Simulation Training Closes the Skills Gap
CM Labs as mentioned in T&D World:
Traditional on-the-job training methods can sometimes lack standardization and rely heavily on the transfer of tribal knowledge. Simulators, by contrast, offer a structured learning environment.
The executive team at ElectriCom has worked on enhancing the company’s operator training program, making changes that bolstered one-on-one coaching, shortened learning curves, kept productivity high, and improved safety.
Based in Paoli, Indianna, ElectriCom is a full-service utility solutions and maintenance company that works on projects of all sizes and levels of complexity—from connecting communities to broadband to reducing service outages. The company employs almost 500 people, with roughly 300 of those employees working in an operations capacity and nearly 200 operating construction equipment such as excavators, digger derricks, skid steers and backhoes.
Enhancing training while shortening learning curves isn’t an easy feat—but it is one that is becoming increasingly important as companies navigate the labor shortage. Fortunately, the company was able to do so, all while keeping productivity high and enhancing safety. It was even able to upgrade its recruitment strategy and lower its training costs, too.
How was ElectriCom able to achieve these outcomes? The answer lies in simulation training. Over the last few decades, advancements in computer processing and simulation technology have made simulations incredibly detailed and realistic.
Some simulation training solutions are even able to accurately recreate how cables swing in the wind, how equipment behaves as it tips, and how dirt clumps, spreads and moves. CM Labs engineers each of these sensations with such precision that veteran operators have reported that they can operate a simulated machine relying on nothing more than the sounds and vibrations from the controls and seat.
For early adopters, simulation training is an addition that is proving to be a game changer for the utility industry. While ElectriCom’s adoption of simulation training began as an effort to enhance its training program for excavator, digger derrick, and other heavy equipment, it quickly became a cornerstone of its workforce development strategy.
Training Efficiency and Effectiveness
Today, when a new operator starts their training at ElectriCom, they begin with a classroom Q&A session and written test.
After passing the test, they move on to a simulator for several hours of initial training, the operator becomes familiar with the controls and how the machine behaves. They receive feedback from their instructor—who has access to detailed metrics on their performance in real time—then proceed to real equipment to finish the last of their training.
“It’s a standardized approach that means every operator gets the same instruction,” said Steve Putt, the VP of Human Resources at ElectriCom. “They’re evaluated with the same objective metrics, they complete the same exercises, and they all get individualized feedback and instruction to correct mistakes.”
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We encourage you to read the full article discussing ElectriCom’s implementation of simulation in their processes in T&D World’s June 2025 Magazine, p32-p37.
