BERNE — Heavy machinery mechanic Alex Giebitz, of East Berne, can add jet-setting to the list of his job perks next time he’s at a Career Day event, having now participated in an international competition held by the Japanese company Kobelco in its home country. 

As part of his employment with Selkirk-based equipment dealer Robert H. Finke and Sons, which sells Kobelco machines, Giebitz has received Kobelco-specific training at the company’s United States division, in Texas. 

The U.S. branch then nominated Giebitz, along with three other Americans, to represent the North American region in Japan as part of Kobelco’s 20th annual technical service contest, which brought together competitors from across the world and placed them into nine teams, representing India, Oceania, China, Europe, Japan (which had two teams), the Middle East and Africa, and Southeast Asia, in addition to North America. 

Giebitz told The Enterprise this week that he was nominated by a Kobelco field service engineer who is essentially the regional point-of-contact between Kobelco and the various dealerships.

“My guy’s out of Pennsylvania and I deal with him on a day-to-day basis on warranty claims and stuff that’s been going on in the industry, and they send that feedback to Kobelco …,” Giebitz said. “He’s actually the one that put my name in a drawing in Kobelco, USA, and then they go through and look at how efficient we are, how long we’ve been in the industry, and all the classes we’ve done, and that’s how I was chosen, I guess.” 

Giebitz said he knew one of his North American teammates from the Kobelco classes in Texas, but did not know the other two. 

The members of each team were assigned to one of four different contests to demonstrate their skills: Inspection, Maintenance & Report 1; IMR 2; Troubleshooting; and Overhaul and Measurement. There was also Troubleshooting Relay, which was a whole-team contest. 

Giebitz was assigned to Overhaul and Measurement, for which he had to perform timed service on a hydraulic component and the Isuzu 4JJ1 engine, being assessed on the safety of his work, along with his speed and accuracy. 

He told The Enterprise that he was given just a few minutes to prepare for the contest. 

“I had no idea what I was getting into,” he said. “They just kind of told me a general overview of what I would be doing, and then the specific detail of what I was doing I was informed of, like, 10 minutes before the competition.” 

Ultimately, Southeast Asia, Japan, and Oceania came out on top, placing in the top three respectively. Teams that didn’t make the top three aren’t placed. 

“We didn’t win any trophies, but it was definitely a cool experience,” Giebitz said. 

He spent a total of seven days in Japan, flying into Osaka and busing from there into Kobe. 

“The culture is really cool,” Giebitz said. “The food was amazing. Everybody’s so polite. It’s so clean.” 

Trophy or no, he summed it up as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”