When it comes to running a business, particularly a heavy equipment business, there is no such thing as ‘spare time’. If equipment is not earning money, it is most likely costing money and no business can afford that. This is one of the reasons that loaders and backhoes are so popular – they are versatile enough to put to a lot of different tasks. Backhoes can do much of the work of both loaders and excavators, but what of a loader, what can it do?

Loaders are more versatile than some people would imagine. The next time you’re out and about, you should keep your eyes open for heavy equipment to see what sort of jobs they are doing. For loaders, they have been known to attach mowing equipment to cut grass over large areas. On construction sites, loaders are often used to ferry heavy items, particularly if they need to be lifted a few feet into position. Why call a crane in for one job when a loader is there and available?

There are many tasks that a loader can perform, it’s really the skills of the operator that determine many of its limitations. Skilled loader operators are always in demand. For an operator, while cutting grass on the side of a highway may not sound interesting, it does require skills that are very different to, say, loading a dump truck with debris. The alternative jobs that can often be asked of a loader operator provide variety and remove some of the monotony of the job.

Loader operators are always in demand. If you are looking for a change in career, enjoy working outside and find operating heavy equipment like loaders appealing then contact us at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools for more information on heavy equipment training.

It may be March and spring may be in the air but try telling that to the residents of Homer in Alaska. They had to call on every grader in the area to help clear out several feet of snow that had fallen in a late blizzard. One of the joys of operating heavy equipment like road graders is that you never know what sort of job you could be called on to do next.

For the people of Homer, I am sure they are happy to have had graders and grader operators in their midst. Mind you, many of the students may not have been. Their schools were closed for the first time in over 20 years and it wasn’t until road graders had cleared the way that they could re-open. For those of us in warmer climates, moving snow at this time of the year is probably the last thing on our mind.

Becoming a grader operator is not as difficult as many people would imagine. A three week heavy equipment training program will provide sufficient skills and knowledge to gain a start in the workforce. From there, it’s really a matter of gaining as much experience as possible. With experience comes more knowledge and over time experience in more trying conditions.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools deliver nationally accredited training in a wide range of equipment including road graders, excavators, bulldozers and backhoes. Each training course runs for three weeks and we have training schools across the country. If you are interested in operating heavy equipment like road graders (perhaps not in Alaska), then give us a call. We can advise on course start dates and heavy equipment operator school close to your location.

With spring in the air, and on everyone’s footsteps, gardens everywhere are coming into bloom. At the same time, landscapers with their skid steer loaders are out preparing new gardens or rebuilding those that suffered through winter. Often considered toys, these small machines enable landscaping crews to complete jobs in a fraction of the time taken to do the job by hand.

Skid steer loaders are well suited to these smaller jobs, or jobs that need to be done in small areas. Driveways, new patios, areas that need re-turfing and of course large scale garden beds are areas where these little loaders work well. What most people don’t realize is that the skills required to operate a skid steer loader are similar to those required to operate larger heavy equipment. Similar but not the same.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools, many of our heavy equipment operator training programs include skid steer loader training. These mini loaders have a steering system that can see them turn 180 on the spot – similar to bulldozers and other tracked equipment. However, their bucket operations are very similar to that of a conventional loader.

Training on this equipment then is the perfect companion for those wanting to enter the heavy equipment industry. When work for larger machinery like loaders, bulldozers or backhoes is a little quiet, you can always find work with smaller equipment like the skid steer loader.

You can become proficient in a wide range of heavy equipment including skid steers in as little as three weeks through ATS – if this is a career option for you – contact us for more information.

Loaders come in all shapes and sizes ranging from the little skid steer type loaders up to giant earth moving machines – and I do mean giants. For many of us, the most common type of loader seen is the standard wheeled loader or front end loader. You typically see these on most building sites carrying dirt, sand or gravel to where it is needed. The second most common type would be the mini loaders or skid steer loaders. These are popular with landscape gardeners and hire yards.

While I wouldn’t belittle operators by saying that loaders were easy to operate, they are at least one of the easiest units of heavy equipment to learn to operate. As such they can be the easiest path into a career as a heavy equipment operator. This is the path that many operators take, starting with loaders and moving up to backhoes, excavators and bulldozers further down the track.

