Conduct Your Own Bobcat Training Course

You can set up your own training classes for operators and service technicians using courses developed by Bobcat Company. They are ideal for training new employees in basic safety and operating techniques and for helping experienced operators brush up on their knowledge and techniques. The courses, which review the step-by-step basics of operating Bobcat® equipment and certain attachments, provide a consistent message for all who receive the training.

“These courses are designed to impart rules and practices of safe operation,” says Tom Ihringer, Bobcat product safety manager. “The training emphasizes the point that safe and efficient operation is 100 percent in the hands of the operator.”

Each course features classroom and video instruction plus practical, hands-on operation of the equipment. The kit for each course includes an administrator’s guide, handbook, video and student certificate of completion.

The current list of training kits covers Bobcat loaders (skid-steer, allwheel steer and compact track machines) and excavators, plus VersaHandler® telescopic tool carrier, Toolcat™ 5600 utility work machine, loader backhoe and two attachments—backhoe and planer. The skid-steer loader, Toolcat work machine and excavator training materials are also available in Spanish.

In addition, service safety training kits, which review proper and safe service and maintenance procedures, are available for skid-steer loaders and compact excavators. Rental stores can choose from individual safety videos that cover skidsteer, all-wheel steer and mini track loaders, excavators and loader backhoes.

For more information visit www.Bobcat.com/train. You can order the kits from your local Bobcat dealer or at www.BobcatStore.com.

For many companies, one of the major competitive advantages they have is the brain power of their work force, says Pat Galagan, vice president of the American Society for Training and Development, a 60-year-old international association of workplace learning and performance professionals. “Companies which can innovate and adjust to change faster and anticipate the future better will be more competitive. Those skills are based on learning.”

The need for more knowledge to keep pace with rapid changes in the workplace is driving the demand for more and better employee training programs. “There’s a lot less sheep dipping—requiring all employees to receive certain training whether they need it or not—and a lot more job-specific training,” Galagan says.

An effective training program tends to improve the morale and satisfaction of employees, says Amy Lane. She directs the Office of Corporate and Community Services at the Stark campus of Kent State University in Canton, Ohio, which provides training, professional development and continuing education programs. “There’s a link between satisfied employees and satisfied customers that leads to better financial results for the company,” she says. “Training gives employees the knowledge and skills they need to help the company achieve its goals. It’s almost commonsense. But, unfortunately, not enough companies see the connection.”

By improving job skills, she notes, some employers fear training will result in a worker seeking a better paying job elsewhere. “Sometimes that happens,” Lane admits. “But the alternative is to have untrained employees who are not working at the performance level you expect from them. There’s a direct relationship between the amount you invest in employee training and the payoff.”

Smart investing, she notes, includes selecting the right training, the right training provider and holding employees accountable for what they learn.

“Make sure the training is applied learning and addresses the key components of the employee’s position,” she says. “Then, hold the employee responsible for using the skills learned when back on the job.”