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In This Issue

2023 Cat® Simulators Student Showdown Champions. McConnell Dowell Employees Experience New Safety Program. New SimU Campus™ Contains More Features & Benefits! Coming Soon – SimScholars™ Curriculum Updates. Send Us a Video! And We’ll Send You a Cat Simulators Gift!

And the Winners of the 2023 Cat® Simulators Student Showdown are…!!!

Congratulations to the 2023 Cat® Simulators Student Showdown champions – Advanced Construction Excavator Champion Landon Scott and Advanced Dozer Champion Cooper Sunday!

In September, Cat Simulators invited schools and colleges across the U.S. to participate in the 2023 Cat Simulators Student Showdown from November 1 to December 8.  Students who were enrolled in heavy equipment operator (HEO) programs competed virtually on either their school/college’s Cat Simulators Advanced Construction Excavator or Advanced Dozer systems and showed the Cat Simulators team their skills and talent by completing several tasks, including dozing the word “CAT” and digging a smiley face. Read the full article here.

Left - Advanced Construction Excavator Champion - Landon Scott, Jones County High School
Right - Advanced Dozer Champion - Cooper Sunday, Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy

McConnell Dowell Employees Experience New Safety Program

In 2020, despite implementing industry best practices such as exclusion zones, barriers, spotters, reversing cameras, and training, there were still 194 fatal accidents and 120,000 serious injuries reported in Australian workplaces. These statistics have remained mostly unchanged for the past two decades.

McConnell Dowell, an Australia-based company, wanted to change its statistics by creating an innovative training program using Cat® Simulators SimLite Systems with VR with the goal of helping prevent incidents and fatalities among its more than 3,000 employees and 15,000 subcontractors.

“What we found on our projects is that some employees and contractors lacked the understanding of plant (heavy equipment) and their blind spots,” said Greg Evangelakos, McConnell Dowell’s Australian Health and Safety Manager.

The program is working according to Evangelakos who concluded, “We are seeing a positive change using the simulator to change behaviors. That’s really evident. We’ve put close to 500 participants through the program, which lasts for 10 to 15 minutes but has a long-lasting impact on their respect for the plant and the operator. It does work.” Read the full article here

Contact us to find out how you can add Cat Simulators systems to your training program.

New SimU Campus™ Contains More Features & Benefits!

SimU Campus™, the built-in reporting software found in each Cat® Simulator is now more powerful than ever. The system contains the same important metrics/benchmarks but categorizes them by Safety, Production and Maintenance. Instructors can easily track learner progress with a customizable dashboard.

Reports show safety, maintenance and production scores as well as calling out important metrics that the learner passed or failed. Record and report the results of simulation sessions and track learner progress throughout the training program.

  • Add Users
  • Import Data
  • Manage Classes via a Set-up Wizard
  • See Class Detail
  • Save Practice & Exam Reports to a Database
  • Drag & Drop Set-up Options
  • Coming Soon: Beginner Metrics

The new version offers much more functionality and an easy-to-use format. Download the new version at https://support.catsimulators.com/.

Coming Soon!

The SimScholars™ curriculum team has been working hard to create an even better experience for instructors and learners! The new Learning Management System (LMS) format includes more interactivity, simple functionality and user-friendly features. In addition, it now includes more videos, graphics and tools for instructors to track learner progress, all in an easy-to-follow format. It still can be accessed online anytime and allows instructors to track learner progress.

The curriculum still features simulator exercise videos, lessons, and quizzes to help learners understand more about the machines, operations and job sites they will be working on in the future. You’ll find some reformatting on the Learner Sim Guides, which will now focus on video, offer operator tips and some other helpful changes. Instructors will still have direct access to a licensed teacher on staff to answer questions and help with integrating curriculum and simulators into your heavy equipment operator programs.

Stay tuned for more detail in the coming weeks when we make the switch to the new format! If you haven’t integrated SimScholars companion curriculum into your heavy equipment program, contact us today to get started using this turnkey solution along with hands-on simulator training.

Send Us a Video! And We’ll Send You a Cat Simulators Gift!

Want a free gift from Cat Simulators? Just send us a 15 to 30-second video of a student or operator using a Cat Simulators system. Choose from a coffee mug, hat, shirt, or mouse pad. Include a brief description and we’ll send you a bonus thank you gift!