Hi, Folks. There is a more or less current thread, "3 things to know to operate", that asked the question, what 3 things do you need to know to operate a machine? Now I'd like to ask each of you to list the qualities you have, or think you have, that make you a good operator, just an operator, or a bad operator. I can think of a quite a few that would contribute to a person's all-round ability as an operator and some of them don't have anything to do with machine handling. I would suggest that you make your lists bearing in mind that, very often, the operator is the 'front man' for the company he represents, the one with whom the client deals directly on the job site. Let's see where this one goes.
Hello, Deas... I won't refer to what I consider my own pluses and minuses with regards to my prowess as an operator, but here are a few qualities I would want to see in a hired man, if I was an employer. A good operator has some degree of natural aptitude for operating machinery. He can "feel" as well as see and hear what is going on under and around him. He is a good communicator. He remembers his instructions, and does not lose sight of the "big picture" of progressing toward a goal. He can interpret grade stakes and is able to calculate basic cuts and fills. He treats his machine as if he were making the payments on it. He has the ability to train a less experienced operator to do his job better. He understands the basic principles of soil compaction and has the skills to achieve it. He understands the importance of proper drainage of a jobsite. He is able to properly choose the most efficient machine to do the job, where possible. He understands the limits and capabilities of the machines he is expected to operate. He knows how to "set up" a work area; for example, loading trucks from a stockpile with an excavator properly. He can coordinate several machines working together. He makes sure he and everybody he works around comes home upright and healthy each day. If something is not working right or feels something is wrong, he'll speak up promptly to whom he answers to or take corrective action. He recognizes his employment is provided by a profit margin. He may not have bid the job, but it's his responsibility to give the maximum results for the resources he is given. He tries to have a good working relationship with everyone he works with, be they the customer, his boss, or a green laborer. He understands basically what his machine constists of, and can perform minor repairs in the field.
Great Thoughts! Welcome to HEF 72V, and that's one heck of a first post.
Welcome to HEF 72V! :drinkup
Well Come Ter HEF. Hi, 72V. Well come ter HEF and Wrenchbender got it dead right. That is a GREAT first post. Thank you. All of the points you listed are things that I too would be looking for in a prospective employee, and that I try to provide in my own work. Now I have a 'rude' question for you - where were you when the earlier thread, "3 things to know to operate", was in its prime? LOL.
Thanks for the warm welcome! You folks have an interesting website here. I look forward to going through all of the old threads as I have time.
Hi there 72V, I am also new to this fourm. Your thoughts on this question are great. These are the things that I have been taught over the years, and the things I try to live by. I just wish some of the young guys on our job that think they are operators could read and understand what you wrote.:usa
Passing on the traditions Hi, Loaderman380. I faintly suspect that 72V would have no objection at all to you copying his list, printing it out, taking it to work and suggesting to some of your workmates that they do a little study on it. Not that that will help much if they are 'full of all the knowledge and wisdom that only the young can possess' but just maybe they won't have completely lost it all by the time they are old enough to realise that they don't know it all. Welcome to the forum.
Thanks Deas, If I thoughtit would help I would print it and hand it out. However I think most of the kids we have around the job either wouldn't or couldn' readit, just like anything the company puts on paper.
back where i come from I'll admit i'm not the "best" operator that ever graced this earth. I grew up working on a dairy farm and alot of the work i do now i more so related to agriculture than construction. but here is my list. I show up on time! everyday! I'm used to working with equipment that i depend on for my livley-hood and i make it a point to treat others equipment with the same care as i would my own since their equipment is their livley-hood! I take my time! do it right and do it once. I understand that alot of people who work construction are "budgeted" to say the least on time. In my younger days i now realize i wasted as more time trying to go fast and " git-er-done" than i did if i took my time and paid attention to the quality job i was doing. I can't tell you how many acres i've had to disk "one more time" because my father said i had to many tracks in it or it rolled to much! I can't say that i have the best hand i cordination because it's not true. and i can't say that i can run a hoe a fluid as my own hand, because i can't. i can't say that i can load the most trucks in a day.or say that i've baled the most hay or chopped the most corn. But what i can say is that i'm proud of the job i did today and to me it's takes more of a man who can put his reputaion on the quality of work he does not the quantity he can screw up. When i interview new people( however seldom it may be) I tell them that i've seen all the crappy operators that can rush and screw things up, i tell them to show me something i haven't seen before. Well i'll get off my soapbox for tonite. that just my two cents.
