After school I worked as a logger for 15 years before I took this job as an operator trainer. I’ll always be a logger at heart; it’s in my blood. So I know with the price of fuel and the tight profit margins that loggers have, every small improvement in an operator’s technique means more money to the bottom line.
First and foremost, read your machine’s operating and maintenance manual—even if your dealer or manufacturer rep is coming to your site for training. This may seem obvious, but so many operators do not do it. It will give you a head start on training. When I was logging, I used to bring the manual home with me and study it.
A typical manual will cover:
Safety: Safety is number one. Learn to operate the machine in a safe manner and learn its capabilities. Some of this comes with experience, but you need to know the basics. As operators improve they tend to want to operate a machine to its full potential, but you’ve got to understand the limitations of the machine. If you take it past its limitations, that’s when accidents happen.
Controls and instruments: Before training, learn what every button and lever does and the proper way to use them. This can make a huge difference in productivity and fuel economy. For example, you can turn off the lock-up torque converter on a Cat skidder—and there are certain situations where you need it off—but most of the time you want it on because the machine will get better fuel economy, run cooler and go faster. I’ve been called to the field to respond to complaints that the lock-up torque converter wasn’t working, only to find that the operator just had it turned off.
Maintenance: Follow the guidelines. Don’t slack off on daily maintenance. And when you do daily maintenance, often you’ll find something that’s in the early stages that can be fixed fairly cheaply, and you prevent a major breakdown.
I ask the customers I train to set aside the same time every day to do their maintenance. Before I left logging, we had figured out for our crew that the best time to do our daily maintenance was at lunchtime. In the morning the guys want to get started, and if you wait until the end of the shift, they are ready to go home.
Machine computer: More and more machines have computer systems, and with many systems operators can set up the machine exactly the way they like it—faster, slower, smoother, etc. Read how it works so you can dial it in exactly the way you need it to be most productive.
Monitoring: Productivity tools like Cat Product Link are invaluable, especially for the machine owner. Become familiar with all it can do for you. Some people are hesitant because they think it will be hard to learn. If you can turn on your computer, you can learn it. Many customers, reviewing the information for the first time, are shocked at how much idle time a machine has and quickly make changes to fix this.
As an operator becomes more experienced, the machine becomes more efficient, costs go down and productivity goes up. Well-trained, experienced operators also mean minimal downtime due to operator-caused accidents. Get a head start by cracking open your machine’s manual.