Smart Iron

The three-day Smart Iron training program was hosted by Diamond Excavators at its property in Townsville.

Hastings Deering’s Smart Iron Training Event helped operators understand new technologies and hone their skills on Cat machines.

 

Cat® machines are renowned for their innovation and efficiency which constantly keep them ahead of competitors. But with technological improvements advancing at a furious rate, sometimes keeping up with the latest developments can be difficult.

Hastings Deering is one of the leading Cat dealers globally, with exclusive distribution rights for the sale of Cat equipment, technology solutions, parts and service in Queensland, the Northern Territory, Papua New Guinea, and the Solomon Islands. When the company organised a three-day Smart Iron Training Program, hosted by Diamond Excavators at its property in Townsville, it drew participants and visitors from both Queensland and the Northern Territory.

A sign at the Smart Iron three day demonstration.
Hastings Deering is one of the leading Cat dealers globally, and the event drew participants and visitors from both Queensland and the Northern Territory. Image: Prime Creative

Education and advancement

Seb Banks, Executive General Manager, Construction Industries, Hastings Deering, was delighted with the success of the Smart Iron Training Program.

“This three-day event was conceived when I was talking with Shane Poole from Diamond Excavators and his wife Kylie last year,” he said. “Shane lives and breathes Caterpillar, and knows we have some of the best technology on the Cat machines. He said it was important to understand and learn about the technology as soon as customers bought the machines, but he also said that after a while, operators can lose some of that knowledge, so it would be really useful if we could run a sort of regular training seminar: get all the operators from the local regions coming in, learn how to again.”

“We flew customers in from Brisbane, from Cairns, and locals from Townsville, giving them an opportunity to try each one of our machines and learn how to use them properly,” Seb explained, “And in the end, although the technology is fantastic, without the people operating machines correctly, running them and making sure they are at full operational capability, the technology is not worth it, right?”

Operating an excavator at the Smart Iron demo in Townsville.
Customers had an opportunity to try Cat machines, learn how to use their technology
to its best advantage, and to refresh their knowledge of Cat equipment in general. Image: Prime Creative

Well done by all

The sessions focused on educating customers on the most advanced equipment in the industry, and tailoring education around theory, demonstration-based training, and machine-based training.

It also included sessions in which participants could demo the machines, test their skills and compete in an operator challenge. At the completion of the training, participants received copies of all training materials, as well as exclusive access to Caterpillar and Hastings Deering product experts.

Ryan Canal, Construction Industries Technology Product manager, Hastings Deering, took Smart Iron Training Program attendees through the updated and latest technology, and was impressed with the turnout at the event.

“It’s such a community effort from everyone here in Townsville. It’s awesome to see the way we’ve managed to pull this together in collaboration with customers,” he said. “We should all be pretty proud of what we’ve done here.”

Operating a dozer at the Smart Iron demonstration in Townsville.
Diamond Excavator’s D5 was used in the training. Image: Prime Creative

To see more of Hastings Deering, log on to hastingsdeering.com.au. To see the Cat range, go to cat.com.

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