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Construction Equipment
VISTA construction equipment instructors / developers possess a minimum of 15 years of experience as heavy equipment operators or instructors. They have the ability to train and coach operators on best practices for most types of heavy equipment - especially those used by Government Agencies.
Mining Heavy Equipment - Worldwide
VISTA mine operations specialists possess extensive experience on most Bucyrus / Marion and P&H 2300, 2800 and 4100 electric shovels as well as blast hole drills, support heavy equipment and dispatch systems. They provide classroom and hands-on heavy equipment operator training / coaching as well as productivity and safety assessments. They have traveled worldwide and can apply valuable knowledge while creating or delivering instruction tailored to your mine site.
Each instructor / developer is assigned to projects relative to their skills and areas of expertise. Click one of the these categories for details.
- ONSITE INSTRUCTORS / DEVELOPERS
- TRAINING PROGRAM DESIGNERS
- PRINCIPAL MANAGERS
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ONSITE INSTRUCTORS / DEVELOPERS
Most mining instructors also have experience on smaller equipment commonly used by Government Agencies. Construction only instructors are identified by #.
Operations Specialist and Trainer
Over 25 years experience in heavy equipment operation – including the cold and snow operations in the mountains of Idaho. Extensive experience in road maintenance and construction. Familiar with most heavy equipment ranging from two-yard front-end loader to fifty-three yard electric shovels. Equipment used includes: motor graders, rubber tired loaders, track loaders, ten wheeler dump trucks, overhead and stinger boom cranes, 35 up to 240 ton haulage trucks, track mount backhoes, all sizes of track dozers up to and including D-10 Caterpillar, and both P&H and Bucyrus-Erie electric shovels.
This team member served as a relief supervisor for a crew of 12 people at Cyprus Thompson Creek for 2 years. Served as an hourly supervisor for Cyprus Bagdad Copper Corporation for nearly 12 years. Has been a dispatch computer (Modular Mining) operator for over 8 of those years. Has been responsible for training haulage operators, equipment operators, shovel operators, and dispatch computer operators. He also completed a 6-month assignment working for VISTA in the Northwest Territories of Canada in a diamond mine.
Operations Specialist and Trainer
This team member has over 30 years of experience in the drilling and mining industry in supervisory or management positions including Mine Manager, Director of Safety, Project Superintendent and Program Management. He has conducted over 2500 hours of classroom instruction as a certified MSHA instructor.
He has extensive drilling experience including the drilling of exploration holes, blast holes, deep water wells and has operated a variety of rotary drills including the Foremost Dual Rotary 2400, IR-T4’s, Speedstar, Drilltek DK 40, IR DM-45’s, Chicago Pneumatic, Bucyrus 49 HR’s and 49 RIII’s, and Sonic Drills.
He has fifteen years of underground mining experience including operation of diesel hydraulic and electric hydraulic jumbo drills such as Atlas Copco, Tamrock and Secoroc, LHD’s, Atlas Copco four wheel drive pneumatic muckers, Eimco track muckers, Gardner Denver jacklegs and buzzies, underground haul trucks including JCI as well as shaft sinking hoist and electric and air slushers.
He is accomplished in all aspects of underground mining including ground control (bolting, grouting and timber), explosives, drill and blast, mucking and has used a variety of mining methods including incline and decline ramping, breast down stopping, end biting, shrink stopping, back stopping, raise mining including alimak and timbered, and long hole mining.
Surface mining experience includes drill and blast, mine reclamation, hazard assessment, environmental assessment and construction. His equipment experience includes blast hole drills, front end loaders including Cat, Terex, Komatsu and John Deere. He is also proficient in the operation of articulating haul trucks including the Moxy 25 ton and the Volvo 35 ton and has operated a variety of track excavators including the Cat 320 and 325 and John Deere models. He has managed surface reclamation projects and is well versed in grades, slopes, compaction and material testing techniques.
Dennis – Trainer and VISTA Sub-Contractor
Dennis has over 15 years experience in mining operations as an equipment operator, trainer, safety coordinator, relief supervisor, and mine planner with Cyprus Minerals and Phelps Dodge Mining in Arizona. He has served in the training department, as well as crew trainer for various equipment including electric shovels. Most recently, he has trained equipment operators at various operations including a landfill in Alaska. Dennis emphasizes productivity and safety in all of his training courses.
