JLG is now offering classes at its expanded customer training center and all-new proving grounds for lift and access equipment at its headquarters in McConnellsburg, Pa. Completed in August, the $2.5 million facility quadruples the size of the company’s original training facility to accommodate more students and machines. A four-acre outdoor proving grounds course provides trainees with a hands-on learning experience to develop driving and operating skills on telehandlers, scissorlifts and boomlifts.
“Whether it’s classes for equipment operators or service technicians, or our Train-the-Trainer program, this new facility will make it easier for students to learn because they’ll have more multimedia resources, more equipment, more space and more comfort,” said Rick Smith, JLG Industries’ senior director of product training. “We’ve expanded the indoor demonstration area to include four bays that feature 30-foot-high ceilings to accommodate as many as four JLG Ultra Booms.”
The additional bays allow JLG to conduct multiple training classes simultaneously in a climate-controlled environment. Live demonstrations are enhanced with multimedia projections on large screens and HD monitors to ensure clear views of the lesson even in large classes.
Customers also have the opportunity to operate JLG equipment on the outdoor proving grounds that recreates working construction jobsites. The grounds feature mixed terrain, structures for placing and picking telehandler loads, and several aerial work platform targets to simulate real-world applications. Participants can maneuver equipment under and around obstacles, including simulated power lines, while moving up and down slopes and grades.
“The proving grounds give students in operator training a chance to take what they’ve learned in the classroom and apply it in a setting that duplicates many of the scenarios they’re likely to encounter on the job,” said Smith. “For example, the simulated power lines help them identify voltage on a power line and determine the minimum safe distance that must be maintained.”
The 17,000-square-foot indoor space includes three classrooms, a coffee/dining area and a meeting space. The newest classroom can accommodate up to 24 people and includes a 20-foot atrium ceiling, large projection screen with dual HD monitors, and an audio/video control panel. An 8-foot door provides access to the bay to move small machines into the classroom. A movable wall opens the classroom to the dining area, making it possible to accommodate up to 80 people. The dining area features additional media and sound equipment.
JLG has also added a lift and access equipment simulator to its group of teaching tools. The simulator uses advanced gamification learning to familiarize operators with the controls and operation of the JLG 800S telescopic boomlift and the G10-55A telehandler, offering three training sessions on each piece of equipment, including controls familiarization and two operation scenarios. Beginner and advanced levels are covered.
“All of the controls work just like those on a boomlift or telehandler,” said Smith. “Two joysticks allow an operator to maneuver height and reach, and also drive the machines. Everything is to scale and the module offers two views; one from the operator’s perspective and a second external side view of the equipment. The simulator helps reduce the learning curve when a user first operates a piece of equipment, as it replicates working with an actual machine on an actual jobsite.”