Our technicians are tested on quality, speed, attention to detail, care, adherence to the O'Brien^® way of fitting and expert use of the specialist O'Brien^® tools to name a few.

Hosted remotely for the first time, six of our finest O'Brien^® automotive technicians battled it out through a series of windscreen repair and replacement challenges hoping to take out the top prize. Ultimately, Phil Cole from O'Brien^® AutoGlass Joondalup in WA was crowned champion. He’s now on the countdown to represent Australia in the Best of Belron 2022 competition in Barcelona, Spain, on 29-30 June.

Best of Belron brings together 29 of the best automotive technicians from across the global Belron family to compete for the title of “Best of Belron 2022”. They’ll demonstrate their skills and expertise by completing a vehicle glass repair, replacement, body glass replacement, remove/replace rear glass and recalibration (VGRRR) tasks including Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) recalibration.

With the competition just around the corner, we caught up with Phil to find out how his preparation has been going, and what he’s been doing to get himself ready to take on the best technicians worldwide.

Preparing for Best of Belron 2022

Phil has been training daily to ensure his skills and expertise are in tip-top shape for the competition.

“Every job we do, we follow the Belron Way of Fitting, so I already practice every day. But as part of my training, I have been concentrating on reviewing each of the steps to ensure it is the most efficient process with the aim to reduce seconds off the task, as every second adds up at the end,” Phil told us.

The Belron Way of Fitting is a 40-step process that captures the expertise and know-how of Belron technicians around the world and represents best practices in repairing and replacing vehicle glass.

Phil has also had lots of support from the O'Brien^® Technical Team, especially his local trainer, Ian Batterbee and his Trainer / Coach, Steve, who will be flying over to Spain with him.

“I’m doing much more full-on training with the Technical Team now. They watch and assess me and give me feedback. They’re picking up on those finer details that I need to work on to make sure I tick all the boxes,” Phil explained.

“I want to thank the training team for getting me this far.”

Steve added, “Phil’s training is going really well. He is an absolute superstar. Phil needs to remember so many steps, He’s in a great frame of mind.”

The O'Brien^® team of Technical Trainers also support and audits the work of all technicians across the country on a regular basis, continuously providing training to achieve the highest quality standards possible and updating teams on the latest tools and technology.

How’s Phil feeling in the lead-up to the competition?

“I’m feeling confident, but not too confident,” Phil laughed. “I feel comfortable that I know what I’m doing. I know what the process is.”

With so many people watching him as part of his training, Phil says he’s starting to get used to the pressure the competition will bring. He’s now in the mindset that he needs to prove himself, and that’s precisely what he intends to do.

“I know that when I walk into the arena and see the stage, it’s all going to hit me, but until then, I feel pretty good about it.”

As for his plans, while he’s not competing, Phil says he’s looking forward to sightseeing around Barcelona and trying all the Spanish food. Still, he’ll also be looking to relax and chill out as much as he can before the competition begins.

We wish Phil all the best in Barcelona!

From all of us here at O'Brien^®, we wish Phil good luck at Best of Belron 2022, and we can’t wait to see how he goes against the best technicians in the world.

Of course, we’ll keep you all updated on Phil’s progress and check back in with him after the competition to hear how it all went – and hopefully sneak a peek at the trophy!

Go Phil!

Phil practising his craft recently in Sydney, with help of the Technical Training team.

Next time you need to get your windscreen repaired or replaced, think of the team at O'Brien^® AutoGlass. We’re your trained experts in all things windscreen glass – book online or call 1800 059 829.

At O'Brien^®, we’re proud to have so many outstanding Vehicle Glass Technicians working for our company right across Australia. We’re committed to delivering dedicated training programs that deliver technical expertise and service excellence to all of our staff, so we can continue to offer the high level of customer service and quality of work that we provide to Australians every day.

Interested in joining the O'Brien^® team?

Visit obriencareers.com.au for more information today.

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After the event was postponed in 2020 due to the pandemic, we finally got the chance to see our six expert O'Brien^® vehicle glass technicians from around the country go head-to-head to decide who would claim the title of Best in Australia.

And what an event it was!

Held virtually for the first time this year, the competition took place over two days, with the winner seizing the chance to represent Australia at the Best of Belron event in Barcelona, Spain in June.
Now, we’re proud to announce that the winner of the O'Brien^® Best of Australia competition for 2020 is…

Phil Cole from O'Brien^® AutoGlass Osborne Park, WA!

Congratulations, Phil!

This is Phil’s second time competing for the Best of Australia title, having represented his region in Sydney in 2018. This time around, he’s come away with the top prize, and we couldn’t be happier for him.

We spoke with Phil after the event to find out more about his story and what this win means for him.

Phil’s story

Phil began his career as an Auto Technician with the Belron Group in the UK, when he was just a teenager. He’s now notched up more than 31 years in the industry and still loves his work as much as the day he started.

“The thing I love most about my job,” Phil told us, “is the diversity and the opportunity to work on so many new, different and challenging vehicles. I also love being able to provide great service to my customers each and every day.”

What does being the Best of Australia mean for Phil?

“This is something I’ve been wanting for a long time,” Phil tells us.

“It’s my life. I’ve been doing this for the last 30 odd years, since I was 17, and I’ve been with the Belron Group all that time, so this reinforces my dedication to the tasks I do everyday and to my customers that I help.”

