The construction industry is following the mining sector’s approach to operator training.  The result is a virtual ground.

Whether there’s a need for competent operators in the plant hire industry is not really debatable.  Two-and-a-half years’ ago, the concept to develop a virtual training room sprouted from the industry’s dilemma and on July 31 2007, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to inaugurate what is claimed to South Africa’s first articulated dump truck (ADT) simulator.

The Contractors Plant Hire Association (CPHA) and the Service Sector Education & Training Authority (Seta) joined forces with KwaZulu-Natal-based ThoroughTec, the supplier of he technology, and delivered the first container to the Learnia Training Academy in Benoni.  The second container was launched in Richards Bay in September 2007, and according to CEO of the CPHA, Clive Wicks, two further regions have been ear-marked for this technology: the Western Cape and Port Elizabeth.  The objective is to have the simulators dispersed across South Africa.  Plant visited the innovative R2,8-million container in Benoni.

Techno-gurus
It is almost like playing Sony Playstation, complete with a virtual screen, levers and buttons.  The trainer, who provides instructions to the operator sitting in the simulated cab, takes the training very seriously.  In fact, this is as good as real life, where operators cannot start the engine without first putting on their hardhats.

To create ‘real life’ with computers was a challenge.  It turned out that only two companies provided the service of constructing an actual operators cab inter-linked with an electronic cyber site as per the CPHA’s requirements: South African ThoroughTec and an Australian simulation company, Immersive Technologies.

Wicks says ThoroughTec’s local presence played a big part in why they were selected as the supplier of the technology, as its local presence put it in better position to provide technical backup and maintenance support.

“We provided ThoroughTec with a real ADT to climb into.  Its technicians started the machine and drove around in it in order to get a feel for how it operates,” says Wicks,  “The programmers did not know much about capital equipment when we first me them, and this is what was so great about the team of young programmers and engineers who worked on the project,” Wicks continues.

A clip-in contraption
The simulator is based in a 6 m-long container.  It houses an operator’s cab, on the left-hand side of the container, with a 180° fixed virtual screen.  If the operator looks into the simulated rear-view mirrors, he is offered a full 360° view.  The cab also offers a 6° motional platform.  “We decided to opt for a 6° platform instead of only 3° as the industry felt that it provided a more realistic presentation of an actual cab,” says Wicks.

The container has been designed in such a manner that the operator’s cab can literally ‘clip’ onto a housing station.  When development of the simulator commenced, the CPHA consulted with the plant industry in order to determine its specific needs and what it viewed as the most commonly used equipment.  “ADT’s were by far our biggest response, followed by backhoe loaders,” states Wicks.  The CPHA is busy commissioning the TLB operator’s cab at the moment, which was supposed to b out and about by the end of March 2008, at the time of writing.  Next in line is the development of an excavator and a mobile crane operator’s cab.

“We will also focus on a grader a simulator as industry has indicated that a grader is by far the most difficult machine to operate,” says Wicks.  The development of a simulated grader will bring along its own set of challenges.  When an operator is driving a grader, his blade is underneath the machine – he, therefore, cannot see it in front of him, and this will be challenging to portray with simulation.  The Backhoe loader, with its front and back sides, posed a similar challenge.

The real McCoy
The simulator provides the operator with the opportunity to experience life-like working conditions without being exposed to hazardous circumstances, or the risk of damaging costly equipment.  Up to 70% of the training is provided by the simulator, while the balance entails on-site training.

Setting scenarios
John Druez, operations manager of the training facility provider, Imbali Props, says the beauty of the simulator is that it can be programmed to throw any possible scenario at the operator.  Sitting opposite the joystick and the computer screen, the trainer, who sits on the right-hand side of the container, controls the operator’s route and has a multi-angled view of how he drives.

The operator can get a puncture, have an oil or engine failure, drive at night or in the day, during rainy and slippery conditions or can be asked to pick up and remove a load -  all through electronically controlled technology.

The benefit of a training facility like this is that the operator can encounter a ‘real crisis’ such as tipping over the machine or burning out the engine, without the immense costs involved of repairing the damaged equipment.  “The simulator is more economical as it does not use any fuel,” says Wicks.  A further advantage is that it eliminates what Wicks refers to as the “human factor”.  Because the training is controlled and regulated by a computer, a completely objective report is delivered at the end of the training session, which indicates whether the operator leaves our centre after a seven-day programme, he is fully occupational health and safety accredited and he receives a medical and competency certificate from the relative Seta.  He is then fully licensed to operate in the hire industry,” Wicks enthuses.  Competent operators’ names and relative details are stored on the CPHA database, which provides plant hire companies with an easy access to skills.  To date, 100 operators have been trained in the pilot project, and another 500 are enrolled on a current programme. 

Technology, of course, is not the be-all-and-end-all of training, and practical training is vital.  The training programme comprise 70% simulated training and 30% training at an actual site to incorporate on-site experience.

Keeping it generic
The cabs have been designed to not be entirely brand specific, but to incorporate a variety of general features across a broad spectrum of brands.  “When we designed the ADT cab, it was remarkable to see the amount of synergies between the features of the different brands,” says Wicks.  “If a specific brand introduces a new innovation, we would rather keep it out until the specific feature becomes more common,” Wicks continues.  He uses the analogy of a Boeing pilot who must learn to fly and Airbus – once you know the basics, it’s easy to adapt.

The simulator is doing just that – it teaches operators the basic.  And apart from the basic, it also teaches them to react in situations that will be impossible to teach on site, unless you’re willing to write off expensive equipment.