Germany reigns supreme in 2024 Volvo Operators Club Final

On Saturday 5^th October, 22 of Europe’s most skilled construction equipment operators – including last year’s winner Robin Müller from Germany – gathered at the Volvo Customer Center in Eskilstuna, Sweden, for the industry’s toughest test of precision operation, the Volvo Operators Club Final.

The event is the culmination of a year of local heats held by 11 Volvo Operators Club branches in Europe – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey – and aims to celebrate talent and experience in the construction equipment operator profession at the highest level.

Notably, this year’s competition welcomed the first woman in the Operators Club’s 25-year history. Phebe Taelman from Belgium qualified at Matexpo in September and has been operating excavators since the age of six.

Over the course of the day, the competitors took part in three timed challenges with penalties issued for mistakes. The highest-scoring operators were then invited to compete in a semi-final and super final showdown to find the best of the best.

Robin Müller from Germany came out on top, closely followed by Niels Kuipers representing the Netherlands and Per Ovesen from Denmark.

Robin also won the competition in 2023 on his first attempt, successfully defending his title in 2024. The 30-year-old father of two is a third-generation construction equipment business owner. “I’m impressed by the Operators Club experience, especially as we had the opportunity to be in Sweden, the home country of Volvo CE,” Robin says. “The set-up with testing all the machines in the Customer Center and the chance to be part of the racetrack experience the day before made the overall event outstanding. I really liked the atmosphere with all the finalists and the team spirit over the whole competition.”

Keeping the competitors on their toes

The 25^th anniversary Volvo Operators Club Final in 2023 featured electric machines only, demonstrating Volvo Construction Equipment’s commitment to sustainability and vision for a zero-emission construction industry. This year’s competition gave participants the opportunity to experience some of the latest new generation machines from Volvo CE, such as the L30 compact wheel loader, the EC230 excavator, and the EC400 excavator launched at the Volvo Days customer event in Sweden in June.

“It’s important for us to mix up the machines used in the challenges each year to keep the competitors on their toes and ensure our winner truly is the most skilled and versatile operator across all equipment types,” explains Hanna Jaschke, who is responsible for the Operators Club at Volvo CE.

The 2024 challenges

In the first challenge, dubbed ‘The Hauler Lane’, the competitors had to complete a series of manoeuvres in an A25G articulated hauler, finishing by positioning the pointer attached to the front of the machine as close to the centre of a bull’s eye as possible.

Next, in the ‘Threaded Rod’ challenge, the operators had to gently unscrew a threaded rod and carry it to a new position 180° to the right using the bucket of the EC230 excavator.

Then in the third qualifying discipline, ‘The Wall of Bricks’, the competitors had to use a stick attached to the pallet forks on an L120H wheel loader to knock down 10 bricks placed in a wall structure.

After these initial challenges, the 10 operators with the fastest times navigated the semi-final ‘Course of Obstacles’ in the L30, while carrying a pallet topped with a basketball.

The top five contestants then took part in the ‘Guess the Weight’ super final using the EC400 where they had to load 15 t of material into the body of an articulated hauler without relying on the On-Board Weighing system.

Familiarisation and fun at the World RX test track

To ensure fairness, the competitors had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the machines the day before, where they were free to test-drive them to their heart’s content. As a warm-up, they also took part in a fun competition at the Rallycross Test Lab in the GTR Motor Park close to the Volvo Customer Center. This racetrack was especially developed by Volvo CE to support its work as the official construction equipment supplier and track build partner to the fully electric FIA World Rallycross Championship (World RX).

“To witness such incredible skill and precision from operators across Europe is truly inspiring,” Hanna Jaschke concludes. “This competition not only celebrates the best in our industry but also highlights the adaptability required in today’s evolving construction landscape. Congratulations to all the participants for their outstanding performances and especially to this year’s winner Robin Müller for showcasing such remarkable talent across a variety of machines.”

Find out more about the Volvo Operators Club at www.volvoce.com/europe/en/about-us/volvo-operators-club/

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Anne Bast