Most heavy equipment training programs include all of these units in their training repertoire. Once you graduate you will have some knowledge and experience on a range of equipment. Loaders may just be the least competitive field when it comes to job opportunities. The field of heavy equipment operations can have a career path – it’s just not so easy to map out as everyone has different attributes. Loaders can be seen as the start of that career path.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools provides training on a wide range of heavy equipment including loaders, backhoes, excavators and bulldozers. At the end of your three week training period, you are ready to enter the workforce as a trained and skilled heavy equipment operator. You can choose to specialize in any unit of heavy equipment, however, you may find that loaders are your easiest entry.

Dump trucks are one of the busiest vehicles on any construction site. If they are not bringing in truck loads of building materials they are carting truck loads out. At times, they will do both, bringing in, say, a load of sand and then filling up with a load debris that needs to be removed.

The role of a dump truck driver is never boring. In fact, you are on the go almost all day. The only time you get to pause is when your truck is being filled. These days, that doesn’t take very long at all. There are many areas that utilize hoppers – you simply drive your truck under the hopper, the hopper is opened and within a minute you have a full load. At the construction site, loaders. backhoes and excavators can quickly fill a dump truck with material that needs carting away.

Career prospects for dump trucks are good with demand for drivers fairly steady all year round. The peak in demand around the middle to the end of spring as construction companies take on new drivers to help meet contract deadlines. Now is one of the best times to gain one’s qualifications as a dump truck driver since that recruitment drive for drivers will soon start in earnest.

ATS Truck Driver Schools can have you trained and ready for work in as little as three weeks. Dump truck driver training is undertaken using both in class and behind the wheel training sessions. Behind the wheel sessions involve you doing the driving, not watching someone else doing the driving. Every kid wants to be a dump truck driver when playing in their sand pit, but is the big kid in you still wanting to drive a dump truck in a real life sand pit?

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools have 10 training locations spread around the nation. Each training school offers heavy equipment training in a variety of equipment. Each training school is different and the range of equipment available at each one may vary.

Heavy equipment covers a very broad range of equipment. Small skid steer loaders are considered heavy equipment and the range goes up to include some of the super machinery used in mining. It is impossible to offer training in every type of machinery, however, by providing a cross section of equipment in training, students gain skills in the most common types in use. This equipment may include:

• Backhoes
• Wheel loaders
• Scrapers
• Excavators
• Bulldozers
• Road graders
• Rock trucks
• Skid Steers and
• All-Terrain Forklifts

Many of the skills are interchangeable to a certain extent. What most people don’t realize is that heavy equipment operation involves many different skills. For example, hand-eye coordination is important in most jobs. However, for some heavy equipment your hands may be going in different directions. A good example is an excavator where one hand is perhaps pushing the boom out, the other hand is opening the bucket to release the contents while the feet are controlling the swing of the entire unit. This coordination is a skill that is transferable to other machinery, even if the controls are unfamiliar at first.

If you are looking at a career in heavy equipment then ATS could be a smart choice when it comes to heavy equipment training. The wide range of equipment means you will gain a good grounding of skills. Add to this the in-class training in areas such as safety, soils and site layouts and you have the complete training package.

Excavators come in a variety of sizes these days. From giant lumbering beasts to compact units that can get into some pretty tight places. Not only are they available in a range of sizes, they also have a wide range of attachments, making them extremely versatile machines. Gone are the days when an excavator was only useful for digging trenches – show me a hand tool and I can almost guarantee there is an excavator attachment to match.

Despite the range in sizes, the wide variety of attachments that an excavator can use, learning to operate one is not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, you can go from zero to a competent operator in as little as three weeks. Not only that, but along the way you could also pick up operator skills in bulldozers, graders, backhoes and loaders.

Exposure to a range of equipment during training helps you appreciate their power and their limitations, important knowledge when you are working as part of an earth moving team. The main role of an excavator is still to dig trenches. Their attachments help them to achieve this quickly without having to call in other equipment. However, they are not restricted to trenching.

