According to recent reports, rapid growth is seen in the virtual construction market. The construction industry continues to adopt various new technologies. Many of those technologies involve virtual design and visualization. These include Building Information Modeling (BIM) to Construction Management Software.

One way to describe the growing use of virtual environments to engineer and visualize the construction of buildings before they are constructed is virtual design and construction (VDC). Virtual environments can readily be accessed by mobile devices, desktop computers and virtual reality and augmented hardware programs.

VDC is beneficial because it is estimated that 30% of all construction industry expenses are because of reworking faulty or incorrect builds. By incorporating VDC, one can reduce these faulty or incorrect builds and determine which approach is the best way to go when building in the physical world.

The most popular VDC tool is BIM because it allows various individuals, including architects, engineers and construction crews to see a virtual model of a structure or building before work commences or while work is underway. That way, any needed changes can be done before work continues or advances.

According to reports, the BIM market is worth $8.1 billion as of 2023 with North America leading the market – holding more than 30% of the current market. The market is continued to grow in the future as more construction companies are seeing the benefits of VDC and BIM and how it can help them with projects of all sizes.

There are many reasons people choose a career in construction. Here are some of the more common reasons that people choose to work in construction.

• You can see the results of your work. Your hard work pays off. You can see the finished project.
• You get to be outdoors. Your day is not spent in the office. Instead, you get to visit different construction sites and work on different projects.
• There are many different job opportunities, and you can choose different paths. You can train to do different jobs, so you can do various work duties. You may be a truck driver, a heavy equipment operator or you could be an expert carpenter or work in masonry.
• You have job stability. There is a shortage of construction workers, and workers are always in demand. You will not have trouble finding work.
• The construction industry will always be needed. There will always be a need for new construction projects, and there will always be a need for construction workers.

If you are serious about choosing a career that will give you job satisfaction, construction should be on your shortlist. To learn more about construction opportunities, talk with an educational facility that specializes in training programs for construction workers.

ATS offers specialized training and has payment options available. Call to speak with a representative about the options available.

It appears to be full steam ahead for the Hudson Tunnel Project. There will be a new Hudson River rail tunnel constructed to serve the New York Penn Station and will involve rehabilitating the North River Tunnel.

The Hudson Tunnel Project is a total $16 billion investment to improve New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service between the two neighboring states. The project is funded by the $1.2 trillion infrastructure law, which President Joe Biden signed in 2021.

A $292 million federal grant will get work underway on the Manhattan side of the new Hudson River rail tunnels linking Penn Station to New Jersey, according to Sen. Chuck Schumer.

The grant is almost half of the $600 million cost of building the concrete casing of a box tunnel that will carry trains beneath Hudson Yards in and out of Penn Station as part of the Gateway Program.

This is just one element of the project and will help the multi-year project get off the ground. The tunnels are part of the overall Gateway project, which is estimated to cost $30 billion.

The project also includes new bridges and tracks west of Secaucus. Construction is expected to be done in the 2030s. At the project’s end, there will be four tracks available for trains between Newark and New York.

This project alone will create 72,000 jobs, according to experts. These totals will add to the already existing shortage of qualified construction workers that are needed in the field.

Giving You the Opportunity to Succeed

Associated Training Services (ATS) is dedicated to helping our veterans. While other companies may make empty promises, ATS stands behind our values. Over the last 25 years, ATS has helped more than 4,000 veterans accomplish their goals. Going above and beyond just offering our veterans the best training, ATS makes sure that all veterans are provided with free housing while they undergo their training. ATS also ensures that they can provide employment assistance in all parts of the United States.

ATS has many different programs for our veterans, giving you multiple long-term career options. One example of ATS’s many great learning opportunities is a mobile crane operator certificate. In this training, you will learn how to operate a variety of mobile cranes, swing cabs, fixed cabs, and more. If you see your future career in rigging and signaling, ATS has a program for you to get certification in this position. There are also opportunities to participate in the FMCSA approved and registered program to acquire your CDL under the new ELDT guidelines.

