Patrick Terminals Cuts Training Times by up to 66% and Improves Safety With CM Labs’ Simulation Training System
“What we’ve found is that one day in a simulator equates to almost three days out on the machines.”
Paul Burgess, Training Manager, Patrick Terminals
With 350 employees, Patrick Terminals is one of three stevedores servicing the ships and trucks coming in and out of the Port of Melbourne. It is a manual straddle and crane operation handling approximately 1 million TEU per year, making it one of the most productive container terminals in Australia.
By integrating CM Labs’ simulation training system into its training programs, Patrick Terminals experienced several key benefits:
- The ability to train new employees much faster, with one day on the simulator equating to almost two and a half to three days out on the machines
- An easier, more data-driven approach to selecting who to train on crane operations
- A way to set up and train for different scenarios, such as inclement weather, ship rolling, and traffic, difficult or impossible to train for on real equipment
- The opportunity to show new employees the safe way to do things before taking them out on real equipment
For Patrick Terminals, these benefits and the exceptional realism of CM Labs’ simulation training system make it an invaluable resource.
Video Transcript
Patrick Terminals in Melbourne is one of the three stevedores down here. We do about a million TEU per year. We are a manual straddle and crane operation. We service the ships coming in and out of the port of Melbourne, and we service the trucks as well. We’re seen as probably the most productive container terminal in Australia. Basically, we provide a very consistent, high level of service to get the ships in and out on time.
We have 350 employees here. At some point during the year, we will interact with each and every one of them when it comes to training.
“Alright, Sam, this is the sim. On your right joystick, you got your power on, your crane on.”
So, the benefits and the need that the simulator met for us, there were two parts to it. One was training new employees, both in straddle and crane; another key part was to select who was going to get crane training. So prior to the simulator, we would basically just have a bit of a guess of who might be a good crane driver, and there was no data-driven way of determining who was going to be a good crane driver versus who wouldn’t be. The trainers can get very quick feedback, will that person be a good operator or not? They can see that in the simulator. They don’t need to put them in a $2 million piece of equipment to see whether they’re going to be able to drive that or not.
“Open the spread of the 40, and we’re going to be discharging those forties off the deck to start with, mate.”
What we’ve found is that one day in a simulator equates to almost three days, two and a half to three days, out on the machines. So that speeds up the training process and also minimizes the time on putting expensive equipment in the hands of the trainers and trainees. I look for, and the other trainers look for, smoothness and consistent driving. You can get bad habits out of them in the simulator if they’re doing things that are too rushed or something that’s not quite what we think is smooth or safe driving. So it’s easy to see it on the simulator, and no one’s going to be in any trouble, there’s nothing that’s going to actually get damaged or broken.
You can’t always set up a scenario that you want to train them on out on the cranes on the ships, whereas we can set up whatever scenario we like to train them on the simulator, whether it’s the weather, the ship rolling, traffic. And we just find that so beneficial.
“The next one you take, Sammy, is going to be unbalanced, so it’ll probably be heavy on one end and it’ll twist around when you drive with it.”
With CM Labs, with the simulator we’ve got, we were pleasantly surprised at how real it actually felt.
“The swing is very similar, catching it, learning to catch it. The way the spreader acts is very similar to the real crane.”
“Well, I’ve driven the real cranes for 20 odd years, and then I actually jumped in, and drove the CM Labs simulator when it was first installed, and I was blown away at how realistic it actually is.”
“Because I’ve trained in the simulator, it’s definitely given me the confidence to know where all the controls are, and the characteristics of the crane.”
Patrick’s terminology is ‘safe home every day.’ It’s a high-risk environment, so we take safety very, very seriously. What we like about the simulator when it comes to safety is it gives us an opportunity to show a new employee the safe way to do things before we actually take them out on the real equipment. It’s safer for us as a trainer, and it’s safer for them. It’s safer for everybody.
Working with CM Labs, it’s been excellent. [With] the communication back and forward, we do feel that, yeah, we’ve got that partnership with them. They provide additional support. They’ve reached out when there’s options or other things out there that could improve the training we provide. We’re actually considering adding some more modules to it now to see whether they might add some value to us as well.
“I would highly recommend to utilize a simulator for training, verification of competency, and just enhancing the workplace.”
“I feel like it just gets you so far ahead before you even step into the machine.”
“I would definitely recommend it to others who are thinking about getting it and they’re not sure about it. It has made a huge difference in our training. I only wish we’d got it years ago.”