TRAINING & SIMS
equipment or technology training required and the method of delivery for such training – whether one-on-one, in person or virtual online training – is best to satisfy their needs.
Another point Caterpillar makes is that it is highly recommended to be proactive in engaging with an OEM for training and not to wait until a safety event or near miss occurs to identify the need.
A growing trend for training requests is for short“ how-to” videos covering equipment features, technology and simple maintenance items. These can serve as an introduction to a particular machine or as a refresher after in-person training. The website Catoperatortraining. com offers access to hundreds of short training videos with topics ranging from basic equipment operation to advanced techniques, so that operators can get a wide breadth of knowledge about their equipment.
With the expansion of technology offerings for dozers, loaders, excavators and other mining equipment, one significant focus area for these training videos by OEMs like Caterpillar is on production-enhancing technology. From payload tip off for wheel loaders to grade systems for dozers, these videos offer a refresher for operators about the technology.
Safety is also paramount to miners and OEMs alike. Many videos explain some of the safety features in the equipment, such as off-highway truck brake and steering testing procedures and enhanced automatic resistive braking control.
OEMs can offer the most current feature, safety, technology and maintenance videos because they know when machines will be updated and can create new videos in advance. Caterpillar continually expands its video offering to cover the latest updates.
Like online videos, eLearning serves as introductory-level training to new equipment operators or as a refresher for more experienced operators. These programs are designed to be affordable and introduce new operators to safety, machine controls, maintenance, inspection and operating procedures for a particular piece of equipment. eLearning offers more of a high-level overview of a machine or product family for familiarisation. It also offers the added benefit of the operator being able to learn at their own pace at a convenient time. In the case of Caterpillar eLearning programs, each unit takes about an hour to complete and ends with a unit knowledge self-check and an overall final examination at the end of the full program.
One eLearning example offered by Caterpillar covers Cat D9 through D11 large mining dozers. The training module is developed for beginning operators, technicians, equipment owners and others who have a desire to learn about Cat machine operating basics. The presented materials are intended to give end users basic knowledge on safety, maintenance, pre-operating procedures and operating procedures.
The latest simulators can provide a safe and economical way for new operators to gain an understanding of machine controls and learn proper operating procedures. For experienced operators, they offer the benefit of refining skills to increase production levels. Developers of simulators strive to make the virtual world experience as real and effective as possible.
Caterpillar:“ Simulator developers work hard to make the virtual world experience as real and effective as possible. Yet not all simulators are created equally. Some developers use generic machine controls for training operators on multiple pieces of equipment, which can leave a significant gap between the learned virtual experience and actual machine control when getting in the seat of the machine.”
To provide training value, Caterpillar offers its simulator training developers – Simformotion and ThoroughTec – access to actual machine controls and technology and licenses its intellectual property for simulator development. When operators are trained on the same controls they use when they get in the seat of the machine, it can create a more realistic experience than those being trained on generic controls.
Recent trends with simulation are to have multiple people working together with collaborative simulators to increase the value of virtual training. When a trainee begins to interact with another human being, the experience can be totally different, as the shovel might not be perfectly positioned, or the truck might not be staged in the right spot. Cat Simulators recently announced its first mine-related collaborative worksite training package, using the Cat 6060 hydraulic mining shovel and 793 truck to add this level of human interaction to the load / haul cycle.
Other available simulator designs include high-fidelity, built-to-spec replicas of the environment in which the trainee will operate. These mining simulators feature realistic reproductions of the actual mining equipment, where the instruments and controls look, feel and are positioned as they are in the mining vehicle. Details down to a virtual representation of the company’ s mine site offer the trainee a more realistic, site-specific feel for operating site, plus it gives the miner an opportunity to customise and introduce safety scenarios for dedicated training purposes.
But the OEM also says that while a range of online and virtual training opportunities to advance the operator’ s skill level, nothing can completely replace customised, inperson training.“ Actual‘ seat time’ can allow operators to put into practice everything that they have learned via other training methods and to improve the skill set, so they can get the most productivity and availability from the machine.
Caterpillar offers a variety of on-site and‘ at-the-factory’ in-person training experiences, such as sessions conducted at the Caterpillar Demonstration & Learning Centers. This may be performed by the dealer or directly by the equipment manufacturer. If conducted by the dealer, these dealer representatives will have received significant training and certification by the manufacturer, so they can take the training lead.
Cat ETS assists customers with identifying the type of training required and customising it to fit the specific need. For example, these areas could include improving the production environment, focusing on maintenance items, identifying and addressing fault codes, among others. Training classes are segmented into three different levels: Level 1 – introductory training for new operators; Level 2 – finetune operating skills to increase productivity and safety; and Level 3 – advanced certification of operators and trainers.
Normet’ s new Charmec Revo sim solution
The latest simulator-based training solution from global mining utility vehicles leader Normet is a Normet VR Simulator for the Charmec Revo. Launched in 2023, Charmec Revo is an explosives charging unit already widely tested and trialled in mining. It improves operator safety by removing the operator from the high exposure area. A remote-controlled semi-automated robotic arm places the initiating system into the borehole and in conjunction with the Normet ECM emulsion charging module kit, dispenses emulsion, allowing the operator to remain and work in a supported tunnel area.
So why was this machine next on the list of Normet VR Simulators? Normet has been offering sims as far back as 2012, but to date the main focus for its sims-based training has been concrete spraying- specifically for its Spraymec units, with a solution for its Scamec scaling units added more recently.
Anssi Mykkanen, Director- Charging and Lifting & Installation Product Lines at Normet told IM:” Historically, explosive charging units have used a basket boom design, meaning a mobile elevating work platform is used for lifting the blasting operator to the workface or a stope to work manually. Charmec Revo allowed us to move beyond that, but because it is such a big change- from entirely manual charging to charging with a robotic arm- we also wanted to be
32 International Mining | NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2025