How Simlog Can Help
Good operators run their machines more productively, and at reduced cost. And that’s why “getting” good operators is key to making your business better.
Make better hiring decisions: double check skills first
When hiring a new employee, true qualifications are typically “discovered” when work begins at the first job site, at the controls of your real equipment. And that’s because Human Resources don’t have the necessary expertise to ask the right questions. Worse, CVs often contain misleading elements that exaggerate competencies or responsibilities.
Double checking operating skills, before hiring, is easy to do with our Personal Simulator, since Human Resources can simply compare simulation results with benchmarks (target values) established by your best operators. Since everyone does the very same simulated work, this really is a case of “apples and apples”.
Pre-screen for operator aptitude when promoting from within
Industrial psychologists have learned that operating heavy equipment requires a combination manual dexterity, eye/hand coordination, depth perception, and spatial “reasoning”. Unfortunately, up to 30% of training candidates don’t have enough and for that reason, can never become fully proficient.
Our Personal Simulators will let you evaluate this aptitude, something especially important when promoting from within, to see if someone who already has the right attitude has also got enough aptitude to make training worthwhile.
Better prepare new operators for real seat-time
Watching movies of equipment at work, or sitting beside an experienced operator in the cab, only goes so far. And that’s because acquiring skills is all about learning by doing.
But training at the controls of real equipment is dangerous, and expensive. Operating costs are high, supervisors must be paid, and mistakes mean equipment is damaged. And there will always be details that are specific to the particular makes and models that you are using for that training.
Instead, our Personal Simulators are “generic” and teach core skills, making it easy to proceed to “hands-on” training on a variety of real equipment.
With Simlog, you’ll find the right kind of simulated tasks, the right kind of task progression, and the right way of evaluating simulated work, thanks to comprehensive Performance Indicators that measure quality and productivity. And this documentation will help you increase accountability, and reduce legal liability, if something happens later.
And that’s because our Instructional Designs take into account best in class practices from leading training professionals from around the world, along with certification guidelines from key standards organizations such as NCCER for construction equipment, NCCCO for cranes, and OSHA for forklifts.
That’s a “virtual seat” for the drill-and-practice needed to acquire the necessary muscle memory and gain the necessary self-confidence.
And by making sure that your new operators have learned good habits well enough before they “graduate” to the controls of your real equipment, the real seat-time training becomes
- Safer, because “accidents” now happen at the simulator
- Better, because students are learning to do things right, at the simulator
- Faster, because your students reach their performance targets sooner. That means less “wear and tear” on your equipment, leading to lower maintenance and repair costs
- Cheaper, thanks to all of the above
In this way, training costs go down, training quality goes up, and your new operators are more “job ready”!
Help experienced operators refresh their skills
At many companies, people aren’t at the controls every day, so Simlog products can help them regain confidence in their operating skills in a “just in time” way.
Such skills “refreshing” is also important for people who are cross-training, or getting ready to step in when your regular operators are unavailable (on holiday, recovering from an illness, etc.).
Reveal bad operating habits (and help develop new right ones)
An experienced operator keeps doing the very same (wrong) thing until the day other things are different, and then all of a sudden there’s an “incident” or worse, a real accident.
Use your Personal Simulator to help reveal the bad habits of that experienced operator, and then develop new right ones, all according to best in class practices.
Monitor progress onsite and offsite
Larger companies typically have multiple site offices, and it becomes hard for Human Resources to keep track of what’s going in.
With our Simulation Manager, simulation results are saved in a database file, indexed by user, each with a unique login name. Where there are multiple Personal Simulators deployed together, just one Simulation Manager is needed because all of simulation results will be saved in the same database.
Simlog also offers a free Viewer so that people at other locations can review the same simulation results, using a local copy of that database file.
Bring new visibility to your company
Give your company new visibility in your community at regional events, even job fairs, with a unique simulator-based presence. Just watch the lineups form!
Join a world-wide community of leading industry professionals
Becoming a Simlog customer means joining a growing community of leading private sector and public sector equipment owner operators around the world, all dedicated to improving heavy equipment operator training.
Share simulation benchmarks, best practices, and suggestions to help Simlog make our Personal Simulators even better.
Material Handling
Material handling equipment can be found at work in all kinds of applications all around the world. But operating such equipment safely, and productively, requires aptitude and skill.
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for powered lift truck operations (counterbalance Forklift, Reach Lift Truck) and for work in scrap-metal recycling (Wheeled Material Handler), our customers can be found all around the world in industries that include transportation, warehousing steel making, mining, construction, and even recruiting (placement agencies).
