Articles / Best of Belron

Our Best O'Brien Auto Tech Expert Takes Off To The Best Of Belron In Barcelona!

15 June 2022

In February this year, after almost two years of waiting, we finally saw the return of the O'Brien^® Best in Australia competition – a gruelling competition to test the expertise of our O'Brien^® automotive technicians and determine the best of the best.

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.