SIMULATION
SIMULATION TRAINS EXPERIENCED OPERATORS TOO
Preparing for the worst Another advantage of simulator training is that you can practice scenarios that you hope will never happen. “We can simulate accidents that you would not dare to try out in real life – the crane hitting an obstacle, or the load swinging dangerously close to a wall. We can recreate accidents that have happened in the past. We can create scenarios that train people to face the worst situation, so that if they ever do have to face it in reality they will have the reflexes to know what to do,” Bracchetti explains. And a simulator is exactly that – a simulator. It may be amazingly realistic, but it is not the real thing, and training on a simulator is not the same as training on a real crane. “We always say that no matter how close we can get to it, we can never replace the real-life scenario. Our job is not to replace an instructor; nor is it to replace a real crane. It is a step that you take before you reach the real-life practice.
A simulation using Siemens’ Tecnomatix software
Steffen Banglow is a consultant specialising in simulation and has completed hundreds of projects and customer training sessions. He has worked particularly with Siemens on their Tecnomatix Plant Simulation software – in fact he has written the handbook for it – and leads workshops and conferences on the subject. “It is a software tool can be used to make for crane training simulators,” he says; and such simulators can be as valuable to experienced operators as to novice trainees. “In modern factories, workpieces weighing several tons must be moved with precision. That requires not only sophisticated crane control but also seamless coordination between human operators and machinery. You might have a tandem lift using two or more cranes that must work seamlessly together. Using simulators to practice the lift in advance can help to plan and optimise such complex lifts.” In normal production also simulators have a role. “Simulating the cranes in conjunction with human operators plays a crucial role in optimising workflow efficiency,” he says. “The challenge lies in synchronising crane operations with workers’ tasks in real time. You can integrate a remote control system into the crane simulation model, and so establish a direct interface between the worker and the machine. This allows tracking of how the crane is summoned to its operational position, loaded and transported to the desired location. The worker can precisely position the load using the remote control and then release the crane for the next task. You can model a highly accurate simulation of material flow within your production hall, so you can identify inefficiencies and prevent delays. Given that heavy cranes are not only expensive to procure but also costly to operate, precise planning is essential to minimise idle times and maximise efficiency.” And they can model future crane projects to help planning new factories or additions to existing ones. “A realistic simulation helps to identify bottlenecks. You can determine the optimal number of cranes in advance. You can model a production system that uses two 20t cranes, and compare it to one that uses a single 40t crane; and that can save you expensive over-investment. Engineers often tend to add extra cranes to avoid production delays, but this is frequently unnecessary. A single crane can cost several million dollars, and over dimensioning can severely impact the economic feasibility of an entire project. Simulation helps to accurately assess your real-life requirements and determine the ideal number of cranes to maintain efficiency without creating production bottlenecks.” It can even help in determining building structures. “As well as the number of cranes, the load distribution on the crane runway is a fundamental factor. The structural impact of using two 40t cranes differs significantly from using a single 80t crane. The weights and pressure distributions are very different, and strengthening a building after you have installed a crane on it is very costly. Simulation allows different scenarios to be tested during the planning phase so you can avoid expensive structural modifications later.”
“It is good for you, the trainee, because you spend much more time on it, and become really familiar with it; it is good for the employer because it is reproducible – he knows you will have had exactly the same training, to exactly the same standard as all the other students. And because it is economical – you are not taking his real, working crane out of commission while you do that practice. It is good for safety, because you will have faced emergencies; but even with all that, it is still not a real crane.” One factor that is missing is fear: if you hit a wall on a
simulator, you just press the ‘repeat’ button and try again. If you hit a wall with a real crane, you, the factory and everyone else can be in very real trouble. That is why no student should go straight form a simulator to being let loose alone on a real crane. “After success on a simulator, every trainee should have a supervised period on a real crane before handling it on his own,” says Bracchetti. And, he says, there is one other thing that simulators can never teach you. “When we talk about training, we can train very efficiently for hard skills. But soft skills are another issue.” No crane operator works alone; he is part of a team. There are riggers, fitters, production managers, all kinds of people who do things to the loads that are lifted and moved and who are part of the whole operation. The crane operator must interact with these people. They must communicate, in sensible, meaningful and easily understood ways. The operator must know what those others are about
to do, where they will go, what they will need from the operator and what the operator will need from him. “These are the so-called ‘soft skills’,” says Bracchetti. “Hard skills – knowing which levers will move the crane in which directions and how fast – these are easy to teach. Soft skills – everyone instinctively knowing how the rest of the team will react – are much harder.” It is the difference between 11 brilliant football players who have never played together, and the same 11 playing as a team: it is that difference that wins championships. Training in simulators has a real and growing place.
But there is something about human interactions that remain in their essence human. The human touch cannot be removed entirely, either from work or from training.
26 | April 2026 |
www.hoistmagazine.com
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