GNTC holds two Construction Equipment Field Days - Coosa Valley News

Posted by Staff Reports | Oct 11, 2024 | Gordon News | 0 |

Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC) Construction Management students built on their skills by learning to operate heavy machinery during two Construction Equipment Field Days at GNTC’s Gordon County Campus in Calhoun, Oct. 9-10.

Organized by Donny Holmes, Construction Management program director and instructor, the outdoor training event is the third he has coordinated with representatives from Yancey Bros. Co. The event was held for two days this year to accommodate two separate Construction Management classes. Yancey staff taught students from both classes the basics of the construction equipment.

“We put on this event to give the students experience in operating construction equipment that they would use on a job site,” Holmes said. “Some of the students are just beginning the program, some are midway through and some will graduate in December. All of the students are in the Site Layout, Footings and Foundation class, so this is a good training for them.”

Robby Dale, certified dealer/instructor with Yancey Bros. Co. said he has volunteered all three times for Construction Equipment Field Day to educate and network with students in GNTC’s Construction Management program.

Students rotated between learning to use GNTC’s boom lift, forklift, mini-excavator, skid steer loader and scissor lift. Yancey furnished a second mini-excavator and a second skid steer loader for the event and hosted timed competitions on those two machines.

Dale referred to the mini-excavator and skid steer loader as “the Swiss army knives” of the construction industry. The training event presents an opportunity to get students excited about the field of equipment operation and possibly to attract some future employees for Yancey Bros.

“I work with several operator apprentice programs across the State of Georgia,” Dale said. “Companies are highly interested in finding operators because they are scarce.”

Student Crawford Taylor said he has two years of experience using a mini-excavator when he worked in the fiber optic cable industry in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana and Ohio.

“I hadn’t been on a machine like this in three years,” he said after stepping off the mini-excavator. “It was more difficult than I remember because the controls are very sensitive. I’ve always like using this machinery and wouldn’t mind doing it for a living.”

“I like how high the scissor lift goes up and how smoothly it turns,” student Tyrell Philpots said. “I think it would work better on a job site than taking a ladder up and down and moving it around to reach high places.”

Student Haign Stephens said he was looking forward to familiarizing himself with the equipment because sooner or later he will probably use all of the machinery on job site. He said he has prior experience using a mini-excavator and skid steer loader, but has not used a lift before.

Headquartered in Austell, Ga., Yancey Bros. Co. is recognized as the nation’s oldest Caterpillar dealer. Family owned and operated for more than 100 years, Yancey offers Caterpillar Inc., Weiler Forestry and Paving, Metso Outotec, Blue Bird Bus, plus many other products, parts and services. The company operates 15 machine service centers across Georgia that support sales, parts and service operations.

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