72V knocked that one out of the park. Don't really know too much to add to what he already said. I have always felt that even if you don't actually own the company or the machines you run you should take care of them and do the work as if it were your own cause in a way it is your business, cause if you don't take care of your equpiment or treat the customers with respect you might be out of a job and making no money. As far as if I were hiring, and I just got hired a few months ago by a large Concrete and aggergrate company(just got bigger only yesterday as well) I am looking for guys that take care of their machines, respect their co-workers and customers, can do numerous jobs and task, don't slack or waste time, and of course actually run the machines they are hired to run. Once again great first post 72V and welcome to HEF. Trbo
72V's 'FIRST' post Hi, Folks. Just so that nobody is under any illusions, 72V also posts some very good stuff on at least one other forum that I know of under another nickname and I won't give either the site or the nickname. To me, that does not lessen the value or quality of his 'first' post here which hit the nail RIGHT 'smatchendabber' on its tiny little head. It simply sets the record straight about 72V's history and qualifications as a poster on machinery forums. And, just in case you are wondering how I know, I didn't pick it either. 72V sent me a private message revealing his identity. Thank you, 72V. Now, let the plot thicken. LOL.
Hi guys, 72V has covered what qualities it takes to be an operator nicely. I have notice a couple of traits that I think good bulldozer operators tend to posses. The first one is that good dozer hands are pretty methodical. They find the best way to do what needs to be done and keep doing it. The other thing I've noticed is that the better dozer hands are kind of perfectionist. If they are pushing, every blade full of dirt counts to them. If doing something else they are very focused on doing it the best they can.
As an owner operator i would have to say i'm fusy about my work as an operator.Being in busniess for myself now for 32 years i have found out that being fusy has paid off because your reputation depend on your quality of work. Faster is not always better and as productive.I've seen guys running their machine as hard as they will go,but still not getting the dirt where it need to be without moving it more them once. By this i mean they push dirt hard and fast ,but when it is said and done they don't have it in the right place.Each push of dirt should have a place to go when your build something.Moving the dirt twice because you didn't get it in the right place the first time is counter produtive. I think you have to be able to visualize what the product has to look like before you start,to make you a better operator.If you know what it needs to look like before hand it is like a puzzle you start by putting the pieces togather and as each is added you start to get the picture and in turn becomes what you visualized . To complete the job after you have the dirt in place is to be able to finish it in the least amount of passes and time to finish the product.You usual get paid by the cubic yards not finishing,but try selling your job to the inspector without it being finished.
Hmmmm... Lets see.... Ok... Common sense... something you see less of today. But without it you make poor and dangerous decisions. Without it you are never efficient. Umm... The ability to see or envision the overall picture or finished product. How does one try to build something when he has no clue as to what he is trying to build? Which leads to... Making every move count. Wasted moves increase cycle times, fuel cost, job cost and so on. Sometimes less is more. That extra couple of yards crammed into a scraper takes another 15 seconds to load, slows the machine down and ends up spilling on the haul road....now those that follow drive over the mess you made. That extra yard into a truck means that most of it spilled off the trailer which now needs to be cleaned off before the driver takes to the road. Besides, he is now 1000lbs over and needs to trim his load. Thanks Mr. Loader driver. That extra yard as you come out of the trench your digging not only slows down your cycle times, it spills all over the pipe layers, buries their grade stakes, and ends up mixing and pushing the grease out of your bucket/stick pins. No wonder they make noise and won't take grease. Every job is different. You just have to feel it out and hopefully your common sense will enable you to do the right thing.
That ALMOST covers it. Hi, Folks. Between the bunch of you, you have covered almost all the qualities that I would have mentioned. The one standout that I can think of at the moment that is so far missing is PATIENCE. I have noticed that the more patient operators tend to do better work and break or wear out less equipment than the less patient ones. They also seem to do less damage to life and/or limb. I think that probably the MOST important quality, especially in today's industrial climate, is safety consciousness, which 72V alluded to in his first post. The main aim of any worker ought to be to do a good day's work and have himself and everybody else on the site go home at the end of the day in at least as good a state of health as when they started the day. On this point, I have to admit that workplaces 20 and 30 years ago were a lot more fun and I'm not altogether sure that many more people got hurt through that fun. I can not recollect either myself or anybody with whom I worked being hurt by any of the fun that was had on the job. That is not to say NO injuries or deaths occurred, simply that I don't remember any such incidents on any jobs where I worked. Having said that, I would also say that there seemed to be a bit more common sense and in-born understanding around in years gone by. Looking back, I suspect that that may have been because a higher percentage of operators came from country backgrounds where common sense and practicality were very desirable qualities. This is not to say that ALL the younger operators are lacking in good qualities but I have noticed that there seems to be less concern with the quality and amount of the work done and more concern with picking up the pay packet. It also took 38 years of my 42 1/2 year (so far) operating career before I saw an excavator operator walk his machine into a thicket of saplings up to about 4" in diameter while slewing the upper around - and around - and around - with the dipper and bucket fully extended. He took out the light on the boom, a hammer hose on the dipper arm, the lower front window and a fair bit of paint, along with a lot of saplings. The contractor to whom the machine was hired phoned the machine owner, told him what was happening and suggested that he get that operator right off the job site immediately. I wonder why? That same operator had an argument with 3 of his co-workers one day. He left the job site, beating the daylights out of the company pick-up that he was driving in the process, and came back an hour later on his own motorcycle. He then offered to run over his 3 co-workers. He still has a job with that same company. Does THAT say something about his employer? This brings up another point that I have noticed many times over the years. A quite good operator who takes good care of his machine and does very good work can take a job with an employer who does not look after his machines - or his operators - as well as perhaps he might and the operator's personal standards will often slip over time. And how many times have you heard such employers complain that their employees don't look after the machines or report faults? Has it ever occurred to them that looking after a machine is a 2-way street? (Well-trained little soapbox now takes itself off and puts itself away in corner until next time.)
