Heavy equipment manufacturer Komatsu America Corp. recently hosted more than 30 students from three Atlanta-area colleges and technical schools at the Komatsu America, Cartersville, Ga., customer center training site. Students attended to learn about construction-related jobs, as well as how to operate select Komatsu machines, including bulldozers, excavators, wheel loaders and dump trucks.
As guests of Komatsu America and local distributors Tractor & Equipment, Co.; Linder Industrial Machinery Company; Brandeis Machinery; and Power Equipment Co., students from Chattahoochee Technical College, Reinhardt University and Kennesaw State University learned about a day in the work life of construction and mining employees, as well as current and future job opportunities.
Students also strapped on hardhats, climbed inside 20-foot, 200,000-pound machines, and for an afternoon, received hands-on training and operated state-of-the-art construction equipment.
“It’s so important to do all we can to attract top talent to the industry,” said Tom Suess, director, training and publications for Komatsu America. “Komatsu and our local distributors jumped at the chance to host these students and their school administrators. I think we opened the eyes of some students today about how technologically and globally focused the industry is, and how bright a future they can have if they pursue a career in this field.”
"I had never operated equipment before coming out here," said Chattahoochee Tech student Chandler Firestine. "It's been an awesome experience being able to really get inside one of the machines and see how they work mechanically…..especially being a diesel tech. I would love to come out here again and do it if I could."
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.