ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools provides training to a wide range of clients. These include individuals looking at a career in heavy equipment, crane operations or truck driving. We also provide training to agencies looking to place their clients into training programs and employment.

A third major group includes businesses requiring specialized training that meets both workplace and regulatory requirements. This has become particularly important to businesses that utilize cranes in states where crane operator certification has become a requirement. Unlike many training organizations, we can bring the training to you.

Whichever group you belong to, individual, agency or business, we have a range of brochures that outline the services available to your specific needs. We have also developed a DVD highlighting our training facilities and equipment.

Most of the information is available on our website however nothing beats printed material especially when discussing options with third parties. If you require more details on any aspect of our heavy equipment, crane, or truck driver training programs the we are just a phone call away.

Training decisions are important to the success of any individual or business so we are happy to provide as much information as possible to help you make the right decisions. A career in heavy equipment can be very rewarding one – and for many, a fairly lucrative one. Visit ATS to request your free brochure and DVD, there is no obligation and of course – it’s free.

Finding a good quality heavy equipment training school can often be difficult. When you consider the cost of training, you need to be sure your hard earned dollars will result in good quality training that the industry recognizes. More importantly, you want training that will result in employment. If you follow these points you will find the selection process a lot easier.

1. Age – select a training school that has been around for some years. Heavy equipment schools are popping up everywhere so find a school that has stood the test of time.
2. Accredited – one sign of quality is whether or not the training school has taken the time to become accredited by a nationally recognised body. For heavy equipment, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) is the accreditation body.
3. Certification – does the training school provide a nationally recognised certification? Training is becoming standardized in many areas and heavy equipment is no different.
4. Employment – heavy equipment training schools that provide industry with well trained operators will, over time, develop relationships with those employers. These relationships mean the training school is in a position to help graduates find employment once they complete their training.

If You check out ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools you will find they meet all these points. In fact they go further offering free online training to get you started and delivering training through many centers around the nation.

When times are tough employers look more to those that are qualified when looking for new employees. This is particularly true in the field of construction and heavy equipment. When times are good, some employers will take on new workers based on solely on five or ten years experience – not today, a qualified operator will almost always get the nod over an unqualified operator.

Now is probably a good time for those heavy equipment operators who learned “on-the-job” to perhaps think about getting that piece of paper that says they are qualified to operate construction equipment. While gaining a formal qualification they will be introduced to a broader range of heavy equipment which in turn widens their employment options.

If you’re a bulldozer operator then adding a truck license (CDL) to your list of skills will definitely make you more employable. Not only are you able to operate the bulldozer, you can truck it to the job and back again. If there is no bulldozer work available, there may at least be transport work available.

Being able to operate a range of heavy equipment not makes you more employable, it also adds variety to your own working life. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools provides accredited training to national standards. They can certainly formalize your current skills, at the same time they can add an additional range of skills to your repertoire.

For many novices, talking about a piece of heavy equipment often leaves them in the dark, or with the wrong impressions. There a many people, especially of the younger generation, who have no idea what an excavator looks like, or front end loader for that matter.

Of course most people are familiar with motor graders although they may not their name. This is the heavy equipment used to help make our roads. Training on a grader can be similar to training for an excavator, at least in theory. However, hands on training leads to different skills. The grader is designed to scrape or smooth the surface. The excavator is designed to dig – for example, to dig trenches for pipes or foundations.

When looking to undertake training on heavy equipment, check to see what sort of training they provide. Do they have dedicated training ground where you can actually dig using an excavator; do they have an area where you can put your motor grader skills to work? Learning the theory is fine, and learning to drive a piece of heavy equipment up and down a road is fine. However, the real training comes when you have to do the real work – dig, grade or push.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we use real equipment on a realistic training field thereby providing all students with a real world training experience. Take a look at more pictures of heavy equipment and heavy equipment training from our operator schools.

Social networking has been around for as long as mankind. Any group of like minded people gathering together could be (and should be) considered a social networking opportunity. Heavy equipment is no different to any other industry. You would be surprised at how many job vacancies are filled through a social networking experience rather than a straightforward job application.

Over the years the online community has included forums and social networking sites for many professionals. What some heavy equipment operators may not realize is the existence of several forums devoted to their industry. These forums appear to be run for the benefit of those that work in the industry, not those that buy and sell equipment.

Members offer each other advice for particular activities. For example, you may be required to dig a dam that already has some water in it. Members will offer advice as to which attachments would be best and how to approach the situations. There is another forum devoted to demolition work. Both make interesting reading.

Of course these forums are really only useful to heavy equipment operators working in the industry. To get your start in the industry as an operator you need training. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are the nations premier training school for heavy equipment operators. Contact us for more information on your career.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools have had a training facility in Colorado since 2006. The school was primarily established to deliver heavy equipment training which it has done quite successfully. The long term goal was to add both mobile crane and CDL truck driver training to the curriculum.

This has now been achieved and Colorado school now offers the full range of heavy equipment, mobile crane and CDL truck driver training programs. For prospective students wanting to enroll in any training programs for the new year, enroll now and you could still be eligible for a discount off your training fees. This applies to all our training schools. Call us on 1.800.678.8120 for further information or visit our web site for more details on the heavy equipment training discount.

Employment is always a big issue when it comes to training. The question is often asked, “are there jobs for heavy equipment operators available at present”. The answer is almost always a resounding yes. We have our own employment program for successful students so finding a job is generally not that difficult. The economy may be in recession, however the government is continuing to spend up big on infrastructure projects so job placements are continually being made. Enroll now, grab your discount and look forward to a lucrative career as a heavy equipment operator, mobile crane operator, or CDL truck driver.