Once i get in the seat as an operator i am going to concentrate on everythingy you guys have said. But add. Learn something everyday. And love my job. It's not just a paycheck. -Michael-
On the subject of learning. Hi, Youngone. One of the peculiarities of the operating game is that you will learn something almost every day anyway, especially if you stay awake all shift. I have maintained from very early in my operating career that you can learn from the mugs as well as from the experts. You may not learn how TO do something from the mugs but you can often learn how NOT to do something. On the very first job I had after I left school at age 15, there was a wooden plaque on the farmhouse kitchen wall with a message burned into it. That message has stayed with me for 48 years so far. "Education is man's going forward from cocksure ignorance to thoughtful uncertainty." And here is another saying that I personally made up about 40 some years ago. "If you ever stop learning, you're dead from the neck up". That last line of yours about loving the job and it being not just a paycheck is something that is sadly missing from a lot of people's thinking these days. It was one of two things that was drummed into me right from the start of my operating career. The other thing was, "Always front for duty". O.K., if you have a broken leg, you may be excused but not for anything much less than that. Another aspect of loving your job or, more particularly, loving your work is this line: If the job is worth doing, it's worth doing well. I hope you have a great career.
Thanks your your response Deas. As far as me having a great career i hope to get out of wal-mart and into machines very soon. Gosh i miss them=/ -Michael-
It seems like me and my dozer operator is always getting into some job that has us wondering why us???? We laugh and tell each other it's not just a job it's an adventure:usa
Well if was easy everybody would be doing it!!!
Adventure and challenge and doing it hard. Hi, Construct'O. One of the things that I have always enjoyed about my work has been the challenges and another has been the sense of achievement that results from overcoming those challenges. Still another thing that I have enjoyed has been the fun I've had. I've been a 'kid in a sandpit' for over 40 years now and still haven't 'groan-up'. Sadly, with the current industrial climate and safety regulations being what they are these days, it's getting harder to have fun legally and without getting fired. Hi, Dirt Dogg. "Well, if it was easy, everybody would be doing it." Geez. Thanks for that. I've often wondered why more people didn't get into operating as a means of making a living. It never dawned on me that it was because it was hard. I got into it because I am lazy and I figured that operating was easy. In fact, I'm so lazy they had to give me horsepower and hydraulics to get any work out of me at all. Here is a little story from my past, from a job where I worked about 10 years ago. Quote from a book that I am - slowly - writing: "One day, Gary asked me if he could have a play on my grader (An older Cat 14G.) for the last hour of the day while I ran his excavator. I agreed, we swapped and off he went. When I next saw him at knock-off time, without waiting for me to say anything, he came straight out and said, “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.†I asked, “What are you talking about?†He replied, “I’ve just been working my a** off on that grader. You look as if you just sit up there and let it happen.†" Unquote. I have spent a VERY large part of my working life operating pretty much on auto-pilot while my mind has been busy thinking about all manner of other things. What things? That's a whole 'nuther' story but I have one book completed and another - from which the above story is taken - to show for all that thinking. My point is that operating can't be all that difficult if a mug like me with only a Year 10 education can do it, do it well and have fun doing it. Can it? LOL.
i have always felt that anyone who moves dirt should be made to do a apprenticeship in a dozer for a year or so untill he learns the meaning of moving dirt. we get so many operators who started on trackhoes that just don't know how to move dirt effiecntly. if you make a mistake on an excavator you can just reach out somewhere grab a mouthfull and fill in your mistake, not so in a dozer. dozer hands need to work within the big picture at all times, you just can't undo your mistakes that easy when you are 3-tenths low 40' away.:Banghead any way i like the quotes!:notworthy