Training with Hamm
Always up to date
Product development at Hamm is amazingly fast-paced. Every year, countless new sales variants and compaction solutions are brought onto the market. For many years, Hamm’s extensive training program has been providing those in the construction sector with the knowledge they need to ensure efficient operation and economical maintenance of products, despite the fast rate of innovation. What’s more, the training imparts expertise in new construction methods and building materials, as well as the sustainable operation of the machines. In this regard, Hamm always has its finger on the pulse.
As such, Hamm offers a wide range of training courses for roller drivers, service technicians, workshop employees and construction managers. Parallel to this, Hamm also trains its own workforce, from the Service department through to Machine Sales and Spare Parts Distribution. Hamm develops custom training courses for each target group. The courses immerse participants in the fields of application engineering, operation or machine technology.
Training courses, from the North Cape to Australia
A team of nine Hamm employees takes care of organizing and delivering the training, including putting together the relevant training documents. The training courses are held in the main plant in Tirschenreuth, Germany, and in other branches of the Wirtgen Group and its dealers around the world, as well as on customers’ premises or, alternatively, online.
Explaining dynamic compaction on the rotary vibrator model.
Hugely varied training programs
The portfolio of training courses available is extensive. Many of the courses look at application technology for earthworks and asphalt construction. The entire compaction process is explained in training. This incorporates the basics of compaction in earthworks and asphalt construction on the one hand, and the basics and functional principles of the compaction systems in the machines on the other.
Greater depth is added with a look at the parameters and influential factors of compaction. At the same time, the trainers always share the latest findings and introduce the current trends in road construction and civil engineering. Just as trainers first introduced the topics of compaction of porous asphalts using oscillation or two part paving with InLine Pave years ago when they were new, Hamm trainers today offer insights into the particularities of warm-mix asphalt – a hot topic in construction materials right now.
In terms of the training schedules, Hamm is led by the customer base’s requirements. For instance, in European countries, many courses are held in the winter, when asphalt paving is generally on hiatus due to the weather.
Assistance system and technical training courses
Assistance systems and digital solutions play an increasingly important role in compaction. That’s why Hamm also incorporates compaction assistants, such as Smart Doc and Smart Compact in its courses. These assistants help the whole paving team to document and semi-automate construction processes.
In specialist technical training courses, there is a focus on the different types of machinery and their respective fields of application. After this, the spotlight shifts to parameterizing and calibrating the machines. Training also explores how to correctly service and maintain the roller. In these courses, the participants learn how they can keep their rollers in perfect working condition for many years through effective troubleshooting, servicing and repair, among other things, all of which will ensure a long service life for their machine. After all, certified training is a prerequisite for all machine operators wanting to make sustainable use of their machines.
Understanding the process: From the mixing unit to the asphalt surface course
A modern, process-oriented offering has been growing in popularity for some time: The combination course. This sees Hamm and Vögele join forces to train entire asphalting crews in Tirschenreuth and in Ludwigshafen. In these combination courses, everyone in the crew – whether they operate feeding machines, pavers or rollers – learns which factors affect the quality of an asphalt surface course and how they as a team can achieve the best results.
Teamwork for greater efficiency
This is based on the knowledge that – in the world of construction – neither pavers nor rollers can work alone, only ever as a team. So, when it comes to paving and compaction, everyone joins forces to learn what matters. In practical exercises, operators even swap roles on occasion. This can be a real eye-opener, and builds a sense of understanding for teammates’ different perspectives.
Hamm also runs the same concept together with Wirtgen. In this case, the focus is on cold recycling and soil stabilization. On these courses, the roller operators also find out about the opportunities to use the recyclers or stabilizers from Wirtgen.
Since autumn 2024, there have also been combination courses on offer in partnership with Benninghoven and Vögele looking at warm-mix asphalt. The defined objective of these is to raise quality and efficiency levels in asphalt paving by ensuring a solid understanding of the processes.
Spotlight on paving quality
“From our customer training courses, we know that paving quality is a top priority for customers. And understandably so, since any errors during paving can get very expensive very quickly,” explains Benjamin Seidel, Head of Training at Hamm. That’s why our trainers show participants how to avoid roller errors, as well as how to spot them and correct them.
“From our customer training courses, we know that paving quality is a top priority for customers. And understandably so, since any errors during paving can get very expensive very quickly.”
Benjamin Seidel, Head of Training at Hamm
From the roller driver to the sales team
In previous years, the team has trained around 2,000 people each year. In addition to this, lots more people also benefit from advice on the construction site. The majority of training participants were employees of construction companies – whether apprentices or construction managers. However, construction material testers and auditors also consider the training courses a valuable resource for their own professional development. Within the Wirtgen Group itself, employees working in Service, Sales, Development, Spare Parts Distribution or even trainees are kept up to date by means of specialist training courses. There are also courses especially for new starters in the Wirtgen Group, who may also be invited to complete a training course with Hamm, depending on their role.
Beyond this, there are also cooperations with other professional training establishments and universities, both in Germany and around the world.
Training to become a qualified driver
Participants can even train to become an officially “Certified Construction Machine Driver in Construction” with Hamm, since the Hamm training center is certified as a training school. This training was conceived by ZUMBau, an amalgamation of the best construction trade associations in Germany, and focuses primarily on the safe operation of machines. However, it does also explore topics such as maintenance, inspection, servicing, repair and legal regulations for construction machinery engineering.
Experienced trainers – excellent seminars
Our experts are responsible for delivering the training courses. At Hamm, practical experience matters just as much as technical knowledge. It’s no wonder, therefore, that all our trainers look back on an extensive career prior to becoming trainers, including, for example, as application engineers or company mechanics on numerous construction sites around the world.
Train-the-trainer
To share customer-oriented knowledge around the world, the Wirtgen Group has developed a ‘train-the-trainer’ qualification program. This involves the team in Tirschenreuth regularly training colleagues in the branches to become certified trainers. This ensures new content and new learning methods are always passed on. Customers around the world can therefore be trained on Hamm products in their local area and in their own language.
Training course in the well-appointed facilities of Wirtgen India.
Solid material
All the training material for in-person and online courses is created in-house – in direct communication with the technical teams. To ensure as many participants as possible can be taught in their native language, Hamm produces all training documents in seven languages: German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese. The training sessions themselves, however, are delivered in additional languages, too. In most cases, simultaneous interpreters are brought in to translate into the local language.
Cutting-edge training center
At its Tirschenreuth site, Hamm has opened a modern training center for delivering training courses. The center has seven training rooms for theoretical teaching, all with projectors, touchscreens and flipcharts, and some with air conditioning. There are also two specially designed indoor facilities for practical training, where participants focus on machine technology since there is even space for machinery in these rooms.
Expansive training grounds for hands-on training
For practical exercises on the roller, the team can use the expansive training grounds spanning more than 10,000 m² that even features a rubber track for vibration testing. However, the highlight is undoubtedly the test hill, comprising lots of different gradients. This gives participants an excellent opportunity to practice compacting on slopes of every difficulty level.
On the test hill, featuring inclines from 30 to 60%, participants can practice for a wide range of driving and compacting scenarios.
Covered training hall
To ensure practice opportunities come rain or snow, Hamm has erected its very own roof-covered training hall, measuring more than 2,000 m². It has enough room to recreate various construction site scenarios for realistic practical exercises.
