Better operators, better service technicians.  That is the aim of the training centre Sandvik has up at its facility in the Perth industrial suburb of Canning Vale.

The centre, which is a registered training organisation, is the brainchild of Sandvik Mining and Construction facility manager Jim Walsh, who is clearly a firm believer in experiential learning.

A great deal of attention has been paid to ensuring that the training closely simulates what operators and service technicians are likely to encounter in the field.

Walsh’s message is simple – better trained operators and better trained service staff make for better equipment utilisation.  This translates into better returns from the equipment.

It will probably translate into better sales for Sandvik too because the training will help users get the most out of the machines.

At the heart of the operator training is a simulator from South African company ThoroughTec.  Like other high-end simulators, it involves a motion base and different modules to mimic different equipment.  In Sandvik’s case it has modules to simulate a 50 tonne and 60t truck, underground loaders, jumbos and long-hole drills – essentially most of the Sandvik underground mining suite.

Given the motion base has several planes of motion, which in turn create several potential pinch points, safety is paramount.  Should somebody step too close to the base while it is operating, they will trip a safety switch.  That stops the simulation immediately, ensuring that the person who has stepped near the motion base remains safe.

The system also allows the trainer to monitor the student’s performance on a separate display.  That performance can be played back later to show the student what they did right and wrong and where they can improve.

The simulation set-up has proved very popular with Sandvik clients.  When some new modules arrived from ThoroughTec, Walsh found himself in the enviable position of having to briefly delay their installation because the simulator was booked out.

The service centre, which is fitted out like a workshop, serves up several simulation scenarios too.  There are transmissions and axles to work on.  There also in an engine that trainers can build various faults into to see how long it takes students to diagnose and rectify them.  Upstairs there is an electrical workshop where trainees can build circuits for various Sandvik machines.

“The main driver of all of this is to support our equipment in the field,” Walsh said.  “With the labour shortage we had a lot of guys come into the industry with very little experience.  We decided to train them ourselves.”

The centre has proved popular throughout the region.  At the moment the main customers have all been from Western Australia but Walsh expects that to expand.

“We’ve had people from overseas coming to have a look,” he said.  “We’ve had some mine management people from Indonesia.  There’s been interest from all over the country.”