Sullair Opens Virtual Reality and Hands-On Training Center
Compressed air manufacturer Sullair, has opened a new, state-of-the-art training center in Michigan City, Ind. The new facility will offer a larger, hands-on training area; a brand-new virtual reality compressor training room; and a more convenient location.
“We believe this new training facility will help us better support our worldwide distributor network and end users,” said Taylor Patz, training manager at Sullair. “We aim to better equip our distributors and end users to make them successful in their businesses and with Sullair products.”
In addition to the new VR compressor training room, the facility features two fully-loaded classrooms and a hands-on area heavily equipped with Sullair compressors and dryers. By the end of 2017, for the first time the facility will have oil free machines available for training.
“This facility will allow us to offer state-of-the-art training for all aspects of our business,” added Patz. “Students will be able to simulate events that they otherwise would not have been able to, and they can truly work on compressors in a whole new way.”
Using a VR headset and two handheld devices, students will be able to ‘walk’ 360 degrees around a virtual compressor. In addition, students will be able to participate in parts identification exercises to virtually ‘grab’ a compressor component, identify it, and install it on the machine. Cutaways will also allow students to see the insides of a machine while in motion.
The facility will offer two new courses for 2017. The “Advanced Microprocessor and VSD” course will get a new, second course added: “Master VSD.” In addition, a new Stationary Level II course, “Master Stationary,” has been restructured to a largely hands-on format versus lecture-based, a change driven by student feedback.
The Sullair training team will be stationed at the facility full-time, allowing distributors and end users greater accessibility.
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.