The backhoe loader a vehicle which consists of a tractor, front shovelbucket and small backhoe in the rear. Due to its small size and versatility, backhoe loaders are very common in urban engineering and small construction projects such as building a house, fixing roads and general maintenance. They are versatile work horses of the construction industry.

Backhoe-loaders are very common and can be used for a wide variety of tasks including construction, small demolitions, light transportation of building materials, powering building equipment, digging holes/excavating, breaking asphalt, and paving roads.

The backhoe bucket can often be replaced with other tools such as a breaker for smashing concrete and rock. Some loader buckets have a retractable bottom, enabling it to empty its load more quickly and efficiently.

Operating a backhoe loader still requires training including how to operate and the general safety issues associated with heavy equipment.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide training for a wide variety construction equipment. Check out he training available today for a career in heavy equipment operations.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools have gone out of their way to provide individuals considering a career in the heavy equipment industry with all the information required to make a decision – and it is all at your fingertips.

To begin with, their is full featured video on heavy equipment as a career. This is a full motion presentation that is available online at the click of a button. The video will provide much of the information you require to make a career changing decision.

If you want the information in your hand, or you have problems viewing the online video, then you can request a brochure and a copy of the dvd. You can review these in the comfort of your own home at your own leisure.

Once you have decided that a career as a heavy equipment operator is right for you, you can fill in our online application form.

If your impatient to get started, then you can working through our free online training program. This will provide you with some of the basic knowledge required to get started as a heavy equipment operator.

As you can see, it all there at your fingertips – well at the click of a mouse button anyway.

When I talk about compact heavy equipment, I am not necessarily talking about small, today I am referring to the compactor. This equipment ranges in size from the pair of size 12’s up to to huge heavy machines.

I don’t feel like stomping along a 20 mile stretch of highway to compact the base so let’s forget the size 12’s. I don’t feel like pushing a hand held compactor along that road either so it’s time to call in the heavy equipment.

Of course compactors have one major role to play in life. They compact the surface to make a firm stable base. Compactors normally use a combination of weight and vibration. The vibration basically shakes the the base material around so that the heavy weight can force it together tightly.

Compactors are one of those heavy equipment machines that don’t necessarily require training. What is often required is training on a standard heavy equipment machine such as a tractor or bulldozer. In fact tractors are often one the machines used to tow compactors around as they perform their duty.

Of course, other aspects of heavy equipment training such as safety are equally important. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools offer a broad range of training options that may provide a base of skills required to operate a compactor. Request a free brochure or view our online videos to see what we can offer you.

Cranes are not just cranes, yet when it comes to their operations, cranes are just cranes. Cranes are classed as heavy equipment but of all the heavy equipment, cranes have the highest number of equipment types.

There are around a dozen different types of cranes in use around the country now and they range in size from small sit on the back of a truck type to the huge heavy construction type. The different types of cranes include:

• Railroad Crane – this sits on a rail carriage flat bet
• Mobile Crane – often wheeled although there are some tracked
• Telescopic Crane – a type of crane whose boom consists of a number of tubes fitted one inside the other
• Tower Crane – tower cranes often give the best combination of height and lifting capacity and are used in the construction of tall buildings
• Truck Mounted Crane – a crane mounted on truck flat bed
• Rough Terrain Crane – crane with four rubber tires that is designed for off-road and “rough terrain” applications
• Crawler Crane – a crane mounted on a set of tracks that provide the stability and mobility of the crane
• Loader Crane – hydraulically-powered articulated arm fitted to a trailer
• Gantry Crane – a large installation used in container ports and rail freight terminal
• Overhead Crane – suspended crane often found in factories
• Stacker Crane – crane with a forklift type mechanism used in automated warehouses
• Floating Crane – mounted on barges and used mainly in bridge building and port construction
• Aerial Crane – aerial cranes usually extend from helicopters to lift large loads

If you are looking for a career as a crane operator then I think you will agree there are plenty of options available. Your first option is to find the right training and at ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools we help you there.

There are a lot of individuals who are wanting to undertake heavy equipment training but get confused by the number of training schools around. To help determine which training provider is right for you, there are several questions you can put to them.

There are of course the obvious questions. How much will it cost me? How long does the training take? Those questions are fairly straightforward and you can make easy comparisons. However, simply comparing price can be a big mistake if don’t also include the following assessment of their services:

Is the training accredited and if so, through whom? – be sure the accreditation is through a recognized body and that the training provided is recognized nation wide.

Is there any job placement service available? – there are many providers that will train heavy equipment operators like a production line – in one door, trained, out the other door, goodbye. If they offer a job placement service then the training is going to be targeted towards employment, not getting you out the door.

Is there financial assistance available? – training providers that can offer financial assistance are generally on a sound financial footing themselves. They are not living day to day using your money to pay for last months training – a road to ruin, with your money.