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards and in the United States, the two leading organizations are the NSC (National Safety Council) and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass the “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment.
Customer Success Story
Here we present one Simlog customer, a Transportation Distribution and Logistics Academy in the United States that is training and OSHA-certifying forklift operators.
Read full story (PDF)
Public Works
The kinds of heavy equipment used by cities, towns, regions, and states to maintain public works is increasingly complex, costly, and difficult to operate productively. In addition, there is increasing public support for better workplace practices and improved workplace safety. As a result, proper operator training has become a priority. For example, using our products, public works organizations can reduce the variability in skills from operator to operator, in order to provide better services to their tax-paying communities.
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for road maintenance (Backhoe Loader, Hydraulic Excavator, Bulldozer, Wheel Loader) and for material handling (Forklift), our customers are primarily located in Canada and the United States.
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards. In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment.
Customer Story and Video
Crews at the El Paso Water District (El Paso, Texas) are now training with Simlog’s Backhoe Loader Personal Simulator.
I have forty years of operating experience on all various types of equipment. This is the real thing. It’s not a play thing, it’s not a game.
— Frank Rittel, Heavy Equipment Trainer Supervisor
Link to the details on the El Paso Water District Web Site
Customer Success Story
Here we present a Customer Success Story about a city in Canada that is using our products to replace the costly recruiting of “outside” people, by carefully developing new operators from “within”, i.e. city employees who have already demonstrated the right attitude.
How the City of Kitchener’s new Hydraulic Excavator Personal Simulator Saved 240 Man Hours and Produced 500% More Operators by Promoting from Within
Construction
Modern construction industry and lifting equipment is complex, costly, and difficult to operate productively. In addition, there is increasing public support for better workplace practices and improved workplace safety, making operator certification a reality in some geographic areas. As a result, proper operator training has become a priority.
Construction
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for a wide range of earth-moving equipment (Backhoe Loader, Hydraulic Excavator, Bulldozer, Wheel Loader) and material handling (Forklift), our customers can be found all around the world, and they range from small and mid-size construction industry contractors operating in regional markets, to the largest Engineering Procurement Construction Management companies.
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards and in the United States, the leading organization is the NCCER. In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass the “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment.
Cranes
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for cranes (Mobile Crane, Tower Crane) and material handling equipment (Forklift), our customers can be found all around the world, in construction, lifting services, energy (power generation, petrochemical refining), railway transportation, mining, maritime ports, and even military facilities (Army, Navy, Air Force).
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards and in the United States, the leading organizations are the NCCCO and the NCCER. In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass their “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment to obtain Mobile Crane Operator, Tower Crane Operator, and Signal Person certification.
Customer Success Story
Here we present one Simlog customer, Bechtel Equipment Operations, that is using seven of our products for their projects in North and South America.
“Using Simulators in Crane and Rigging Training: It’s Not Just For Beginners”, CRC/ICHC Annual Conference, December 3, 2014.
Mining
Modern mining equipment is increasingly complex, costly, and difficult to operate productively. As a result, proper operator training has become everyone’s business. The fact is, it takes training to spot a truck and position it for loading under a full bucket. It also takes training to back up a truck just using mirrors under that bucket. Otherwise, your mining operations will suffer from lower productivity, higher fuel costs, increased tire wear, and more equipment maintenance and repair.
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for surface mining operations (Off-Highway-Truck, Wheel Loader, Mining-Truck, Electric Rope Shovel, Hydraulic Excavator, Bulldozer) for underground operations (Drill Jumbo), and for plant operations (Forklift), our customers can be found all around the world, including Canada’s leading diamond mining companies.
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards. In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment.
Customer Success Story
Here we present a mining industry magazine article that summarizes the merits of simulation for operator training in the mining industry, that makes reference to several Simlog customers.
“A Personal Approach to Operator Training” (PDF file), Quarries and Mines Magazine, Number 15. © 2014 Ten Alps Publishing. All rights reserved.
Forestry
Modern forestry equipment is increasingly complex, costly, and difficult to operate productively. In addition, there is increasing public support for better workplace practices and improved workplace safety, making operator certification a reality in some geographic areas. As a result, proper operator training has become a priority.
Our products all feature instructional designs that look to training standards. In this way, our simulation exercises teach you the “core skills” needed to pass “Practical Exams” (demonstration of skills tests) conducted at the controls of real equipment.
With Personal Simulators to help train operators for mechanized logging (Harvester, Forwarder), for building logging roads (Hydraulic Excavator, Bulldozer, Wheel Loader), and even plant operations (Forklift), our customers can be found in forestry regions all around the world, in North America, South America, Scandinavia, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand.