Experience on equipment ranges from track dozers, Caterpillar, Komatsu, John Deere, Dresser, D-6 through D-10 size, production and non-production loaders up to Caterpillar 994, P&H 2300 and 4100 electric shovels, Caterpillar motor graders, up to 16G size, haulage and water trucks up to 793 model, track excavators, scrapers, push type and paddle wheel, tire dozers, stinger boom, and forklifts. He also has experience as a dispatch operator for mining operations, using the Modular dispatch system.
# Stan - Trainer and VISTA Subcontractor
Stan has over 15 years of experience in safety training; Stan has worked in several areas of the transportation field ranging from Heavy Equipment to Defensive Driving.
During his tenure with the Canadian Forces, Stan held many safety-training positions. One of his key roles was Mobile Support Equipment Operator and Safety Supervisor. In this capacity, Stan designed courses and evaluation procedures, performed collision investigations, safety audits and patrols, as well as conducted training programs for all heavy vehicles.
Stan recently retired after 24 years of service and worked as an Instructor for the Alberta Safety Council. Utilizing his skill set to its full potential, he worked as a Heavy Equipment Instructor for a local company until he co-founded a training company in Canada.
Stan is currently a member of the Council of Driver Trainers, where he recruits for the Passport to Safety Program and sits on the Collision Review Committee for the Ontario Safety League.
# Wes – Trainer and VISTA Sub-Contractor
Wes brings to VISTA more than 25 years of equipment industry experience. He has served in positions of equipment and snow operations trainer for City of Saskatoon and City of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He is well versed on working in cold weather and Canadian equipment regulations.
Wes has operated many pieces of equipment including Snow Plow Trucks, with front mounted plows and Power Sanders. Snow blowers: self-propelled and front-end loader mounted. Motor Graders: Cat, Deere, Champion, and has finish bladed with all of them. He knows asphalt work, soil stabilization, dust control, maintenance, and snow plowing. He has always done servicing and acquired a very good knowledge of the total machine and the responsibilities of the operator.
Wes is also experienced with Front-End Loaders: Cat, Deere, Case, Samsung. Crawlers: Cat D-7, D-6 high sprocket. Compactors: All types, asphalt and earth types. Steel and rubber. Tractor-hoe: Deere, Case. Sweepers: 3 wheeled Elgin, and the Elgin Eagle. Skid-steers of all types with attachments.
# Tom – Trainer and VISTA Sub-Contractor
Tom brings to VISTA more than 28 years of equipment industry experience. He started as a concrete truck driver in Wisconsin. He spent 16 years as a heavy equipment operator, a EH&S Manager and an operations manager at Waste Management in WI. He is now employed at a local city as a heavy equipment operator and is a seasonal subcontractor to VISTA. Tom has several years of experience operating snow plow and related equipment. Growing up in a family service station, he is also well versed on the mechanical aspects of equipment.
# Gary – Trainer and Regular VISTA Sub-Contractor
Gary brings to VISTA more than 40 years of equipment industry experience. Owning and operating Fargo Excavating Company and Utility Services, Inc. in Fargo, ND, Gary acquired skills related to heavy equipment operation and safety. More recently, Gary has taught heavy equipment programs including backhoe, motor grader, snowplow, track hoe, lowboy and dump truck courses for Central Lakes College in Minnesota. He has also developed customized highway equipment training programs for the Minnesota Department of Transportation.
# Andy – Trainer and VISTA subcontractor
Andy brings to VISTA more than 15 years of equipment operator and training experience. Andy has been an instructor for heavy equipment operators at a local community college. He has experience on most types of equipment and is a very effective instructor (according to our customers).
# Buck – Train the Trainer Instructor and Regular VISTA Sub-Contractor
Buck is a training and development expert specializing in customized training programs along with Train the Trainer curriculum, managerial and team skills delivery. His formal education includes a degree in Adult Learning Methodologies & Experiential Learning from St. Francis Zavier University, and a Business Management degree from Stratton Business College. Buck has also completed degree program work (instructor / developer) at Milwaukee Area Technical College and the University of Wisconsin - Parkside. He is a certified facilitator for various training programs including Zenger Miler, Investment in Excellence, Quality of Work Life, QCI International, and Value Added Selling among others. One recent project involved designing and teaching a 5-day training course to 30 US Fish and Wildlife Service trainers.
Buck’s background includes 20 years of managerial experience in multiple venues including manufacturing, sales & marketing, and information systems. He has designed and delivered training to hundreds of supervisors and managers and scores of high performance teams in a variety of industries.
