Sleipner: Don’t forget the importance of training

Sleipner

“Do not forget the importance of

training, it improves productivity” -by Sleipner Finland Training Manager Karl Marlow

Mines have a strong training culture. They have their own training departments and a single excavator and dump truck operator is put through hundreds of hours of training for their core work as an operator. Training is a continuous process, as site conditions are forever changing, and the skills of existing excavator operators and truck drivers must be maintained and new operators must be trained as necessary. Sleipner supports its customers by teaching them how to operate the equipment and how to integrate Sleipner into their existing production processes, which reduces machine transportation time by up to 85% hence maintaining a longer undercarriage life. “More and more mines are looking to increase their training and keeping their operations as safe as possible. New customers often think at first that Sleipner might be hard to use. Normally, after participating in training and operating Sleipner a few times by themselves, they are quite happy to use it and find that it really is an easy product to use.” When training, Karl says that he likes to have three or four trainers from the site so that they can continue training after Karl has left the site. “Cost is never an issue, as there is always something to gain from training. For example, relocating excavators to a satellite pit could take 24 hours, but with Sleipner it usually only takes a couple of hours or less.” In the future, Sleipner will have the E-Series Simulator for operators to gain training hours on. Without taking equipment out of production or risking damage from using a newbie operator. Safety is the number one goal in training Efficient training with safe working practices is an important goal in Sleipner training, and training will never take precedence over production. Ultimately, however, the most important thing is to make sure that excavator operators and truck drivers understand exactly what safe use entails rather than how they can make or save money with it. “Being a competent person rather than just using the machine ensures that Sleipner is used efficiently and safely. There are significant differences between “More and more mines are looking to increase their training and keeping their operations as safe as possible. New customers often think at first that Sleipner might be hard to use. Normally, after participating in training and operating Sleipner a few times by themselves, they are quite happy to use it and find that it really is an easy product to use.” “The demand for training is growing continuously,” says Training Manager Karl Marlow from the Finnish Sleipner Company, which offers high-quality and efficient solutions to mobilize tracked equipment fleets in mining, quarrying and construction fields.

countries with regard to safety culture. For example, in Australia it takes two to three days just to get to the mine,

“Using Sleipner is not difficult. You will rarely meet a trainer who is able to give an exemplary demonstration in

“Using Sleipner is not difficult. You will rarely meet a trainer who is able to give an exemplary demonstration in practice, but our trainers can also use the products by themselves in practice. It’s rare that we would need to go back to the classroom with operators and drivers after training.”

whereas somewhere else in the world it only takes a few hours.”

Sleipner’s training quickly moves on to real routes The training provided to excavator operators and truck drivers at Sleipner typically lasts two to five days. When the operators, drivers and conditions are good, a few days may be enough. The training starts with a theory portion, after which the trainees take the excavator’s “controls” and start carrying out basic exercises. Afterwards, the trainees practise driving in an easy environment before moving on to actual routes. practice, but our trainers can also use the products by themselves in practice. It’s rare that we would need to go back to the classroom with operators and drivers after training.”

Cultural and weather conditions have a surprisingly low impact The content of Sleipner’s training is partly customized, but the location does not play a particularly large role, regardless of whether you are in Australia, Africa or the Nordic countries. “The mining process is pretty much the same, but the weather varies, which can affect training. For example, in Argentina one mine was located at an elevation of 4,500 meters, where both the human body and the machine are under extreme conditions. Just as breathing is hard, the machines are sometimes operated at the limit of their performance.” There might sometimes be snow and ice but driving in snow is an everyday experience for people in the Nordic countries and Canada, for example. “They just prepare the roads and you have to slow down on ice according to the local conditions.”

Complete solution for moving tracked equipment Sleipner’s E-series is designed for the transportation of excavators in weight classes ranging from 23 to 570 tons. The DB-series is intended for moving large bulldozers, drilling machines and other heavy tracked machines weighing up to 120 tons.

Don’t hesitate to ask the authorized Sleipner dealer nearest to you for more information or contact us directly via our website at www.sleipner.fi. We are happy to provide additional training for the use of Sleipner.