Ascendum Machinery technicians have earned a spot in the Volvo Masters Competition, where they’ll compete against the world’s best Volvo dealer teams.
After advancing through North American regional competition, Jeremy Ford, Trey Davis, Suzie Turner, and Scotty Cox, with Hunter Stafford serving as alternate and David Turner coaching, secured their place in Volvo’s global Masters Competition. The event takes place this September in Eskilstuna, Sweden, the historic home of Volvo Construction Equipment, and brings together the top Volvo dealer teams from around the world.
For Cox, the trip is a return to familiar ground. He competed in 2011, won the North American competition, and went on to help capture a global championship in Sweden that same year. He returned to global competition in 2024 and is now preparing to compete overseas again.
Months of Preparation
Getting to Sweden doesn’t happen by accident. Ascendum assembled this year’s team eight to ten months before the regional qualifier. Drawing technicians from Charlotte, Asheville, and Savannah, the group met regularly in person to collaborate on diagnostics, share troubleshooting strategies, compare notes on real-world repairs, and train on machines preloaded with faults designed to simulate competition conditions.
Technical preparation covered the full range of modern equipment challenges, from hydraulic and electrical diagnostics to Tier IV emissions systems, which have added significant complexity to fault code analysis across the industry.
What the Competition Actually Tests
The Masters Competition isn’t a written exam. Teams rotate through live stations covering wheel loaders, excavators, haul trucks, oil analysis, warranty diagnostics, and Volvo’s CARE inspection process. Rather than being given a clear problem to solve, competitors must evaluate symptoms, develop a diagnostic plan, and identify the root cause, often working from incomplete information, the same way a customer might describe a machine complaint.
Teams are judged not just on whether they find the correct repair, but on their troubleshooting methodology, communication, safety awareness, and professional appearance throughout the process.
At the global finals in Sweden, the format shifts to live head-to-head competition in front of a public audience, the top two teams competing directly while the stands fill with spectators. It’s closer to a sporting event than a traditional technical competition.
Why It Matters Beyond the Trophy
Ascendum leaders are clear that the real value of the competition extends past any award.
“The ultimate winners are your customers because their downtime is going to be less,” said Patrick Overstreet, Ascendum’s director of product support.
The competition exposes Ascendum’s technicians to top talent from Volvo dealerships around the world, creating opportunities to exchange troubleshooting knowledge and service techniques that benefit customers long after the team returns home.
That same mindset drives Ascendum’s Rapid Response Technician program, which deploys master technicians in purpose-built vehicles for fast field diagnostics and troubleshooting at customer jobsites.
Construction Equipment recently sat down with Ascendum’s team to discuss their path to Sweden, the challenges of regional competition, and what it takes to compete on Volvo’s global stage.
Read the full interview on Construction Equipment Guide: https://www.constructionequipmentguide.com/ascendum-team-is-heading-back-to-sweden-for-volvo-masters-competition/71505