The results are out, and the winners of Kyocera SA’s 2021 Service Awards are...

From left: In first place, Jacques Lombard from Ronmar Office Equipment; Martin Smith representing Office-Cor; in third place, Alan Benefeld from Page Automation; Michail Eksteen representing Universal Office Automative Solutions; Christiaan Smit representing Corporate Business Solutions; in second place, Steven Bosch from Lesedi ICT.

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After weeks of anticipation following the South African chapter of KYOCERA’s National Service Awards finals, which saw some of the world’s top engineers compete in rigorous theoretical and practical exams held in Johannesburg from 7 to 9 September 2021, KDZA is delighted to announce the winners:

1st place: Jacques Lombard, Ronmar Office Equipment (Klerksdorp, North West)

2nd place: Steven Bosch, Lesedi ICT (Bloemfontein, Free State)

3rd place: Alan Benefeld, Page Automation (JHB North, Gauteng)

Other finalists included, in no particular order:

• Marchant Combrink, Office-Cor (Vereeniging, Gauteng)
• Ezray Cupido, Nasatech (Cape Town, Western Cape)
• Michail Eksteen, Universal Office Automative Solutions (JHB East, Gauteng)
• Calvin Malekela, Corporate Business Solutions (JHB North, Gauteng)
• Robert Nkosi, Pansolutions (JHB North, Gauteng)
• Danushan Pillay, Omni Technologies (Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape)
• Rayno Strydom, Kokstad Copiers (Kokstad, KZN)
• Matthew Townsend, NRG Office Solutions (East London, Eastern Cape)

KDZA’s Top 3 Partners (in no particular order) were:

1. Universal Office Automation Solutions, JHB East, Gauteng

2. Office-Cor, Vereeniging, Gauteng

3. Corporate Business Solutions, JHB North, Gauteng

The top 5 Service Engineers of 2020, who automatically qualified in 2021 final (in no particular order) are:

1. Tjaart Bekker – URB ICT (Upington, Northern Cape)

2. Alan Benefeld – Page Automation, (JHB North, Gauteng)

3. Juandre Broodryk – Universal Office Automative Solutions, (JHB East, Gauteng)

4. Thamsanqa Nxumalo – Corporate Business Solutions (JHB North, Gauteng)

5. Darryl van der Mescht – NRG Office Solutions (East London, Eastern Cape)

There was no large prize giving event this year due to the need to observe social distancing and other COVID-19 protocols; however, the winners celebrated in a small event hosted at Randpark Golf Club and a total of R55 000 was given away. The winner of the local national competition will go on to compete in the Regional Finals to find the Best Engineer in the EMEA Region. This would normally involve travelling overseas to compete against other EMEA finalists, but this will depend on pandemic conditions and restrictions. The format of the finals is under discussion and the winners will be notified in due course.

“Kyocera service partners provide the backbone of service delivery across our region and we remain focused on continually improving our local service network together with our partners, and providing a certification framework to develop the skills of our service engineers,” says Paul Wendlandt, Customer Services Support Manager KYOCERA Document Solutions South Africa.

“These awards are important as they not only reward the efforts of our technicians, but they give us a chance to prove how rigorously trained our technicians are, which is a competitive advantage for us. It is an important differentiator that our technicians can service and repair machinery that provides many years of beneficial use for a business and we are exceptionally proud of both participants and finalists," concludes Wendlandt.