Dimitar from Bozhurishte won the second place at the forklift competition in Sofia

Dimitar Trifonov, Area Responsible in DCB, won an internal forklift contest in Bozhurishte. He then participated at an external competition, Logistics in Action 2019 contest, and won the second place. Dimitar told us more about the competition and how it is to work in Bozhurishte.

INTERNAL CONTEST IN DCB

At the end of Spring, our colleagues in Bozhurishte organized an internal forklift competition that would reward the colleague that knows best how to work with a forklift. 9 colleagues that work as Warehouse Workers both in the Inbound and Outbound area participated in the competition. For all of them, driving a forklift is daily business. 

Among the 9 participants was also Dimitar Trifonov, who has been working in DCB since November 2018. He first got hired as a Warehouse Worker in the Outbound area, then was promoted as an Area Responsible, which means he is responsible of the transport in the Warehouse. „My job is to make sure that we respect all the transportation rules, including safety, arrangement and distribution of the goods in the warehouse. I am responsible of the quality of the transportation tasks”, explains Dimitar.  

For the internal contest, the participants had to take pallets from the ground with the forklift and stack them on top of each other reaching 10 to 15 pallets placed carefully in a tower. Dimitar was the one who managed to win the contest.

SLALOM AND BASKETBALL WITH A FORKLIFT

After he won in Bozhurishte, he moved forward to the external contest, Logistics in Action 2019, where he had to compete against 10 other participants. The competition was held in three rounds. The first round was a slalom between pegs, both forward and back. Dimitar finished on the first place after this, with the best time. In the second round the participants had to "play basketball". They took a basket ball and put it in baskets with two different forklifts. Dimitar was on 6th place at this round. 

The third and final round asked the contestants to move crates on a pallet.  „We had to take two crates with the forklifts, put them on a pallet, then move the whole pallet with the crates and finally put the crates in place. That's where I finished second in speeds”, says Dimitar.

Dimitar, who has been driving an electric forklift for the past 11 years, explains why he wanted to participate: “I am competitive and when i start something I want to finish it. I am trying to prove myself to me and to others. I want to get know my limits and to surpass them. Good results bring me satisfaction and a sense of coping with the challenges and situations. I apply this philosophy every day at work in order to develop and move forward”.

EMPHASIS ON FAIR PLAY AND FUN

The competition was a lot of fun for our colleague, but also it was a good way to learn something new: “We had to pay serious attention to the safety rules, so we went through a briefing at the beginning of the race. The second round was the most difficult for me, but it was not unachievable. I learned some lessons for the next year. The organizers emphasized the importance of safe driving and having fun. They did not focus on victory, on the contrary, the focus was on having fun and fair play”.

After the three rounds, Dimitar won the second place. He performed better than two years ago, when he first attended a forklift contest and finished on the fourth place.