ATS has a substantial list of programs to suit whichever direction you see your career heading, including:

• Heavy Equipment Operations
• Mobile Crane Operations
• Tower Cranes
• Articulated Boom Cranes
• Horizontal Directional Drilling
• Commercial Truck Driver (CDL)
• Rigging/Signalperson

If you’re a veteran looking for a new career or to grow in the field you are already in, then we welcome you to explore what ATS has to offer. When reviewing your options, remember to consider the continued support that ATS offers veterans; free housing, employee assistance, and the opportunity for you to pay for your education with your GI bill. With our program, you will be able to take the next steps towards your career goals with the assurance that ATS can assist you with your housing and financial needs.

If you have served our country and you are looking for a change in your career or need further education to continue moving up in your field, let ATS assist you. At ATS, we believe your service should be honored, let us make your training our priority. Now is the time to start! We have new classes starting every 3 weeks.

Visit our website to see what future opportunities ATS may hold for you, or call us directly at (800) 383-7364!

No construction manager would even attempt to start building the upper floors of a building before its foundation was set. While you may have a lot of flexibility in terms of which areas of the job you want to tackle and when there are certain tasks that must be done before anything else can happen.

How To Improve Your Construction Site

Unfortunately, many job sites become bogged down in delays because the workflows haven’t been properly established and managed. In basic terms, workflow describes the sequence of activities that are needed to get the job done. Without the right processes in place, work can grind to a halt, as crews performing one task must wait for another team to finish a different task.

With that in mind, here are some tips you can use to improve the flow of activity on your site:

1. Use checklists: It sounds simple, but starting with a standardized list of the tasks you need to get done can make certain jobs — such as equipment maintenance and planning — much easier. A list ensures that nothing will be overlooked and there should be fewer surprises once you get started.

• Implement automation: Construction software can handle many of the most tedious and menial parts of the planning and scheduling process, often with greater accuracy than humans with pen and paper. These systems are even capable of generating flowcharts, so you can be certain you’ll have an optimized workflow for your team.

• Find a 3PL partner: Coordinating the delivery of equipment and materials to and from the site is one of the most important and challenging aspects of any project. Working with an experienced third-party logistics provider to handle these steps could not only reduce your workload, but also ensure that you’ll have experts on your side.

• Improve communications: Perhaps the simplest way to improve your workflow is to make sure the lines of communication stay open within your enterprise. In construction, one of the biggest obstacles to success is when teams don’t keep each other in the loop. Building a solid company culture that values teamwork and transparency could help prevent bottlenecks and redundancies from impacting your work in the field.

It takes more than a blueprint to ensure a successful build. Coordinating and streamlining all the activities on your Jobsite requires a bit of foresight and strong internal practices, but the rewards are often well worth the effort. Paying attention to your workflow and taking some steps to enhance it can make you a stronger organization and lead to better overall results.

Still Training Heavy Equipment Operators

Construction is considered a necessity, and despite the shutdowns that took place because of the Covid-19 pandemic, construction has continued. While some states have specified which kinds of construction were essential, some states only allowed work on what was deemed necessary, such as housing, medical, and infrastructure projects.

With construction projects in high demand and new infrastructure plans, so is the need for qualified and well-trained heavy equipment operators and construction workers. Associated Training Services (ATS) offers a variety of training programs including:

• Heavy Equipment Operator
• Mobile Crane; NCCCO certifications
• Truck Driving
• Get Your CDL
• Rigging/Signalperson; NCCCO certifications
• Digger Derrick; NCCCO certifications
• Tower Crane; NCCCO certifications
• Directional Drilling
• Specialized Training; NCCCO certifications

We offer career service assistance, which provides students with some tools, resources, and assistance to help with career goals nationwide. Our career services department provides a job leads database, which contains the names and contact details of thousands of potential employers. New employers and job postings are constantly being added to the database.

ATS is open and training students. An appointment is required, and masks must be worn. We accept military benefits and financial assistance is available. Now is the time to get started in the construction industry or to start a career as a heavy equipment operator. Call (800) 383-7364 today to learn more about how we can help you take the next step.

Operators:

Industrial rigging, as well as dismantling operations, necessitate the use of at least one, if not many, pieces of heavy equipment, such as cranes, forklifts, aerial lifts, and other similar equipment. It’s not easy to operate heavy machinery. If your workers aren’t properly educated, it can cause a slew of issues for your task and company. This is why accredited safety training for heavy machinery operators is so critical before beginning the job.

