Developed a trade skills competition for the automotive aftermarket in Malaysia and Australia

JR

Sachs National Mechanics Challenge, Malaysia, 2005

The company’s marketing budget were never enough to meet my insatiable ambitions. So around 2003, necessity being the mother of invention, I hatched a plan to do something bigger and better for the company but that didn’t need too much of our own budget, if not none. I developed a concept for a joint marketing event that brought government agencies, technical institutions, industry associations and other market players together, dipping into all of their pockets.

After a year of planning and preparations, I developed a trade fair concept called “Sachs Model Workshop where I set-up a “live” service workshop on sponsored trade fair grounds as a pilot project. The concept attracted a huge amount of industry players and media interest.

Using that as a starting point, I continued to develop a concept for a “live” skills competition in a trade fair setting which eventually became an even bigger success story. In 2005, the Sachs National Mechanics Challenge was held in Malaysia in a trade fair called Automechanika Asia and a new marketing platform for the company was born.

8 finalist teams of 3 mechanics each
Our technical trainer was one of the judges
Prize presentations hosted by workshop association
ZF Management, sponsors, judges and teams
Making the skills competition idea a successful reality was a major achievement when working for ZF

Utilised sponsorships to cover entire competition costs

I devised a sponsorship scheme of $5,000 for each industrial partner to participate in this competition platform. I kept the sponsorship fees low for the first year and planned to increase it for the subsequent years. In return the sponsors received logo placements in websites, flyers, competition grounds, product use, placements and presentations at the competition as well as a press conference invitation hosted by ZF. The sponsorship fees helped us to cover our costs of setting up the competition more than sufficiently. Please find some information about some of the sponsors and their roles below:

Competition promotional flyer

Messe Frankfurt. World’s largest trade fair, congress and event organiser and the organiser of Automechanika Asia in Malaysia. I negotiated to get 100 square metres of free space, of course besides our corporate stand for the 2005 trade fair.

National Vocational Training Council, Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysia. The national body entrusted with a major role in formulating, promoting and coordinating industrial and vocational training strategy and programmes, including implementing a national skills certification programme for the country. I roped them in to develop the preliminary and final round requirements and the rules, basically the technical parts of the entire competition.

The Federation of Automobile Workshop Owners Association of Malaysia. The umbrella association that represents and promotes the interests of the automobile repairing industry in Malaysia. Basically every workshop owner in the country is a fees paying member of this organisation. I brought them in to organise the preliminary rounds of the competition in each of the 12 States in Malaysia and to sent the best 3 teams to the trade fair grounds for the finals. They managed all of the efforts successfully including the costs, sponsored the trophies and gave them away at their annual gala dinner during the trade fair nights.

Proton. The national automobile company Proton was also one of our key sponsors. They brought in the all cars which were used for the repairs and all necessary tools and equipment to run the competition. They were essentially the ” backstage crew” who were instrumental in setting up the competition scene and the necessary faults.

Other sponsors from the industry: MAHA sponsored the workshop equipment such as the car lifter and others for the competition. Mann & Hummel and Shell also supported as spoors with products and sponsorship fees.

Sachs Masters Australia, 2008

Upon the request of the management of our Australian office, I transplanted the idea to Australia in 2008. I roped in a World Skills competition judge called Grant Petch, Head of Automotive, University of Ballarat to reformat the competition requirements and rules to suit the Australian market and audience. The competition was held in BMW Group Australia.

Key Points of the modified competition are as follows:

  • Name was changed to Sachs Masters Australia, Australia’s first team-based auto tech skills competition
  • 24 teams from Australia participated in a 3-day competition event for a $10,000 cash price
  • Main differences between existing competitions from World Skills Australia was that the competition was team-based and completely sponsored by the industry. Word Skills competitions in contrast were individual-based and sponsored by the government
  • Positioned as an advanced skills competition for the more experienced technicians
  • Team of 3 technicians have to repair a car with 9.5 hours of work within 2.5 hours
  • Additionally team needs to pass an online assessment to prove skills and qualifications
  • Only qualified technicians with one year of post apprenticeship experience was allowed to take part
  • Sponsored by BMW Group Australia and held at the BMW Training Centre, Mulgrave, Melbourne
  • Partnered with World Skills Australia who developed the competition requirements and rules

You can click here to see a video and an article on this competition from Skillsone: https://www.skillsone.com.au/vidgallery/off-and-racing-at-sachs-masters-2008/