Expert in engine reman? Now's your chance to prove it!

The first-ever European Engine Remanufacturing Championship will held at ReMaTec 2019 in Amsterdam. It is a great opportunity to pit your skills against the best in the business ReMaTec 2019 in Amsterdam is the biggest trade show for automotive and non-automotive remanufacturing worldwide. This year is the 10th edition, and engine reman trade association FIRM – which has been a cooperation partner since the beginning in 2001 - is throwing down the gauntlet to engine remanufacturers to prove their skills in a brand new competition.

The first-ever European Engine Remanufacturing Championship will consist of two main elements. In the first, a cylinder head gasket from a fourcylinder engine has to be exchanged as fast as possible. In part two, a selection of damaged engine components – such as pistons, bearings, valves, gaskets and turbochargers - have to be diagnosed and causes of damage identified.

The team with the fastest exchange time in part one - and the most points out of part two - will be awarded the title of European Engine Reman Champion 2019. Each team will consist of two people and FIRM is encouraging all national engine remanufacturers in its member associations to take part.

The whole challenge will be performed in Amsterdam on the morning of Monday 24 June and will take three hours to complete.

Reman focus
“The idea behind it was to have one more activity at the show which highlighted FIRM as a cooperation partner and brought engine reman into focus for visitors and exhibitors,” says Volker Schittenhelm of FIRM. “It was important to have action in the hall and we developed the idea of splitting the challenge into two parts. Part one is the more practical bit, exchanging a cylinder head gasket and timing it with a stopwatch. Part two will focus on the skills of engine remanufacturers and their unique selling proposition to ‘read’ damaged engine components in order to find out the cause of failure. The message of part two is to distinguish them from general car repair workshops. We plan to video both parts in order to show a bigger audience on a screen what is going on. We will have a moderator, andalso a jury.”

Schittenhelm urges people to take part. “Participating engine reman workshops are representatives of the whole engine reman segment as part of the circular economy,” he insists. “They can show the audience a little bit of their in-depth competence. In addition, the teams represent their company.”

He believes there are other advantages, too. The event will throw a spotlight on engine reman in particular – as well as being a window into other forms of remanufacturing as well. It can help to highlight all aspects of reman as part of the circular economy, including product recycling versus material recycling, the reduction of waste, energy savings, environmental protection, CO2 footprint reduction and so on.

Practical vision
Perhaps the most obvious question is why no-one has thought of this idea before. Schittenhelm says: “If you work in a team with sensitivity and are always looking for new ideas to bring things forward, an idea - a vision - is born. And if you then have open-minded people sitting at the table without so-called ‘killer’ phrases (“It won’t work, nobody is willing to take part, we’d better not”), then you can start to transform the idea Into a plan. Together with the relevant people, the plan changes into a practical and viable event for everyone’s benefit.” He concludes: “Let’s roll up our sleeves and make the best of it.”