Heavy Equipment Operator Training Should Include Modern Technology

Technology in general has been one of the fastest changing areas in mankind’s history. I can remember a college professor once comparing modern technology to early cars – his comparison theorized that, if cars had improved at the same pace that technology is now speeding, then a current car would travel across the country on a thimble of fuel and that highways would be such that a car could travel comfortably at 200 mph with few if any accidents. Heavy equipment has not been immune to technology changes, and in many cases it has been borrowed from other areas.

Love it or hate it, motor sports have created a lot of the changes we see in modern cars. Power steering, ABS, fuel economy – they all owe their origins to motor sports. You can now find power steering and fuel economy technology in modern heavy equipment – and that’s just to name a few of the improvements that have come out of motor racing. Security has seen the installation of video cameras and recording in cars, and this technology has also crept into heavy equipment, particularly in the area of reversing cameras.

GPS has been a real boon for businesses that own a lot of heavy equipment. Stolen equipment can now be found in hours simply by tracking its GPS signals. GPS is also being used to help operators accurately complete jobs, especially in equipment like road graders and bulldozers. Laser leveling is also used widely in road graders to accurately produce cambers and level road surfaces.

Heavy equipment operator training now goes beyond just pushing levers and pedals to complete a job. Modern heavy equipment operators need to be proficient in the use of GPS and other technologies if they are going to have long and successful careers. This makes it important to receive training through a heavy equipment training school that has a range of equipment that includes both old and new technologies – you just never know what sort of technology your next employer is going to be using.