Many heavy machinery operator schools provide training and skills that allow applicants to become certified by one or more nationally-recognized professional associations. Heavy machinery operators are not required to be licensed or accredited in all states. In addition, not all forms of equipment need licensing or certification to work in those areas that do. So, what is the significance of professional certification?

Some states do not mandate the licensing and/or certification of heavy equipment operators.

While not all states mandate heavy machinery operators to be licensed or certified, many do. Although precise criteria differ by jurisdiction, many states recognize technical association certification as either a prerequisite for licensing or as appropriate enough on its own to run some heavy machinery within their boundaries.

Training for Heavy Equipment

Heavy equipment operator courses provide instruction in a range of equipment styles, enabling participants to broaden their versatility and experience on the job, which is appealing to employers. The following are some examples of machinery that students can practice to operate:

• Backhoes
• Rough Terrain Forklifts
• Road Graders
• Excavators
• Inspection and maintenance of equipment
• Dump Truck
• Bulldozers

Pay and Benefits:

A high school degree or GED is usually all that is needed to be accepted into a heavy machinery operator training program. Graduate students of the program discover that their salary as a heavy machinery operator much exceeds their former regular paycheck life.

National averages and real earnings can differ depending on the job and position. Many operators with the complexity and range of experience and skills learned from a heavy machinery operator training program, on the other hand, would discover themselves attracting higher demand and earn higher salaries than their rivals.

Additionally, certain companies will reimburse their employees for heavy machinery schools’ job education and training programs. Aside from the decent pay and benefits, the job is demanding and provides the satisfaction of seeing the tangible effects of one’s labor.

Safety:

If an accident occurs on the construction site as a result of insufficient preparation, it may greatly increase the project’s total expense. Mishaps may cause machinery to break down, necessitating the procurement of repair parts or, in the worst-case scenario, a completely new piece of equipment. Operators who have received rigorous instruction know how to prevent these mishaps and properly find Used Heavy Equip for Sale. They also learn how to best maintain the machinery so that it can be kept up and running on a daily basis with minimal maintenance.

Heavy Machinery Care Routine

In the past, implementing a Preventative Maintenance program into your heavy machinery care routine was considered a costly and unnecessary decision. It was often a scenario where the mindset was to fight the problems as they arose with heavy equipment, instead of performing the preventative care necessary to keep breakdowns from occurring in the first place. 

Yet, as it is well documented that preventative maintenance keeps breakdowns to a minimum, and when breakdowns occur, they are limited to less costly and quicker repairs being needed, we’re seeing the implementation of preventative maintenance programs in shops much more frequently than before. A perfect time to implement such a program is when you are winterizing your heavy equipment. If you’re already prepping your equipment, checking fluids, and replacing worn parts to ensure it will run through the rougher weather, why not go ahead and put a preventative maintenance program into place? 

The benefits you’ll see that are nearly instantaneous are: 

Problems With Machinery Are Caught Early 

Instead of a hydraulic pump completely blown and in need of replacement, you notice the leaking hydraulic fluid, and the seals can be replaced. These are the type of immediate cost and labor savings that a preventative maintenance program can ensure that you will see almost immediately when you put a preventative maintenance program in place.

Everyone knows that if you continue to run a piece of machinery on a failing part, you will see a continuous downhill slide in that machinery’s performance. You can go from a few failing seals to a pump, seals, and blown lines quickly if you don’t address the problem when it is in the beginning stages. 

Minimizing Fuel And Other Fluid Waste 

Let’s face it, fuel and other fluids are not cheap. It’s a costly venture to own and operate heavy equipment. The price of oil for a front-end loader alone can quickly drain your vendor credit account. Multiply that expense by every piece of machinery you’re running in your fleet, and you have a major expense on your hands. 

When you’re operating your machinery at less than optimum performance, you’re putting equipment drag into play on your fluids and fuel levels. You’ll burn through your fuel at an accelerated speed, and depending on the maintenance that piece of machinery needs, you may very well run through all of the machine’s other fluids at breakneck speed as well. 

