The right stuff

If you attend a training class at the Miami Lakes Learning Center, chances are you’ll get to meet Victor Garcia. He’s a senior service training instructor who’s bringing out the expert technician in dealers and customers alike.

It’s a sunny day in February and Victor is showing a visitor from Japan around the training center. It’s a task he clearly enjoys. Passionate and cheerful, Victor is an instructor, a specialist and a natural ambassador for the Learning Center and he’s been known to talk at length about the engines his students train on. Though every course has its own instructor, Victor’s expertise means he’s able to train both dealers and customers from a range of Caterpillar’s business areas – not just Marine but Oil & Gas as well, plus others.

"In fact, without the support from Oil & Gas, the training within the Marine segment wouldn’t have been as successful,” Victor explains.

Students at the Miami Lakes Learning Center benefit from training on real equipment in a controlled environment. The fully operational engines are on wheels, which allows them to be rolled in and out so that students always have exactly the right engine for each lesson. Why the strict attention to detail? Because if there’s one thing Victor and the Learning Center prioritize, it’s results. That’s why the students’ training actually begins long before they arrive at the facility. They must have completed a number of prerequisites at their dealership, such as online and instructor-led training and must have attained a certain amount of field experience, too. Then, as part of their training at the Learning Center, they are given different scenarios to troubleshoot while the instructors look on.

In the near future, Caterpillar will offer training courses on a real boat in Ft. Lauderdale. The boat, which has previously been used for testing new products, is almost ready and will be another welcome addition to the diversity of training courses that the Miami Lakes Learning Center offers. When Victor is asked about the boat he simply answers, “It will be awesome.”

"At Caterpillar, in many ways, it’s our responsibility to train people."