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Review of the training course of Léo in Finland

Léo is in his 2nd year of Car Maintenance at  the lycee Paul Mathou and has just ended his training course of 6 weeks in the garage Karla Pori Mäkipuistontie located between Pori and Ulvila ( Finland).
 Karla is a network of 6 automotive repair shops,   distributed in the South of Finland. Léo joined a team of three people on the site of Pori Mäkipuistontie : Ville Salmi   : service manager + two mechanics Matti and Olavi (on the right below).

YD : Léo, could you tell us more about the company ?

Léo :  the company is called  Karla,   and makes periodic and annual maintenance for all motor vehicles, including quick maintenance without spare parts.  There is a big workshop with 4 post lifts : 2 scissors post lifts, 1 « two post » lift and 1 « four post » lift. They use diagnostic equipments .

YD : What about communication with the team  ? Did you meet difficulties?

Léo : Very amazing experience, some difficulties to make myself  understood but basically fine !

YD : How’s your job so far? Did you acquire new technical skills or make any specific jobs ?

Léo : I had the opportunity to weld besides some various mechanical works (brakes repair, replacement of shock absorbers, clutch, timing belt,..) .

Léo : I want to really thank all the Karla team for their support and for showing me how they manage in Finland to accomodate with so cold temperatures (heater&warm up systems, studded tires).

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VW Huittinen welcomes Mathias & Dylan for 6 weeks

Mathias and Dylan are both students in their 3rd year of Car Maintenance in Lycee Paul Mathou at Gourdan Polignan. They are doing their training period 6 weeks in the car dealership  Volkswagen/Seat – Huittisten Laatuauto Oyn, located in Huittinen ( around 10 000 inhabitants ).

This car dealership is composed of 6 big areas where  25 employees work among them 10 are mechanics. 

Below Jouni Isotalo, after-sales manager,  poses with our trainees while holding the mug Paul Mathou.

  • Reception and shopAccueil - boutique

  • Showroom of new VW cars, with the last fully  loaded models
  • Showroom of second-hand vehicles
  • Showroom of new Seat cars, the last models too.
  • Spare parts store
  • Repair  workshop,  with  ten  2or4 post lifts, a laptop + diagnostic equipment by mechanics,  plus all special machines (wheel aligner, tyre changer, wheel balancer, …) and  shelving for specific tools  dedicated to Volkswagen/Seat/Audi/Skoda cars.

 » The company sells approximately 250 new cars a year and about 1200 second-hand ones. In 2017 mechanics’ team had 4821 cars  in  their hands.   We noticed that the rhythm of work is intense but all the employees are very nice, and make the effort to speak to us in English and  some  of them  even used French words. In any case for us, everything takes place marvelously. Our training tutors Lauri and Jouni are very kind and  let us work in autonomy while being present in case of difficulty. There is a good working atmosphere. « 

Besides the works of common  mechanics, we also did research of breakdown on  injection systems in particular.

Interesting to also discover  specificities bound to scandinavian countries  as   reheating systems for both engine and passengers  compartment, otherwise it would be very difficult to start by-20°C

 

 

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« The finnish team » gives you their first impressions after 4 weeks

Hello , we (Nabil, Léo Mathias and Dylan) are at the moment in Finland thanks to the project written by the teachers and the Deputy Head of our school Lycée Paul Mathou. We are students in Car Maintenance: 2 in 2nd year and 2 in last year of our 3 years program.

We live an exceptional and unforgettable experience which helps us to become more mature and independent. But above all we have met great people, we have been discovering a new culture, new food, new sports and beautiful new landscapes.

In the companies we also discovered a different way to do car maintenance due to the cold and the snow: installing a preheater for the engine with a big cable which links the front bumper and the engine, you have to plug it then to an electrical plug. For the snow, studded tires are used.

On week-ends we discover the country : we saw two hockey matches, a motorcycle show at Helsinki,  we skied, we went to the sauna and we walked on a frozen river.