SHANGHAI - Ren Wanli, 33, an excavator operator in Beijing, called his family immediately after he won first prize in Operator Idol, an eco-operator contest to find the most fuel-efficient worker in the digger business.
He was awarded one year's free use of a certain type of the Volvo excavator, which could bring him an annual income of 200,000 yuan ($32,000).
"I have been an excavator operator for 13 years," said Ren. "It will be the first time that I will be a boss because I will own that machine for one year."
He said becoming a father during the competition brought him good luck.
The contest, held by Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE), a subsidiary of Volvo Group, was launched in June. More than 87,000 people registered for the competition.
After two rounds of fierce contests in provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, 24 contestants were selected to fight for the final winner in Shanghai. Ren was the victor.
"Increasing fuel efficiency is a long-term strategy of Volvo CE and goes along with the company's core value," said Klas Magnusson, senior vice-president of corporate communications at Volvo CE. "We hope that throught the contest, Chinese operators can master fuel-saving skills better and get to know more about environmental protection."
According to Magnusson, the contest, which is going to be held annually for three years, is the biggest of its type in China and may also be the biggest in the world.
The excavator industry in China will maintain double-digit growth over the next five years. In consequence, the number of excavator operators is growing fast. However, their operational skills vary, which brings a challenge to the industry, said Su Zimeng, secretary-general of China Construction Machinery Association (CCMA).
He said most operators focus on production capacity more than increasing fuel efficiency.
"We hope all operators can change their way of working to save energy and bring about low-carbon production," he said. "Meanwhile, we encourage more companies to save energy. The first step by Volvo is important, but just one company's efforts is not enough."
Yang Tiesheng, deputy director of the energy conservation and resource utilization department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said: "During the 12th Five-Year-Plan period (2011-2015), China still faces the serious challenge of emission reduction because of rapidly growing high energy-consuming industries and low energy-production efficiency."
He said Volvo CE not only seeks to develop advanced equipment through innovative research and development, but also makes use of its professional knowledge and networks to spread the fuel-saving concept and teach operating skills to workers.
"We are pleased to see that the company has found a route toward low-carbon production and services even though it is a part of the high energy-consuming industry," he added.
Yang said more companies like Volvo CE are trying to follow a sustainable development path in China, which will help convince the public to do more for energy conservation and environmental protection.
Fuel consumption in the construction industry takes a bigger share of national energy consumption.
The Operator Idol judge supervising the competition at Volvo headquarters in Shanghai. The contest, held by Volvo Construction Equipment, aimed to find the most fuel-efficient Chinese worker in the digger business. Beijing man wins national contest to find fuel-efficient excavator.
According to statistics from CCMA, China has more than 1 million excavator operators with 800,000 excavators working every day across the country.
The company said the competition will help to train experienced fuel-efficient operators for the excavator industry, which aims to save up to 10 percent of fuel consumption while it is taking place.
Li Fangyu, general manager of the marketing and sales support department at Volvo CE China, said China will save 1.44 billion liters in fuel consumption and cut 3.76 million tons of carbon emissions annually if all the excavator operators can save 5 percent of fuel in China.
The company has provided free online training in fuel-saving since it launched the competition.
Source:cmbol.com