailand to see the Isuzu 1 Grand Prix this November.
The prizes were handed out by Ian Nicholls, President and Managing Director of GM South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The Top Technician competition is proof of this commitment to our customers, where the focus is on ensuring that our technicians meet and exceed our customers’ expectations,” said Nicholls. “Our technicians play a critical role in determining the level of satisfaction which our customers experience with their vehicles.”
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