MISSISSAUGA, ON. — Hino Motors crowned the top truck masters at its National Dealer Meeting held May 9-11 at Fanshawe College in London, Ont.

The company gathered top-notch experts from sales, parts and service to participate in a unique skills competition.

“We really wanted to underline how important it is for our dealers and customers to understand that each and every individual in each department of our company is what makes the Hino experience so unique. We need everybody to pull in the same direction to ensure Total Support to our customers, whether it’s a matter of sales, parts, service or the three at the same time,” said Eric Smith, senior v.p., sales and customer support at Hino Canada.

Regardless of whether they were in sales, parts, or service, all participants first had to have a score of 80% or more in online training modules and preliminary exams to be selected for the finals in London. Only the top scores in each department lead to the finals. Participants then needed to display their skills before their peers during the finals.

In the parts category, each competitor had to complete 15 different stations, each covering a different aspect of the Hino business. These stations included a video and warehouse challenge, proper storage techniques, factory specifications, a lightning round and a “Beat the Champ” station where they had to go one-on-one with last year’s Skill Champion.

The  service category gathered technicians from three levels of certification: Premier, Platinum and Elite Master. These Elite Master technicians were put head-to-head in a hands-on competition, in which each had to diagnose and correct identical malfunctions installed on identical vehicles in a short amount time. They were also judged on their proper use of tooling and workshop manuals, their ability to monitor any data that can lead to conclude what the probable cause may be, as well as product knowledge.

The sales category participants had to demonstrate the highest level of Hino product and specification knowledge. These experts were also among Hino’s top sales achievers for 2016 to be included in the finals. The Sales Competition challenge consisted of different stations such as customer sales simulation, competitor analysis and Hino product knowledge, along with interactive stations having a spontaneous and lighthearted nature but competitive in design to entertain the crowd of spectators.

The finals winners were announced at the end of the competition. In first place for the parts category was Cam Taylor of Vancouver Hino. In first for the service category was Trevor Robertson of Hino Central. And taking home the gold in sales was Thom Moody of Tri Truck Centre.

The winners were awarded an all-expense-paid Hino study trip to Costa Rica and Panama City later this year.

“I believe that our strength is our people with high skills, loyalty and trust for the Hino Brand,” said Hino Canada’s president Yumiko Kawamura. “Hino’s role is to provide any support to the dealers by providing them the proper tools and programs so they can deliver total support to our valued customers.”