You would be surprised at the number of locations where we deliver heavy equipment training. In 1963, we started the Diesel Truck Driver Training School near Madison, Wisconsin. We still maintain our primary office and training facilities there.

Since 1963 we slowly spread our wings. In 2002 we started delivering training in Florida (2002); then Ohio in 2003 and New Hampshire in 2004. This quickly followed Virginia in 2005, Colorado and South Carolina in 2006, and California in 2007. We haven’t finished our growth yet with Texas and Arizona on the cards.

Our growth has been tempered by one thing – quality. With over 100 staff members, we are diligent in ensuring that each staff member is trained and qualified for the position they fill. Heavy equipment trainers are skilled operators as well as being effective trainers.

Enroll in one of our heavy equipment training programs before December 31 and receive a generous discount on your fees. With demand for skilled operators increasing you are one step away from starting a career as a well-paid heavy equipment operator.

Have you ever thought about the amount of work that goes into building our roads. Sure, there are little country roads. But what about the highways, multi-lanes, turnpikes, off ramps, on ramps, I could go on. Roads take a lot of careful planning and just as much careful work. Despite the complexity, the big rough and tough heavy equipment machinery that we use really do make light work of it all and it’s done accurately.

In today’s engineering environment, you can start a large six or eight lane highway in two parts, each 100 miles apart. By the time the highways meet, the will connect perfectly with hardly an inch of leeway – that is what I call accuracy. Yet we drive these roads without giving any thought to the complexities of creating them. It’s the engineers, the laborers and the heavy equipment operators that know how complex these roads are.

Road gangs rely on excavators, bulldozers and graders to get the base right. There are specialized heavy equipment that is then called in to lay the gravel and hot asphalt. Heavy multi wheeled vehicles help to cure the road. Pile drivers and cranes are often called in to construct the turnpikes, off ramps and on ramps.

The life of a heavy equipment operator is never boring when it comes to road building. Every day is different and every day brings new challenges. Working on these road crews requires training in the right equipment. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools provides relevant hands on training across multiple heavy equipment rigs. Check out our site and you may find yourself helping to build the roads of our nation.

When we think of heavy equipment we think of bulldozers, graders, excavators and perhaps backhoes. Some individuals may heave worked in mines and seen some of the large shovels and excavators at work there. However, what you may not have seen are some of the world record holders when it comes to heavy equipment.

Back in 1969 “The Big Muskie” was considered the largest self-propelled piece of machinery in operation. It could move 39 million pounds of earth every hour; uncover coals seams up to 150 feet into the earth’s crust; and could “swing its boom” 600 feet across the landscape. It was shut down in 1991 and only its enormous metal bucket remains. It is now a roadside attraction in Reinersville, Ohio.

In Lichterfeld, Germany lived another “biggest” moving man-made machine. This machine was called the Overburden Conveyor Bridge F60 and although it weighed only 11,000 tons, its length was an untouchable 1,647 feet. It was also 663 feet wide. It was built in 1991 but only lasted 13 months in operation before being shut down for “energy-political” reasons.

The length of this machine is 100 feet longer than the height of the Sears Tower – that is measures from the base of the building to the tip of the longest lightning rod or antenna.

You may never get to operate one of these giants, but believe it or not the skills acquired in becoming a heavy equipment operator would be sufficient to get you started as an operator of one of these. ATS Heavy Equipment Training School can provide you with the skills required to operate heavy equipment in the mining industry. Can we get you into one of these giants? Probably not, but the equipment that mines do use are pretty impressive when it comes to size.

There are times when I get asked why I need heavy equipment operator training through a school and not just on-the-job. In reality, you can. However your training wont be complete, wont be recognized nationally and can harm future job prospects. Here is an example of how most of the job descriptions are written when vacancies arise.

DUTIES

• Transports and operates a variety of heavy equipment including, but not limited to tractor trailer unit, lowboy, bulldozer, grader, crane skip loader, tandem drive axle rigs, service trucks, and backhoe/loaders
• Operates a backhoe for excavating utility trenches, placing pipe and backfilling

QUALIFICATIONS
Ability to:

• Operate a variety of heavy equipment including tractor trailer unit, lowboy, bulldozer, grader, crane skip loader, tandem drive axle rigs, service trucks, and backhoe/loaders.
• Adjust and perform preventive maintenance and make minor repairs on the vehicles and auxiliary equipment.
• Operate equipment in compliance with District, State, and Federal Safety Codes.
• Learn to operate and maintain newly acquired heavy equipment.
• Understand the operation of heavy equipment and report any variance from proper operation.

EDUCATION

• Equivalent to the completion of the twelfth grade supplemented by specialized training in heavy equipment operation.

EXPERIENCE

• One year of experience operating heavy equipment.

KNOWLEDGE

• Operation and maintenance requirements of a variety of heavy equipment.
• Practices, methods, and materials used in construction and maintenance work.
• Traffic laws, ordinances, and rules involved in truck and heavy equipment operations.
• Principles and practices of routine and preventive maintenance of light and heavy equipment.
• The use of hand tools and safety gear.
• Occupational hazards and standard safety practices.

Don’t let all of that put you off. Heavy equipment training schools cover most of those topics at some stage in their training. On-the-job training can provide you with some experience on one piece of equipment, however that limits your future employment to that piece of equipment.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide you with training to get started in the heavy equipment industry. We can also help you get your first job so you can gain that 12 months experience that many employers, particularly government related, require.