Jerr-Dan formally inaugurated its renovated training facility and updated heavy-duty rotator training program in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Oshkosh Corp. company reported.
Featuring an outdoor hands-on training yard next door to a spacious, modern classroom facility, Jerr-Dan’s new training center hosted 25 industry veterans in the 2022 October class. Many of the students had attended earlier versions of the class in previous years and others had only recently ordered their first Jerr-Dan rotator.
This particular class consisted of advanced-level training for experienced operators. Six trainers, including two from Jerr-Dan’s engineering department, led the classes. Classroom instruction included an emphasis on “the math,” to quote the attendees’ comments in post-training interviews.
“I've taught hundreds of operators in my career,” said one participant. “But I like how this class brought us all back to ‘the math,’ which is fundamental to proper rigging.”
The classroom training included intensive sessions, accompanied by practice worksheets, that covered how to calculate sling stress, tension factors, angle factors, and much more. Training was also provided in the use of Jerr-Dan’s new Tow Link app, which streamlines the process with a rigging calculator and a tow performance calculator.
Another attendee commented on the helpful combination of making the calculations in the classroom and then going outside to the training yard to see those calculations applied in a real-world setting.
According to Jerr-Dan’s Richard Guttmann, Jerr-Dan’s lead instructor in the training program, feedback received from the industry veterans attending the Q4 class will definitely lead to even more improvements in the curriculum to be used in future classes.
Regular classes will be held beginning in May.