POLARIS PROFILE: KENNY KAY, POLARIS UK TECHNICAL SERVICES SPECIALIST
Continuing our POLARIS PROFILE series is Kenny Kay, one of our technical services specialists, who has been with Polaris for six years and is well-versed in the technicalities of our vehicles. Kenny plays a crucial role in offering technical support to our UK dealer network.
Kenny – tell us how your career at Polaris started…
“I have been a part of the Polaris UK team for nearly six years. I joined directly from the military, where I served as a mechanical engineer for 10 years and during this time, I was fortunate enough to travel the world while doing my job. Upon leaving the military, I transitioned from one lifestyle to a completely new one the next week - it was a huge change for me.”
Why did you initially want to work with Polaris?
“My initial view of Polaris was that it was a company keen on the “family” aspect of the job; both in understanding the importance of a good work-life balance, and internally, creating a great working environment with great colleagues. It turns out that this assumption absolutely correct and there has been no looking back since.”
Did you have any experience with the brand before joining?
“Being former military, I turned spanners on all kinds of vehicles. Polaris is one of the many manufacturers that support and supply vehicles to the military, so I have had experience with a few before joining the team.”
What does your day-to-day job look like?
“I could never say that any one day is the same as another. My primary role is to support our network of both Polaris and Indian Motorcycle dealerships with troubleshooting, technical parts and warranty queries which can be a real challenge, but that’s what makes it so fun. I am also a technical trainer with the capabilities to deliver training on a variety of topics either online or in-person to help shape our wider teams.”
What’s your favourite part of the job?
“Many things… if I had to pick my favourite part, it would be the excitement and challenge when a new model lands with our customers. When new models are announced there is always this buzz around the company, however there is always a lot that goes on behind the scenes which people don’t necessarily know about. With our Ranger Diesel for example, I was involved in a lot of the pre-production testing and working with our consumer test team to work out what was good with the platform and also finding out what needed improvement, this was great to be so heavily involved and there was a huge sense of achievement when we delivered the finished product to the first customer.”
Do you have your favourite model/vehicle?
“I think it would be silly of me to say anything other than our new Ranger XP Kinetic, the thing is so capable, it is truly astonishing. With the model being high voltage, it means that our Polaris technicians must invest in specific training prior to working with the vehicle. I have had the pleasure of working in a small team coordinating national courses and delivering training courses to ensure that our techs are comfortable, savvy and most importantly, safe when working with an electric machine.”
Give us an interesting fact about yourself…
"I’m an avid fan and player of ice hockey. The sport hooked me when I was spending a significant amount of time in Canada in the military but probably more interestingly, I'm the voice behind the specific product videos, when you hear someone talking about our products online then there is a very good chance that this is me."