Ciaran Coady from Ireland, Herbert Gabauer from Austria and Theo Oberhofer from South Tyrol/Italy are the best young HVAC trade specialists in the world! At the start of July they were champions of the WorldSkills Competition 2013 for vocational training in Leipzig and successfully won the “Plumbing and Heating” competition against participants from 22 countries. They earned a double bonus: as well as their gold medals each participant received a brand-new pressing tool from the Viega Pressgun series. Jun Hee Jang from Korea also returned home with a bronze medal and another Viega pressing tool in his suitcase.
Every two years trainees and young tradespeople (aged up to 22 years) compete in various vocational categories at the WorldSkills Competition. This year was the 42nd “World Championship of Vocational Training” held from 2 to 7 July in Leipzig – back in Germany again after 40 years. Over 1,000 participants competed in 46 disciplines.
The system manufacturer Viega is a long-standing promoter of the biggest worldwide vocational training event and this year it was even doubly represented – for the sixth successive time the young tradesman Tobias Bornschein is a Viega employee who qualified for the competition in the Polymechanics category. He returned to the Großheringen factory (Thuringia) as Vice World Champion in his discipline. Viega was represented as a skill presenter for the “Plumbing and Heating” competition and donated installation materials as well as all the tools required for this event. These included, for example, more than 2,500 moulded parts, more than two-and-a-half kilometres of “Steptec” pre-wall rails, almost 500 metres of pipes and 14 “Pressgun” pressing tools so more than two dozen young HVAC tradespeople from all over the world could complete their challenging installation jobs to a proper professional standard. Ralf Muschter, acting as supervisor for the HVAC competition for WorldSkills 2013, openly praised the “exceptional logistics achievement that made available Viega materials and tools at exactly the right time and venue”. This gave the young installation specialists the necessary peace of mind to give their full attention to the challenge. This time that involved planning and installing a T-shaped pre-wall construction from the Viega “Steptec” system – including all the pipework for the shower and WC as well as a qualified leakage test.
The young installers from around the world were able “to offer a convincing performance irrespective of their nationality thanks to a remarkably high achievement level”, commented Dirk Gellisch, a member of Viega’s company management. “Viega has supported the WorldSkills for many years. In this case we can judge extremely well how the commitment and skill of the young people have improved from one event to the next. The WorldSkills Competition in Leipzig with over 1,000 participants was not only the largest in terms of the number of entrants but also probably the highest achieving competition ever.”
For more information about “WorldSkills 2013”, which has just finished, please visit www.worldskillsleipzig2013.com.