Customer Success Story
Here we present one of Simlog’s first customers, a forestry company operating in Eastern Canada.
“High Tech Training of a High Tech Workforce in the Forest Industry” (PDF file), Corner Brook Pulp and Paper presentation, 2000 Annual Meeting, Canadian Woodlands Forum. © 2000 Corner Brook Pulp and Paper. All rights reserved.
How Simlog Can Help
Good operators run their machines more productively, and at reduced cost. And that’s why “getting” good operators is key to making your business better.
Make better hiring decisions: double check skills first
When hiring a new employee, true qualifications are typically “discovered” when work begins at the first job site, at the controls of your real equipment. And that’s because Human Resources don’t have the necessary expertise to ask the right questions. Worse, CVs often contain misleading elements that exaggerate competencies or responsibilities.
Double checking operating skills, before hiring, is easy to do with our Personal Simulator, since Human Resources can simply compare simulation results with benchmarks (target values) established by your best operators. Since everyone does the very same simulated work, this really is a case of “apples and apples”.
Pre-screen for operator aptitude when promoting from within
Industrial psychologists have learned that operating heavy equipment requires a combination manual dexterity, eye/hand coordination, depth perception, and spatial “reasoning”. Unfortunately, up to 30% of training candidates don’t have enough and for that reason, can never become fully proficient.
Our Personal Simulators will let you evaluate this aptitude, something especially important when promoting from within, to see if someone who already has the right attitude has also got enough aptitude to make training worthwhile.
Better prepare new operators for real seat-time
Watching movies of equipment at work, or sitting beside an experienced operator in the cab, only goes so far. And that’s because acquiring skills is all about learning by doing.
But training at the controls of real equipment is dangerous, and expensive. Operating costs are high, supervisors must be paid, and mistakes mean equipment is damaged. And there will always be details that are specific to the particular makes and models that you are using for that training.
Instead, our Personal Simulators are “generic” and teach core skills, making it easy to proceed to “hands-on” training on a variety of real equipment.
With Simlog, you’ll find the right kind of simulated tasks, the right kind of task progression, and the right way of evaluating simulated work, thanks to comprehensive Performance Indicators that measure quality and productivity. And this documentation will help you increase accountability, and reduce legal liability, if something happens later.
And that’s because our Instructional Designs take into account best in class practices from leading training professionals from around the world, along with certification guidelines from key standards organizations such as NCCER for construction equipment, NCCCO for cranes, and OSHA for forklifts.
That’s a “virtual seat” for the drill-and-practice needed to acquire the necessary muscle memory and gain the necessary self-confidence.
And by making sure that your new operators have learned good habits well enough before they “graduate” to the controls of your real equipment, the real seat-time training becomes
- Safer, because “accidents” now happen at the simulator
- Better, because students are learning to do things right, at the simulator
- Faster, because your students reach their performance targets sooner. That means less “wear and tear” on your equipment, leading to lower maintenance and repair costs
- Cheaper, thanks to all of the above
In this way, training costs go down, training quality goes up, and your new operators are more “job ready”!
Help experienced operators refresh their skills
At many companies, people aren’t at the controls every day, so Simlog products can help them regain confidence in their operating skills in a “just in time” way.
Such skills “refreshing” is also important for people who are cross-training, or getting ready to step in when your regular operators are unavailable (on holiday, recovering from an illness, etc.).
Reveal bad operating habits (and help develop new right ones)
An experienced operator keeps doing the very same (wrong) thing until the day other things are different, and then all of a sudden there’s an “incident” or worse, a real accident.
Use your Personal Simulator to help reveal the bad habits of that experienced operator, and then develop new right ones, all according to best in class practices.
Monitor progress onsite and offsite
Larger companies typically have multiple site offices, and it becomes hard for Human Resources to keep track of what’s going in.
With our Simulation Manager, simulation results are saved in a database file, indexed by user, each with a unique login name. Where there are multiple Personal Simulators deployed together, just one Simulation Manager is needed because all of simulation results will be saved in the same database.
Simlog also offers a free Viewer so that people at other locations can review the same simulation results, using a local copy of that database file.
Bring new visibility to your company
Give your company new visibility in your community at regional events, even job fairs, with a unique simulator-based presence. Just watch the lineups form!
Join a world-wide community of leading industry professionals
Becoming a Simlog customer means joining a growing community of leading private sector and public sector equipment owner operators around the world, all dedicated to improving heavy equipment operator training.
Share simulation benchmarks, best practices, and suggestions to help Simlog make our Personal Simulators even better.