Excavators have been used as part of demolition teams, in the mining industry, and in very different roles such as removing silt from the bottom of rivers to make them deeper. The role of an excavator operator is varied, challenging and well paid.

Does a career as an excavator sound interesting? Find out more by contacting us at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools to see when our next heavy equipment training program starts.

Everywhere you look there is bound to be a unit of heavy equipment hard at work. There are bulldozers clearing land, graders preparing roads, excavators and backhoes digging trenches and loaders moving what ever it is that needs moving. But which unit of heavy equipment is the most popular? Now, by most popular, I refer to most number of units sold and most number of units in operation at any one time. The answer may surprise you although on reflection, it shouldn’t. The answer? Believe it or not it’s the skid-steer loader.

I said that, on reflection, you can understand why. First, it is the largest unit of heavy equipment sold. Second, there are more skid-steer loaders in operation today than any other unit of heavy equipment. The reasons are fairly understandable too. They are cheap to buy, efficient when it comes to fuel use, easy to maintain and easy to transport. Add to that the versatility with the range of attachments and the fact their lighter weights cause little damage during operations and you have one handy little piece of equipment. It also helps that they are fairly easy to learn to operate as well.

Just about every construction yard, construction company and local government authority has a skid-steer loader. Most heavy equipment operators could jump into the seat of a skid-steer loader and operate it as well – perhaps not as efficiently as a full time operator, but they could get the job done.

Learning to operate a skid-steer loader is not that difficult. Most respectable training companies like ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools include skid-steer loaders in their heavy equipment training programs because of their popularity. If you want to get behind the controls of one of the countries most popular units of heavy equipment, give us a call to discuss your possible training options.

It may be winter and the ground may be frozen solid, but if a trench is needed, the excavator is the machine for the job. Frozen ice may be too hard for the bucket, but excavators come with a range of tools that can used, including ground breaking picks. They say that backhoes are versatile, but so too are excavators.

Backhoes are versatile machines and often a lot easier to use when it comes to tight spaces. However, for every attachment that a backhoe has, an excavator has an equivalent. Where the excavator often excels is in in pure power. Size for size, the excavator can often exert a lot more grunt so when it comes to icy ground – call in the excavator, they are muscled up and ready.

Excavator operators are often multi-skilled as well. If you can operate an excavator then you should be able to transfer some of those skills to the backhoe. The reverse is true also. If your original training is undertaken through an accredited training company then there is a good chance you have been trained on both – and the loader as well.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools train their students across a range of heavy equipment that includes excavators and backhoes, loaders, bulldozers as well as graders. These are the main machines used in excavating, construction and mining, the major users of heavy equipment operators. For those looking to enter the field of heavy equipment, we have new heavy equipment training programs starting all the time so the wait for the next course is always minimal.

If you are looking for a job operating an excavator – you need the training first. Contact us and we can discuss your training options and what is needed to become qualified.

The demand for heavy equipment operators is steadily rising with forecasts for 2010, indicating a much heavier demand in spring and summer, especially when it comes to excavators and loaders. Bulldozers and graders follow closely with other heavy equipment operators also in strong demand.

Excavator operators will be in heavy demand in spring with new building projects scheduled for spring starts. Excavators and bulldozers are the two machines generally called in first for a building project. Many projects have already had the clearing preparation completed and ready to turn the soil. This involves excavator operators and, to a lesser extent, loaders and backhoes.

Foundation work and service trenches is the area that will see highest demand although road construction will create a demand across most areas of heavy equipment. Excavators also play a role in road construction – this is why the demand for excavator operators is expected to surge – both areas of construction requiring operators at the same time.

Undertaking a heavy equipment training program early in 2010 is advisable if you are looking to enter this field, particularly if you are considering specializing in excavators. The number of operators in the work place has diminished over the last 10 years. Many older operators have left the profession whilst others have simply moved on to other trades.

Excavator operators will be in demand in 2010. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are gearing up for a busy year training new operators to meet this demand. If you are considering a career change and moving into heavy equipment, contact us to find out what training are available in your area.