Volvo CE names ‘Europe’s best construction operator’

The event is the culmination of a year of local heats held by 11 Volvo Operators Club branches in Europe. Image: Volvo CE

Robin Müller from Germany beat 22 other competitors from 11 countries to be named Europe’s best operator for the second year in a row.

The event was the culmination of a year of local heats held by 11 Volvo Operators Club branches in Europe – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Turkey – and celebrates talent and experience in the construction equipment operator profession at the highest level.

Notably, this year’s competition welcomed the first woman in the Operators Club’s 25-year history. Phebe Taelman from Belgium qualified at Matexpo in September and has been operating excavators since the age of six.

Over the course of the day, the competitors took part in three timed challenges with penalties issued for mistakes. The highest-scoring operators were then invited to compete in a semi-final and then the final.

Robin Müller from Germany came out on top, closely followed by Niels Kuipers representing the Netherlands and Per Ovesen from Denmark. Müller also won the competition in 2023 on his first attempt, successfully defending his title in 2024. The 30-year-old father of two is a third-generation construction equipment business owner.

Over the course of the day, the competitors took part in three timed challenges with penalties issued for mistakes. The highest-scoring operators were then invited to compete in a semi-final and then the final. Image: Volvo CE

The 25th anniversary Volvo Operators Club Final in 2023 featured electric machines only, demonstrating Volvo Construction Equipment’s commitment to sustainability and vision for a zero-emission construction industry.

This year’s competition gave participants the opportunity to experience some of the latest new generation machines from Volvo CE, such as the L30 compact wheel loader, the EC230 excavator, and the EC400 excavator launched at the Volvo Days customer event in Sweden in June.

“It’s important for us to mix up the machines used in the challenges each year to keep the competitors on their toes and ensure our winner truly is the most skilled and versatile operator across all equipment types,” explains Hanna Jaschke, who is responsible for the Operators Club at Volvo CE.

The 2024 construction equipment operator challenges

In ‘The Wall of Bricks’, competitors had to use a stick attached to the pallet forks on an L120H wheeled loader to knock down ten bricks placed in a wall structure. Image: Volvo CE

In the first challenge, dubbed ‘The Hauler Lane’, the competitors had to complete a series of manoeuvres in an A25G articulated hauler, finishing by positioning the pointer attached to the front of the machine as close to the centre of a bull’s eye as possible.

Next, in the ‘Threaded Rod’ challenge, the operators had to gently unscrew a threaded rod and carry it to a new position 180° to the right using the bucket of the EC230 excavator.

Then in the third qualifying discipline, ‘The Wall of Bricks’, the competitors had to use a stick attached to the pallet forks on an L120H wheel loader to knock down ten bricks placed in a wall structure.

After these initial challenges, the ten operators with the fastest times navigated the semi-final ‘Course of Obstacles’ in the L30, while carrying a pallet topped with a basketball.

The top five contestants then took part in the ‘Guess the Weight’ super final using the EC400 where they had to load 15 tonnes of material into the body of an articulated hauler without relying on the On-Board Weighing system.