One of the star spray painters who completed his competition preparations in Melbourne has taken out the top prize at the WorldSkills in France.
Yuto Hoshino, 22-year-old participant from the Aichi Province in Japan, has won the Gold medal at the international Olympics of trade skills held in Lyon, with a score of 758 points.
Hoshino was one of six competitors who took part in a special competition training preparation week at Kangan TAFE in Melbourne in May with the support of Glasurit.
BASF’s Coatings division, as the exclusive global industry partner for the Car Painting skills section, supported the young talents and experts from around the world with its Glasurit 100 Line at the competition in France.
All finalists and the WorldSkills professionals were trained in a hybrid format by Glasurit’s experts via a series of exclusive digital webinars, online training courses and select training courses held at the world-class Refinish Competence Centers supported by Glasurit Know-how and Refinity®, the most extensive refinish business learning and information platforms in the industry.
High scores
The testing and advice of the experts has paid off for the young spray painter, beating a host of talented competition from 23 different countries.
Lara Kaufmann from Switzerland, Jason Scherer from Germany and Ronan Le Tutour from France win the Silver medal in Lyon and all scored silver medal scores of 728 and 727.
Australia’s outstanding young painter, Kynan Bonanno from NSW scored 680 points but missed out on a medal.
Enjoyable time
Hoshino told NCR this year the competition was all about honing his skills.
He has worked for Toyota in Japan and it was here he discovered his talent for car painting, and from there joining the WorldSkills Competition has been a continual development.
“I had no experience in painting before working in the automotive industry, but I am really enjoying it so far,” Hoshino said.
Apart from the winter cold he experienced in Melbourne, Hoshino was glowing about the support of his team, the WorldSkills support and the facilities he trained on in Australia at the Kangan Institute.
“It is a great institute (Kangan) with the spray painting and drying booths, it is well equipped for what we do.”
During the Lyon event, all car painting finalists were judged on their level of eco-efficiency in the paint application process, promoting excellence in sustainable practices.
By using Glasurit 100 Line, Refinity and paint-related material from SATA and 3M, the car painters are encouraged to be mindful of using the precise amount of paint materials to achieve the highest quality results, thereby enhancing eco-effectiveness for both the environment and the business.
Among the 23 competitors, Glasurit and SATA awarded first place for their most eco-effective preparation of process to Yuto Hushino from Japan. Second place went to Vikash from India, and third place went to Hui-Shan Chen from Chinese Taipei.
BASF Senior Vice President, Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Chris Titmarsh descirbed the event as inspiring inspiring and spectacular in every way.
“The passion and excellence shown by the high caliber of talent in the Car Painting skill competition has been phenomenal,” he says
“We have raised the bar with Glasurit 100 Line and we’re setting new standards for sustainable skill development required by the industry. With WorldSkills, and our vocational training partners, we’re committed to delivering an even more diverse and highly skilled workforce to lead the future of collision repair,”
WorldSkills International CEO David Hoey thanked Glasurit for its support and continuing to lead the way with innovative processes and solutions.
“We know that skills development is a key driver of sustainability especially when it is at the heart of government, industry, and education strategies,” Hoey says. “Along with our partners, we have placed extra effort to develop tangible objectives for the responsible management of the event and its impact, particularly regarding the environment.”
In other events Japan also took out the top position in the Autobody repair section, Takaya Koishi scored 738 and a Gold medal. He was followed by Junfeng Zhu from China on 736 points and David McKeown United Kingdom.
Australia did not have a representative in this skills section but Harrison Field from Australia did take out a bronze medal in the welding competition with a score of 727.
Full WorldSkills 24 results can be found here.
The world’s first WorldSkills Museum was inaugurated in Shanghai, China, in 2023 and the 48th WorldSkills Competition will be held there in 2026.