Robin MĂŒller from Germany beat 22 other competitors from 11 countries in a series of gruelling challenges at the Volvo Customer Center in Eskilstuna, Sweden, to be named Europeâs best operator for the second year in a row.
On Saturday 5th October, 22 of Europeâs most skilled construction equipment operators â including last yearâs winner Robin MĂŒller from Germany â gathered at the Volvo Customer Center in Eskilstuna, Sweden, for the industryâs 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 â Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey â and aims to celebrate talent and experience in the construction equipment operator profession at the highest level.
Notably, this yearâs competition welcomed the first woman in the Operators Clubâs 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 MĂŒller 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.
âIâm impressed by the Operators Club experience, especially as we had the opportunity to be in Sweden, the home country of Volvo CE,â Robin says.
âThe 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.â
The 25th anniversary Volvo Operators Club Final in 2023 featured electric machines only, demonstrating Volvo Construction Equipmentâs commitment to sustainability and vision for a zero-emission construction industry.
This yearâs 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.
âItâs 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,â explains Hanna Jaschke, who is responsible for the Operators Club at Volvo CE.
In the first challenge, dubbed âThe Hauler Laneâ, 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 bullâs eye as possible.
Next, in the âThreaded Rodâ 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, âThe Wall of Bricksâ, 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 âCourse of Obstaclesâ in the L30, while carrying a pallet topped with a basketball.
The top five contestants then took part in the âGuess the Weightâ super final using the EC400 where they had to load 15t of material into the body of an articulated hauler without relying on the On-Board Weighing system.