Manitowoc has opened a new Crane Care training centre in the city of Santana de Parna?ba, which is located in the metropolitan area of S?o Paulo, a major South American transportation hub. The move will provide easier access to Manitowoc?s training programs for technicians across Latin America.

The new training centre is equipped with modern simulators, which enable trainees to deepen their knowledge on hydraulic, electrical and pneumatic principles; practice troubleshooting procedures; and learn basic lessons on software programming, all with the goal of giving clients quick and efficient service. The use of simulators helps technicians to practice a wide range of actions on the different operational systems found in crane models in use in Latin America, such as EPIC, Canbus and Manitowoc?s own Crane Control System (CCS).

?Since it is not possible to bring the simulators to our customers? facilities, we have to use cranes provided by them on local training classes. But it is not an ideal situation because the owners have to take a crane off the job for use in the training program, and they lose money for everyday that the cranes are not working,? said Keith Opperman, training manager at Manitowoc. ?The new training centre eliminates this cost while removing the risk of damage to the cranes.?

The first classes at the new training centre took place last year, when technicians who work for the Mexican distributor Sitsa had two weeks of intense training on CCS, an operating system present in Manitowoc?s most recent crane models. The trainees learned details of the system and practiced troubleshooting procedures specifically for crawler cranes. Although there are not many cranes in Latin America that use the CCS system yet, this number is starting to increase