The Number Of Major Repairs Are Decreased with Preventative Maintenance 

If you catch a breakdown in the early stages, you can prevent major parts from being destroyed. As we discussed earlier, it’s much easier and cheaper to replace seals than it is to replace the entire hydraulic pump. If you allow a failing part to affect every part down the line, you’re turning an already fragile situation into a potentially harmful and very expensive breakdown, where the entire issue could be resolved with just a few seals being replaced. 

Protects Employees From Machinery That Isn’t Operating Safely 

The last thing, any heavy equipment owner needs is an OSHA recordable. Not only are you risking such an occurrence by not properly maintaining your heavy equipment, but when OSHA shows up on-site, they will expect to see every maintenance record that you have on that piece of equipment. 

When you put a reliable preventative maintenance program or a CMMS into place, you arm yourself with records that are indisputable, and with the knowledge that you did everything possible to protect your employees from the harm that can come when they run faulty equipment.

Extends Heavy Equipment Life By Significant Time Periods 

We all want to get the maximum mileage out of our heavy equipment. It is expensive to purchase, and if you’re not getting maximum value from your heavy equipment, it is a huge waste of your hard-earned money. Why not properly maintain your equipment and ensure that every engine hour possible is worked on your equipment? 

When you implement a preventative maintenance program and address minor issues with your equipment while they are still minor, you’re maximizing your equipment hours and preventing small parts breakdown from becoming time and labor-consuming major breakdowns. By simply addressing your equipment needs in a timely and preventative fashion, you can and will see major breakdowns decrease. In addition, you will extend the life of your equipment every time by reducing wear and stress on the machinery, and ensuring that the equipment maintenance is addressed on time and with the proper frequency as recommended by the manufacturer.

The days are getting colder. Winter is quickly approaching. You will want to be preparing your heavy equipment and machinery for the colder weather, so you can prevent damage that can be expensive and time-consuming. Now is the time to plan and get things in order. Here are a few tips for getting your heavy equipment ready for the cold weather that lies ahead.

• Be sure to condition any and all hydraulic hoses and use the correct lubricants. Make sure your equipment has the right engine, transmission, hydraulic, and final drive lubricants for that specific piece of equipment.
• Use enclosed storage facilities for your equipment, and be sure fluids are at room temperature. That will make for an easier start for your machine and you will spend less time brushing off all the snow and ice.
• In most situations, block heaters are best for getting your engine started in cold weather. A block heater will increase the temperature of the hydraulic fluid and the engine. You can block the radiator to speed up the warming-up process.
• Be sure that all batteries are fully charged and that they are warm. When it is cold, it takes twice as many cranking amps for your battery to turn over, so making sure it is charged and warm will make it start much easier and more quickly.
• Keep starting fluid on hand, be sure it stays at room temperature, and only inject it as the engine is cranking. Be sure to store starting fluids properly and safely as they are highly flammable.
• You should always run the engine until it reaches the temperature for operation. This can help you avoid sticking of the exhaust and intake.
• Make sure you keep your tires properly inflated because they lose cold air faster in cold weather. Also, when they are inflated, do so in a heated area for the best results.

President Donald Trump and Congressional Democratic leaders agreed to aim for an infrastructure package worth $2 trillion recently, but many don’t think Congressional Republicans will agree because there are questions as to where the funding for the package would come from. However, the package is still in the works.

This infrastructure project would be designed to upgrade and improve the country’s aging infrastructure, which includes bridges, roads, internet, telephone, electric, sewage, and water systems. These all play a vital role in the development and prosperity of the communities.

The agreement was made because the infrastructure investment will create jobs and make the country more economically competitive with other countries. This means that there will be more opportunities and a greater demand for those who are trained and who can work in different construction roles.

The Need For More Construction Workers

There will be a greater need for heavy equipment operators, such as those who drive big trucks, dozers, graders, and even operate cranes. In addition, there will be a need for professional truck drivers who can transport the heavy equipment where it needs to go.

ATS offers training that can help with the different roles that will need to be filled with infrastructure projects. These jobs include:

• Heavy equipment operators
• Rigging and signalperson
• Directional drilling
• Mobile crane operators
• Tower crane operators
• CDL training
• Utility Locating
• Other specialized training

ATS accepts financial assistance, including veterans’ benefits. If you would like to learn more about ATS and how we can help you prepare for a career-building infrastructure, call (800) 383-7364 today.