CM Labs’ port equipment simulators provide significant training value all over the world. Port terminal training managers are relying on this proven technology to deliver an immersive learning environment and operator skills that transfer to the real equipment.
In fact, data suggests that time to competency has been improved by as much as 33% using Vortex simulators, while the rate of successful operator training increases by over 150%.
However, coupling CM Labs’ award-winning training solutions with the Instructor Operating Station (IOS) gives you an even more powerful solution for managing all aspects of your training, while facilitating any new physical distancing requirements you may have to implement.
While the IOS can be set up across the room from the simulator, or in another room altogether, it’s embedded with features that allow you to manage training safely and remotely, from end to end, regardless of its location.
At its base level, the IOS serves as a launcher for instructors to select exercises, start them, and monitor trainee progress in real time. Navigation tools allow you to “fly through” the simulated environment to inspect training activity from different perspectives.
On the monitoring side, operating and machine metrics are captured and displayed graphically in real time, with the option for you to select indicators of interest (such as pendulum time, outrigger ground pressure, boom tip camera use, and more).
Real-time reporting tools such as the container path trace system and the hook block map allow you to guide operators toward more efficient and productive approaches, before inefficiencies or risky operating behaviour become habits.
Training is most efficient — and effective — when it is geared toward individual capabilities and skills. The IOS lets you adapt to different skill levels on the fly, with a number of options for creating challenging conditions (such as night-time operations, inclement weather conditions, twist lock failures, cable snags …).
In addition, the IOS tracks machine and performance data out of the box, such as number of collisions, cable slack, unsafe operations, aggressive landings, moves per hour, and more.
These key performance metrics are rolled up into a single score that appears on the simulator screen at the end of a training session, on any reports you generate after training, and in the student database.
This scoring system is innovative in that it can be customised to prioritise different aspects of an operator’s training.
For example, if you place a higher priority on safety you can adjust your scoring system to reflect this. In addition, you can develop exercises that specifically focus on these aspects, using the Exercise Builder, which effectively gives you an unlimited number of exercises for your simulator.
The reports generated by the IOS serve as a basis for feedback and discussion with operators following their training sessions. With visual and quantitative indicators, they are both comprehensive and easy to understand – which is critical for new operators who need to understand this feedback in order to prepare for next training sessions.
With information including exercise objectives, scoring, metrics collected by the IOS, and graphs, these reports are also important communication tools within the port terminal organisation for tracking the effectiveness of your training programs, and providing indicators for both training and trainee improvement.
With the IOS, you can add any solution from CM Labs’ suite of training tools, at any time and with no impact on the physical footprint of your training solution.
This includes CM Labs’ full catalogue of port terminal training solutions, including STS Cranes (both manual and remotely operated), Mobile Harbour Crane, Ship Pedestal Crane, Internal Transfer Vehicle, Forklift, RTG Crane, Straddle Carrier, Reach Stacker, and Empty Container Handler. It also includes heavy equipment, including Mobile Crane, Boom Truck Crane, Dozer, Excavator, and more.
All new trainees can be added and managed via the student database, and the Commissioning Page that’s built into the IOS also allows you to adjust simulated equipment to account for any variability in your equipment, including joystick deadbands, flipper behaviour, and hoisting, luffing, and travel speeds.