For Phil, winning this competition is like a pat on the back for all the years that he has spent perfecting his craft as an Auto Technician. “I didn’t compete for any other reason other than to prove to myself that I’m good at what I do. I enjoy pushing myself and testing my skills.”

It’s also reaffirming for Phil to know that his customers – his main priority – are getting the quality of service that he works so hard to provide for them. While he doesn’t intend on telling too many of them about his crowning achievement, he’s hoping that this will provide added reassurance for those that do know about it.

How was this year’s competition compared to 2018?

This time around, the event was held virtually, with each finalist completing their tasks from their own O'Brien^® AutoGlass workshop, with a judge in each region, and a second remote judge on camera to oversee and ensure continuity across the board.

While Phil loved competing, he said that the one thing he missed most this year was the crowds and the atmosphere of Sydney.

“In saying that, I liked the way that the competition was put together given the circumstances this year,” Phil said.

The remote judging and the camera technology used, especially the RealWear Headsets, was a new experience for everyone involved, but this allowed the competition to go ahead and even be live-streamed for O'Brien^® employees all over the country to enjoy.

“While the camera may have added a little more pressure, it kept me on my toes and made me more determined to do the best I could the entire time.”

Next stop, Spain

Now that Phil has been crowned the Best of Australia for 2020, he will go onto Barcelona, Spain in June to compete against 30 of the best Auto Technicians in the Belron Group to decide which of them is the Best of Belron.

Naturally, he’s a little nervous, but he’s also quite excited and looking forward to the challenge.

“One of the first things I thought when I won was, ‘What have I done?” he laughed.

Phil’s expecting the competition to be harder and more intense this time around. He also suspects Belron will throw in some curveballs too.

“I’m going to make sure I’m as prepared as I can be. I’ll take a bit of a break from training for a couple of weeks and then I’ll get back into it.”

While he works as an Auto Technician every day, Phil still needs to make sure that he’s up to speed with all 42 steps of the Belron Way of Fitting. These steps must be completed in the correct order for the competition, which he admits is probably the hardest part.

That’s why Phil’s family, which he refers to as his support network, helps him with his training and tests his knowledge regularly to keep him at his best.

He jokes, “I think my family know the Belron Way of Fitting just as well as I do now.”

We wish Phil all the best for the competition in June, and we congratulate him once again on his amazing achievement.

At O'Brien^®, we’re proud to have so many outstanding Vehicle Glass Technicians working for our company right across Australia. We continue to provide each of our technicians, and all our team members, the opportunity to improve their technical and service skills every day. We want to ensure that our staff are not only helping O'Brien^® grow, but we’re also helping them grow together with us.

It’s this attitude that differentiates O'Brien^® and helps us offer the high level of customer service and quality of work that we provide to Australians every day.

The post Announcing The Winner Of The O’Brien Best Of Australia Competition! appeared first on O'Brien.

Starting next week, and running over five days, O'Brien^® will be taking part in a global challenge that aims to circumnavigate the globe as many times as possible and raise awareness and funds for Afrika Tikkun – a charity that helps to break the cycle of poverty in South Africa.

The ‘Spirit of Belron Round the World Challenge’ is the biggest annual charity event hosted by our parent group Belron^® , and brings together employees, friends, family and business partners to get active and give back at the same time. What is extra special in 2021, is that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the event at which participants can walk, run, cycle or swim to raise much-needed funds for our chosen charity partner Afrika Tikkun.

Since the beginning of the challenge, Belron Group has raised over 12.5 million euros for Afrika Tikkun. Afrika Tikkun was founded in 1994 after the first elections in South Africa where all citizens were able to take part and when Nelson Mandela become prime minister.

As a leading non-profit company in the fields of education, skills development and socio-economic upliftment, Afrika Tikkun’s commitment remains unwavering: to impact South Africa for the long term, one inspired young life at a time. Afrika Tikkun’s ‘360° Cradle to Career’ program approach is designed to meet the demands of health, education and future wellbeing of South Africa’s impoverished youth.

In the past, the Spirit of Belron Challenge has been a number of events hosted in one place for people to come together. But in 2020, due to travel restrictions, a new type of all-inclusive event was imagined that allowed anyone, no matter their location, to take part.

Last year over 7,300 people from around the world got into the ‘Spirit of Belron’ and together we travelled an incredible 166,729km. That equates to just over four times around the world! We also raised more than 1.7 million euros.

Jacques Marais, Enterprise Architect at O'Brien^®, led the charge in 2020 and travelled over 200km. ‘I set out to take part in what I believed was going to be a fun initiative. On the second day, I opened the leaderboard and noticed the sheer amount of km’s some people in Europe had put in. It got me immensely motivated and I went from just taking part to actually trying to challenge myself. If anything, I ended up competing with myself and it was an incredibly fun and rewarding week, enhanced by knowing that we were all giving back and supporting a really great cause’.

Alongside Jacques, we had 260 employees, 5 business partners/suppliers, and 29 family and friends take part – with a huge $75,000 donated. This year we want to do even better, it’s a challenge! We’ve set ourselves a target to increase participation by 20% to reflect the 20 successful years this event has been running.

But how does that work when some of us are in lockdown here in Australia? Well, that’s the beauty of it being a virtual event and having beautiful weather here to get active outdoors.

The event kicks off on 22 September and finishes on 26 September. Please support anyone you know taking part (look out for their pictures on our socials) or if you would like to get involved, or make a donation we’d love your support.

Find out more about the Spirit of Belron Challenge 2021.

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