Ever wondered what it is like to sit in the operators seat in some of those heavy equipment machines? Perhaps you can stop wondering and experience the feeling yourself. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools are having an open house and has been aptly named:

In-The-Seat Day

October 25th 2008

The following schools will be involved: Southern California, Northern California, Colorado, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and New Hampshire.

The open house will include FREE food, drinks, and a FREE gift (hats or t-shirts). Te first 100 attendees will also be eligible for a share of $100,000 in scholarships. See the website for conditions.

This is a perfect opportunity to get into the seat of a heavy equipment machine and see how comfortable you are behind the controls.

When undertaking a heavy equipment training program from a qualified and experienced trainer, you learn how to operate that equipment according to manufacturers instructions. What you also pick up are handy little hints and tips along the way that the instructor has learned from personal experience. Take the front end loader, or for that matter, the backhoe loader.

Both of these machines have a loader which is, effectively, a scoop. Although referred to as a scoop, it should never be used as a scoop. Take these handy little operating tips:

Leave the bucket flat – when using the front loader, many operators angle the bucket forward and attack the target in a scooping action. This can cause you to lose traction and possibly the load. It is also more stressful on the drive train. It’s better to keep the bucket flat on the ground as you approach the pile when loading, then lift and skim the pile.

Keep it clean – wipe your machine down daily, clean the windows and pick up any debris in the cab. By keeping the exterior clean, you can easily spot any fluid leaks before they get worse and result in downtime. Debris in the cab can get lodged in the controls and cause a problem.

Two simple tips. Most people don’t think about cleaning their equipment, however, if you don’t, you never know what damage it could create.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools only employ qualified and experienced people to deliver the training. They can train you as to how to operate any heavy equipment – they can also pass on tips gained from their experience on a the machine. All you need to do is pick their brains.

Heavy equipment is one field where accredited training has become important. In the past, almost anyone could set themselves up as, say, a bulldozer trainer; charge you a small fortune for training which may or may not have been adequate, and left you with a worthless piece of paper.

You can always tell the cowboys. They don’t have an office or training rooms and all of their training is delivered on the machine. There is little in the way of official safety training or heavy equipment safety checking. Training organizations that deliver training to an accepted level will apply for accreditation. This ensures your training is up to a minimum set of standards. Training organizations will always advertise and promote that accreditation – why? Because they are proud of their accreditation.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools are a good example of this. They are proud of their accreditation and proudly display the NCCER logo that shows they are accredited to deliver heavy equipment training.

Training organizations that have been accredited will be around for the long haul. They wont advertise, take your money and then disappear – it’s only the training cowboys who do that.

There are many different types of equipment that come under the classification of heavy equipment. Some of these machines are specialized and training is generally undertaken on the job. A prerequisite to gaining employment and subsequent training for many companies is some form of heavy equipment training and experience.

One specialized machine that you wont see every day is the bucket-wheel excavator. These machines are used in surface mining and civil engineering. The bucket-wheel gets its name from the design – a large rotating wheel mounted on an arm or boom with a series of scoops or buckets on the outer edge of the wheel. As the wheel turns, the buckets remove soil or rock and carry it around to the backside of the wheel where it falls onto a conveyor.

Some bucket-wheel excavators truly fit the classification of heavy equipment. The can be over 200 meters long and up to 100 meters in height.

The largest machines are used in German strip-mining operations. They cost over $100 million, take 5 years to assemble, require 5 people to operate and weigh more than 13,000 tons. The MAN Takraf is recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest land vehicle.

Of course they are the giants. There are smaller bucket-wheel excavators in use. To operate on of those machines requires specialized training. This training is based on your knowledge and experience in using excavators or other heavy equipment such as bulldozers or motor graders.

You can receive training in heavy equipment such as bulldozers, motor graders and excavators through ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools.

Heavy equipment operators seem to love their work – and their machines. If you look around a building construction site you will notice a couple of things. If you look really closely, you may be surprised at what you see.

The first that strikes me is that heavy equipment operators are never far from their machines. Even when they stop for lunch, it is normally right alongside their machine and heaven help anyone who touches it. It’s certainly taboo to climb inside the cab without and invitation. In fact, I know many operators who don’t stop for lunch – they eat on the job and work right through their break time.

Why do heavy equipment operators like their job so much? There are plenty of reasons, it could be the feeling of power in their hands; or it could be the the fact they sit so far above everyone else.

In reality, they love their job because it’s a combination of creative and destructive. You may have to totally tear up a piece of round, then craft it back to a level surface to build on. Heavy equipment operators are employed, often to operate more than one type of machine and to do a wide variety of tasks. Of course they are happy; it’s the best job in the world!

You can be a heavy equipment operator too. All you need to do is complete our training program at ATS Heavy Equipment Training School and you’re ready to start your career.

Tough guys don’t sleep and they don’t doze either, especially on a construction site. The dozer, or more correctly, the bulldozer, is one of the tough guys on site. They are renown for their strength and their ability to shift large quantities of material in a short period of time.

