Caterpillar’s Global Operator Challenge has reached its final round of competition, with just nine finalists remaining out of 5,500 operators who initially registered for the challenge. The final competition will take place at the Con-Expo-Con/Agg 2023 event in Las Vegas and will be live-streamed on cat.com. The challenge tests the participants’ ability to operate Caterpillar equipment safely and efficiently, with the winner being crowned as the 2023 Global Operator Challenge World Champion.
Thousands of operators from different industries registered for the challenge. And eighty-four semi-finalists managed to advance to the regional competitions held at Caterpillar sites in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Nine finalists have now been selected based on their ability to showcase their operating skills on Cat equipment, proving themselves to be among the top-performing operators in the world.
The Finalists
Two of the finalists are from the United States: Matt Ferris, a civil superintendent at Kincaid Civil Construction in San Tan Valley, Arizona, as well as John Schiedeck, the owner and CEO of Schiedeck Construction Inc. in Bastrop, Texas. Both have a lot of experience operating heavy machinery, with Ferris having worked in the construction industry for 20 years and Schiedeck for 16 years.
The other finalists are Pontus Ericksson and Sebastian Behr from Europe, Fernando Do Nascimento from South America, and Patrick Doheny, Masato Imai, and Nick Thompson from the Asia-Pacific region. To reach the final round of competition, the finalists were asked to perform a few tasks using a variety of Cat equipment technology, including digging trenches to targeted depths, hitting target material loads, and hauling or manoeuvring equipment through a variety of obstacles.
Final Round
The final round will be the ultimate test of the finalists’ ability to master any of the Cat machines and technology. The 3 final challenges and the machines that they will have to operate will not be revealed to the finalists until just two days before the event. Jaus Neigum, the 2020 Global Operator Challenge champion also designed one of the challenges in the event.
The winner will be crowned the 2023 Global Operator Challenge World Champion on Tuesday, March 14, during a live event and will receive an all-expense-paid trip for two to one worldwide Caterpillar location. The event will be live-streamed on the Caterpillar website, allowing spectators from all over the world to watch the competition from start to finish.
Takeaway
Caterpillar’s Global Operator Challenge has narrowed down its original 5,500 competitors to nine finalists who will compete for the title of the world’s best equipment operator. The final round of the competition will take place at Caterpillar’s outdoor Festival Grounds exhibit F4455 at ConExpo-Con/Agg 2023 in Las Vegas, with the event being live-streamed on cat.com. The finalists were selected after executing a range of tasks using various Cat equipment technology, including digging trenches, hauling materials, and maneuvering equipment through obstacles. The final competition will test the operators’ ability to master any Cat machine and technology. The winner of the competition will be crowned as the 2023 Global Operator Challenge World Champion and will receive an all-expenses-paid trip for two to one worldwide Caterpillar location. The competition is open to spectators from all over the world, and the event will be live-streamed on Caterpillar’s website and shared on social media platforms.