Additional instructors are available. Contact VISTA for details
TRAINING PROGRAM DESIGNERS
VISTA has several high-skilled and experienced individuals capable of developing and producing high-quality training materials such as videos, instructor kits, evaluation guides and web-enabled training materials. Most of these people have actual experience operating heavy equipment and training others. VISTA has paired them with instructional design talent and enabled them with the latest hardware and software
Developer (Canada)
This team member is a Canadian citizen able to speak French or English. Prior to joining VISTA, he was an equipment and electric shovel operator at Suncor in the Oil Sands region of Alberta Canada. In the 15 years that he was there, he had the opportunity to develop operator training course materials for many types of equipment. His equipment experience: Loader operator (Cat 992 & 998), 777 Cat Haul truck, Side-boom Operator, Forks loader (pipe handler), Small size crawler dozer (D-6 & D7 sizes in Cat and Komatsu), FOREMOST maintenance rig for boom crew and welding work, Cell construction (dyke sand placement), Petroleum Coke handling, Large Haul trucks 830E, Cat 789 and 793, Cat and Komatsu D10 to D11 sizes, Inter-Provincial Journeyman Welder Certificate, Electric Shovel operator, Hoe Configured Hydraulic Shovels, Track excavators, Shovel Utility Operator, Tiger (large rubber tire dozer), Water Wagon -- 777 Converted and Scraper converted. He also held the positions of Shift Safety Representative in the tailings department and AREA Safety Representative in the Mine Operations department.
Developer (USA)
This team member is a Canadian citizen. Prior to joining VISTA, he was an equipment and electric shovel operator at Suncor in the Oil Sands region of Alberta Canada. In the 10 years that he was there, he had the opportunity to operate many types of equipment. His equipment experience: Loader operator (cat 992 & 998), 777 Cat Haul truck, Forks loader (pipe handler), Small size crawler dozer (D-6 & D7 sizes in Cat and Komatsu), Large Haul trucks 830E, CAT 789 and 793, Cat and Komatsu D10 to D11 sizes, Electric Shovel operator, Hoe Configured Hydraulic Shovels, Track excavators, Shovel Utility Operator, Tiger (large rubber tire dozer), Water Wagon -- 777 Converted and Scraper converted.
Developer (Canada)
This team member has 24 years experience in open pit mining including equipment operation, operations supervision, drilling and blasting and crushing and conveying. He worked at BHP’s Island Copper Mine in Port Hardy, British Columbia, Canada. He has experience running Unit Rig and Euclid R170, Cat 793 & 797 and Komatsu HaulPak 830E and 930E haul trucks, Cat D8, D9, D10 and Komatsu 375 & 475 dozers, Marion 204M super front electric shovels and more.
While at OK Tedi Mining Limited (OTML). Western Province, Papua New Guinea, he was responsible for instructing and mentoring a national workforce on safe and productive daily operations. He spent several years as an operations dispatcher at Island Copper. He was also responsible for contractors involved in road maintenance and construction.
He has supervised crews running P&H 2100’s, Marion 191’s, 40 haulage units, 4 Bucyrus 40R rotary blast hole drills, and Krupp semi-mobile crushing plant with associated conveying and stockpiling infrastructure. As a foreman, he was responsible for instructing workers on and supervising the safe and productive operation of a 7,000-ton/hour crushing, conveying and stockpile system.
At Suncor Energy in the oils sands region of Alberta, Canada, he was a member of a training group responsible for monitoring and improving safety and productivity in a large open cut tar sands mining operation. He worked with operators of P&H 4100, Marion 301 and Bucyrus 395 equipment to improve load cycles.
Clayton – Instructional Designer and Trainer
Since 1966, Clay has been committed to performance improvement for individuals. He started with a career teaching vocational and technical subjects in secondary and adult education. He progressed to become an equipment dealership general manager responsible for service technician development and customer service. Training and development experience led him to J.I. Case Corporation as an equipment service technician instructor.
The next fourteen years he was involved in service, sales, product, parts and management training. Special projects included product introductions, dealer meetings, and major national product training events. Prior to early retirement, Clay was training manager and director of training for a specialty products manufacturer.
