 Moored alongside the Huisman quay in Schiedam is the impressive pipe lay vessel ‘Seven Waves’ of Subsea 7. Over here the vessel will be equipped with a 400 mt. Offshore Mast Crane and a 550 mt. Flex-lay system, the biggest of its kind and capabilities for the installation of flexible pipelines in water depths up to 3 km.
In the nearby training institute Huisman Academy, training for the crew of the 'Seven Waves' is ongoing in order to be able to operate these systems. This is being done in close cooperation with “want-to-hoist-for-you”, who are specialized in the staffing of extremely competent personnel and who are fully committed to lifting and hoisting. For trainers and assessors one is welcome to knock at the doors of 12hoist4u as well.
Kevin Milner is one of these experienced trainers – assessors, conducting training, examining and assessing competence for 12hoist4u globally. A great guy with a practical background, based on twenty years' experience in hoisting, onshore as well as offshore. Practical experience and proven competence supplemented by didactic proficiencies and in-depth knowledge of rules and regulations as well as the most widely used best practices in the industry.
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 We meet him as supervisor at the simulator that’s being used for coaching the trainees. "Instructing and making use of a simulator is not new to me, but a simulator as 'state of the art' as this one at the Huisman Academy is something to be very proud of for me as well. The big advantage in practising with this simulator, is that reality can be simulated in an unrivalled way. And in case something is not running to plan the consequences will be without any damage". For some time now, through 12hoist4u, Kevin is working at the Huisman Academy where he is fully incorporated in the core team of personnel of the Academy.
He tells us that he is being put to work globally on a frequent basis through 12hoist4u and he experiences this cooperation as extremely friendly. "12hoist4u has an extensive database with customers to which my knowledge and competences as trainer/assessor align very well. They exactly understand the requirements from their customers with regards to specialized professionals in the world of lifting and hoisting. They are from the vertical transport industry themselves and they are dealing with this industry in a passionate way. Requests from customers are translated into delivering the best candidate, who can be put to work immediately for a short and/or longer period".
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 The training institute of the Huisman Academy is housed in an own building and can accommodate 50 trainees who can make use of three class rooms, multifunctional 3D simulator domes, one of them for cranes and one of them for drilling towers, as well as a simulator debriefing room. Basic, advanced and expert training and courses are being provided for all disciplines related to the equipment that Huisman Equipment is supplying to her customers. In addition, Huisman’s own personnel are being trained here as well by means of internal workshops.
Wim van Wieren, manager of the Huisman Academy: "Our customers come from all over the world, so by consequence the Academy operates on global scale. At the Huisman facilities in China, cranes are being manufactured, but also entire vessels are being delivered. Shortly we shall have a simulator available there as well, resulting in foreign branch offices being important points of support to the Academy that has a huge potential growth. We are also a vital part of our after-sales department, where trainings are being sold and who receive regular requests from customers to train the new crew of a vessel. Add to this the internal education for managers and team building sessions and you have a full portfolio of available trainings. Due to the international character of our company we are developing new ways to be able to conduct lessons at a distance. One should think of streaming images to our new facilities in Brazil for example”.
The Academy is tasked to train operators in all procedures and operating the new equipment on board in the safest possible way.
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 According Wim van Wieren 12hoist4u is playing an important role by supplying personnel with the right background and competences on a regular base. "For me the best trainer is someone with an extensive field-experience, who in addition understands what it is to educate and train people. I prefer a guy who exactly knows how operations is working, so to say “talks the talk of the customer”, over someone coming from High School, never touched a joystick of a crane and is not thoroughly aware of what is happening in the field. It is of vital importance to have access to these people if and when they are required. We even have the possibility to select candidates that have matching knowledge and competences that are essential to a specific Huisman project". Wim finishes concluding that these specialists are very hard to find and that 12hoist4u based on their own practical understanding combined with their huge database of candidates are a welcome solution for the Huisman Academy as well as for Huisman Equipment.
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