Bulldozers are used in earth moving, road construction, mining, land clearing and for military purposes. The consist of a heavy body with a powerful motor generally sitting on ‘caterpillar’ treads. At the front is a thick strong steel blade that is used to push dirt. Combine the power of that engine, the overall weight of the machine, the treads and the blade and you have one tough muscle machine.

For highway construction, bulldozers are one of the first machines called in. The carve out the raw landscape into a rough road shape in preparation for motor-graders and other heavy equipment to come in and perform the finishing touches. Without the bulldozer, the motor grader would have nothing to work on.

In land clearing, the bulldozer is capable of ripping up the top couple of feet, pulling up shrubs and small vegetation, pushing over trees and even dragging tree stumps out of the ground. They are able to level a plot of land in fairly quick time.

On construction sites, the bulldozer prepares the ground by scraping away the top surface and providing a level building platform. The bulldozer is one of heavy equipments most versatile machines and operators are in heavy demand nationwide.

For a career as a bulldozer driver check out ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools for nationally accredited training.

There are two different types of heavy equipment training. The first is a standardized training program that all our students complete. This training produces a level of knowledge and skills across a range of heavy equipment types. The training is designed to meet the needs of employers. Any student that completes the requirements of training programs is ready for employment from day one.

There certain times, and certain industries, that require specialized heavy equipment training. This training to meet the individual needs of the employer. Specialized training can be designed to upgrade the current skills of employees or train new recruits from the ground up.

Specialized heavy equipment training is designed through a process that involves consulting with employer to determine their exact needs along with industry minimum standards, particularly in the field of safety.

The added benefit of specialized training is that we train in the field, using the employers equipment and in the environment the heavy equipment will be used in. The training is designed to meet the particular needs of the employer. Furthermore, training can be delivered at times and places that suit the employer and their employees. This can often reduce productivity losses during the training period.

Why undertake specialized training? Most employers seek specialized training when they use, or buy, specialized equipment. By employing a training firm such as ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools you know that each employee will receive identical training thereby ensuring that all employees have the same sets of skills.

ATS prides itself in delivering the best training, both standard and specialized. If your business requires specialized training services then call ATS on 1-800-678-8120 and we will be happy to discuss your training needs.

CDL – Class A Commercial Driver License. You need to obtain your CDL if you wish to work in the industry driving trucks on public roads.

Obtaining your CDL is done in three stages. The first stage involves training, in a classroom setting, in subjects such as Department of Transportation rules, safety and safe operation of equipment, Commercial Driver License regulations, logbooks, and hazardous materials.

Transport rules cover the use of the vehicle on public roads and includes information such as general road rules, load limits, and driving limits.

The second stage involves hands-on training in the use of a truck and includes backing and other close quarter maneuvers as well as pre-trip inspection, coupling and uncoupling and actual Highway and City driving. The later provides you with the opportunity to experience truck driving on public roads in traffic situations.

The third stage is where you actually complete the requirements to receive your license. Different states may have different requirements, however they all require you to sit and pass a written test and to pass a driving test.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools have a three week truck driving course that prepares you for those tests. Upon completion of the test and the granting of license, we have over 10,000 trucking companies nationwide in our job placement database.

One of Heavy Equipment’s largest machines is the dragline excavator. This equipment is used in both civil engineering and surface mining. Smaller types are often used in road and port construction, particularly if an old piece of road needs tearing up.

The larger types are used in strip-mining operations generally to extract coal. These are amongst the largest heavy equipment in use and weigh in the vicinity of 2000 metric tonnes. There have been machines weighing up to 13,000 metric tonnes.

A dragline bucket system consists of a large bucket which is suspended from a boom. The bucket is maneuvered by means of a number of ropes and chains. Powered by large diesel or electric motors, the hoist rope supports the bucket and hoist-coupler assembly from the boom. By skillfully controlling the hoist and the dragrope the bucket is, as the name suggests, dragged through the material to be excavated.

For civil engineering, there other machines that have been specifically built to replace the dragline. Training to operate a drag line is often done on the job. However most employers preview to employ those that have heavy equipment experience on machines like a bulldozer.

You can get your bulldozer credentials through ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools. Drop in and check out what courses may suit you.

There are a lot of heavy equipment training providers in the market place at present so you may be wondering why you should choose us over one of the others. At the end of the day, training is not about the little bit of paper you receive when it is all over. For that paper to mean anything, your skills and your ability to successfully use them in the workplace is what counts most.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools pride themselves on the way they do business. They have a core set of values which they stick by. These values include:

LONGEVITY: Being able to stick it out over a great many years training in heavy equipment

QUALITY: Quality speaks for itself. You are going to be the best judge so they wont let you down.

INTEGRITY: Doing what we say we are going to do.

PRIDE: We take pride in our business. We also take pride in our heavy equipment students.

INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF: Only qualified, experienced and well trained staff – you deserve the best

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: At the end of the day you will judge us on how we have delivered our service to you.

Heavy equipment is competitive. There are many jobs calling for well trained staff. I role is to help employers find staff that meet their needs so we adapt our training according to current requirements. Check our free brochure and DVD on the heavy equipment industry.