Most recently, Clay has developed and delivered training to VISTA clients such as Dane County Highway Department, Madison, WI, Kane County Highway Department, St. Charles, IL, Monroe County Highway Department, Sparta, WI and a 10 week program for the Oneida Nation. Typical training courses developed and / or instructed by Clay include snow plowing, backhoe, motor grader, wheel loader and excavator operation and safety.
Graphics and Animation Specialist
This team member has over 8 years experience as a computer graphics designer. He has created various equipment-related graphics that fully explain safety and productivity issues to operators and drivers viewing VISTA programs. He is one of several key VISTA resources who develop training programs that are well received by operators and drivers, leading to a high degree of retained knowledge.
Developer - Training Programs
This team member has over 18 years experience working with computers to develop various programs. Her software skills include: PowerPoint, OPUS PRO XE, Microsoft Excel and Publisher, Adobe Photoshop and more. She has created more than five instructor kits for a major equipment manufacturer. Her talents allow VISTA personnel with equipment experience to graphically convey what they are teaching.
Developer - Training Programs
This team member has over 15 years experience creating CBT’s and developing instructionally designed training programs. Her skills include: OPUS PRO XE, Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop and Premier image and video editing. Her talents allow VISTA personnel with equipment experience to graphically convey what is needed by trainees. She also provides structure to the presentation information so instructors can present information in a logical, organized manner. This helps increases retention.
Developer - Training Programs
This team member has spent her life around heavy equipment and mining. She worked on creation of training programs for Phelps Dodge prior to joining VISTA in 2000. While at VISTA, she has played a key role in creation of eleven instructor kits, 22 self-study CD-Rom’s for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. She has also been directly involved in the creation of training programs for John Deere / Hitachi, Letourneau and CNH (J.I,.Case).
PRINCIPAL MANAGERS and OFFICE PERSONNEL
VISTA instructors and training program designers are led by a team with extensive industry experience.
Bruce K. Rabe – C.E.O.
Bruce brings over 20 years of product management, sales, publishing and general high level management experience with corporations such as J.I. Case Corporation (CNH Global), Jacobsen/Textron, FirePond, Inc. and Cygnus Business Media.
- Public Accounting Examination, Successful Completion, Fall 1993
- MS, Management (Accounting), University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 1992
- MBA, (Marketing), University of Wisconsin – Parkside, Kenosha, WI 1991
- BS, Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL 1979
Rick Longstaff – President
Rick offers 20 years of technical product and project management experience with various companies including AT&T / Ameritech, ARI Network Services and Harbinger Corporation.
- MBA, (Management), Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 1990
- BBA, (Management Computer Systems), University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, WI 1984
Rick was also the primary training program developer for AT&T / SBC / Ameritech’s internal computer network services department. He has designed and delivered numerous training programs on various topics
Larry Johnson – Division Manager- Development
Larry brings to VISTA more than 30 years in the construction equipment and material handling industries with companies such as Ford Motor, Butler Manufacturing and J-STAR Industries.
He has designed and developed products, managed engineering/ product development departments and manufacturing plants, and had prime responsibility for product and workplace safety as well as technical product documentation and instruction.
Prior to joining VISTA Training, Larry developed his own consulting business specializing in product safety and litigation management. His clients have included Sentry Insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance, Liebherr Construction Equipment and Liebherr Concrete Technology.
- MBA (Finance) University of Detroit
- MS Agricultural Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- BS Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison
.Raymond R. Peterson – General Manager
Ray founded VISTA in 1991 upon taking an early retirement from a nearly twenty-five-year career with the construction equipment division of the J.I. Case Company (now known as CNH Global) in Racine, WI.
Almost half of that career involved working in or managing portions of the training department. Multi-media programs, field training, operator training, sales training, outreach self-study programs, interactive video and specialized training for trade show representatives were developed, produced and presented by Ray.
During the five years prior to early retirement, Ray worked in the International Division performing market development and training worldwide. Several USA developed training programs were adapted for offshore applications. These included videos formatted and recorded in other languages and training programs for sales, service and equipment operators in South Africa, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Venezuela, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, the Philippines, Japan, Korea, and China.
Office Manager
She has been with VISTA since 1995 and handles telephone orders, inventory, shipping, training materials reproduction, invoicing and other general office administrative responsibilities.
Onsite Training Coordinator
This team member started her career with VISTA in 2004. She came to VISTA with experience using farm equipment and working at an aggregate mine in Illinois. She specializes in CBT sales and onsite training program coordination.
- BA, International Business and Political Economics, Illinois College, Jacksonville, IL
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