Do they have successful students willing to vouch for the training? – happy customers are always one of the best indications of quality service. If there are heavy equipment operators who are willing to speak well of their training, then you can relax in the knowledge of receiving quality training.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Training School we encourage any questions like those above. Quality training to help you into the workplace is our aim. Our record speaks for itself with previous students happy to speak about their accredited training and subsequent employment within the industry.

Every workplace seems to have a piece of heavy equipment that has been designed to do a job for that industry. Because of that, they are not in widespread use. For many of those units, format training isn’t available, however, to learn to operate the equipment you will need to know how to operate some heavy equipment machines.

A good example would be the container cranes at the docks. It’s a little hard to incorporate one of them in the back yard of the training facility, unless it was a port. However, in order to learn to operate one of these machines you may need general crane operator training and experience.

Another good example is the asphalt distributor. These come in a wide range of sizes and capabilities. There general use is to carefully lay down a bed of hot asphalt. This is achieved using a number of devices on the one machine including a heater to keep the asphalt hot, sprays to spray the asphalt and often the ability to set forward speed. Once again, training at a training facility is not practical. However, to undertake on-the-job training, many employers prefer to take on those who do at least have training such as grader operation.

There are a great many other examples in the work place. Most of them rely on you having as a basic set of chore skills, heavy equipment training such as motor grader, bulldozer or mobile crane.
ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide that training and perhaps get you started on an interesting career in heavy equipment.

Excavators are heavy equipment used in mining, construction and other civil works. The machine consists of a cab mounted on a turntable atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. The term excavator is often used to describe any piece of digging equipment.

Large excavators are useful for digging foundations and other huge projects that require heavy equipment. There are times when you will need a smaller excavator to handle a job. These smaller excavators are also called compact excavators or mini excavators.

Excavators often have attachments that can be fitted in place of the bucket. These attachments include jackhammers, shovels, grapples, and augers. Grapples are similar to claws and are used to grasp objects. Hydraulic mining excavators often uses shovels. Augers are similar to a drill bit, and are used to move materials.

The role of excavators is to dig holes, trenches, and foundations. In addition, excavators can be used in demolition, general landscaping, grading, heavy lifting, laying pipes, river dredging, mining, open-pit mining, and brush cutting.

No matter what the use, an excavator operator requires training and ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools have all the accredited training you may require to work in the construction industry.

Operating a crane requires a lot of training and skill since one wrong move can injure or even kill hundreds of people working on the construction site.

These days, many employers are insisting on crane operators that are trained and are capable of handling difficult situations. Employers who have restricted their employment policies to employing trained personnel have noticed a reduction in the number of work place incidents involving cranes.

Training is not focused on safety, although it is a key component. Students trained in how to use the equipment the right way, how to handle risky materials, how to recognize and handle handle risky situations, and how to react in a tight situation.

Considering the number of work place mishaps in earlier years, there has always been a need to train employees on how to operate a crane. Rather than undertake hit and miss on the job training, formal training to a set training schedule ensures that all topics are covered properly and not skipped over. On the job training often omits many important areas, often because the current job did not involve that area.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools are accredited to deliver crane training to an approved standard. If you are looking for a career as a crane operator, check out what we have to offer.

The old farm tractors you see pottering around farms are a far cry from the latest models appearing in the showrooms. Tractors of old had three point linkages that really turned them into advanced towing machines; tow a plow for example.

Tractors now come with the ability to add scoop which means they can operate as small front end loaders. You can also add an arm and bucket which in effect turns them into a backhoe; in fact it is not just the bucket you can add, you can add any of the traditional backhoe attachments.

Most tractors now come with the ability to add a blade, similar to that of a bulldozer. Whilst they may not have the strength of a bulldozer, they can still do a lot of the lighter work, often faster and more efficiently than their larger cousins.

The old fashion tractor doesn’t cut it in the modern world now and the skills developed on these old tractors do not really prepare you for the modern day models. Even the cabs of the modern tractor are different. The come with all the mod cons like air conditioning, electronics, GPS and some even come with laser technology.

Learning to operate modern heavy equipment is not as difficult as it may seem. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide all the training you require in heavy equipment to make you proficient in the operation of most types of machinery in use to day. Visit their site and request a brochure or free DVD on careers in heavy equipment.

One of the largest machines in the heavy equipment category are the large excavators. They can be lumbering giants, slowly crawling around a construction site on huge tracks. The buckets are huge and can lift a lot of dirt in one load.

As the name suggests, excavators dig and dig deep. They can be slow and ponderous, but they are certainly make up for speed by moving a lot of dirt at once. Excavators are more in the brute classification than finesse. They dig out the earth using brute strength – for finesse, you need to call in some of the smaller heavy equipment machines.

Learning to operate an excavator is not that difficult, however learning the different types of earth that is going to be dug does takes time, and experience. As with all heavy equipment, safe work practices are an important part of your training. Being able to excavate a construction to plans without causing any damage or injury is the most important component.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training School can provide you with the training and skills to get you started in a career as an excavator operator. Visit them today to pick up your free brochure or DVD. Stay awhile and view the online videos, particularly those from former students.