FLUID POWER SAFETY INSTITUTE™ - Student Safety Bulletin

TO: Students enrolled or about to enroll in any fluid power course.

FROM: The Fluid Power Safety Institute™.

SUBJECT: Is your technical school or college suitably qualified to teach you?

Is your technical school or college suitably qualified to teach you? -
Students, choose your school, and more importantly your mentor, wisely!

Is the tail wagging the dog? -
Market research is something manufacturers undertake before committing their design and manufacturing personnel to the extraordinarily expensive task of introducing a new product to the market.

There are untold numbers of "would-be" companies who's founders felt that "imposing" their ideas on the marketplace, i.e., giving the marketplace what they think the market needed rather than asking the market if it would be accepting of the idea, led to their inevitable demise.

This concept is embraced by the goods and services industries. However, the fundamental principles MUST surely apply to education.

Some two decades ago, I joined the advisory committee of a local community college. Of course, my reason was more than just to have a social (free) lunch, time off work, and window dressing for my resume. I wanted the college to introduce a state-of-the-art fluid power training program because there was overwhelming evidence that the industry needed qualified fluid power technicians.

Some two years later, the committee finally ruled, while chomping down another free luncheon, that there was no market for a fluid power program.

Other than myself, I don’t believe that there was a committee member who reached beyond the walls of the canteen to conduct a survey. Much of which could have been conducted from the comfort of a lounge chair - almost every advertisement for people seeking mechanics, in the career section of our local newspaper, specifically stated that "hydraulics experience" was a prerequisite for the job.

Ironically, at least three of the committee members were employed by distributors of a wide variety of construction machinery - they all employed mechanics who had never received formal training in hydraulics!

Mismanaged and hopelessly under-funded - sound like a government institution? -
Some years ago the diesel instructor from a technical college located in the heart of the illustrious mining industry in our state, asked if I would help the college develop a fluid power program for the maintenance personnel working in the various mines in the area.

Why wasn't I surprised when he divulged the school's budget for the new program - a stunning one thousand five hundred dollars! I would have stated the amount in numbers. However, I did not want you to think that I had put the decimal in the wrong place!

The last I heard, he was going to travel around to the various hydraulic rebuild centers, and ask for their scrap parts and pieces. The idea being those students would learn to assemble and disassemble hydraulic components.

Another marketing blunder! How many companies in the U.S. allow their maintenance personnel to troubleshoot, and then overhaul, in-house? Less than 1%? Besides, how is it possible to get a person excited about hydraulics when all they have to learn from are retired military vehicles, obsolete and worn out mobile machinery, and parts and pieces discarded by a component rebuild center - if the latter tosses parts out, they must really be trashed!

I don't believe that there is a technical school or college in this country that has adequate funding and/or resources to produce "qualified" fluid power technicians! I wait enthusiastically to be corrected!

Students beware! Here are some things you MUST know! -

1.	The vast majority, if not all, technical schools and colleges are hopelessly under-funded.
2.	There is no "industry standard" with respect to fluid power training and/or curricula. Your instructor could quite conceivably have been terminated from a burger joint the day before! (with all due respect).
3.	The vast majority of fluid power instructors are unqualified to write and/or teach the subject of fluid power. The net result: students are graduating from schools and colleges without the proper training. Some instructors are so bad that their teaching style is a good substitute for counting sheep.
4.	Students do not have universal study guides. This is the "United States." However, from state to state the standard of fluid power education differs as vastly as languages across European borders!
5.	Machinery and equipment manufacturers are turning classrooms into marketing arenas in which they purposely bias students toward their respective products.
6.	Manufacturing and construction plants have to outsource simple hydraulic troubleshooting jobs because their "trained" personnel cannot do them.
7.	"Qualified" individuals do not have, or know how to use, diagnostic instruments.
8.	Some 65% of the components removed from hydraulic systems are removed unnecessarily due to "diagnosis by exclusion" "troubleshooting" practices.
9.	Even "very well trained and experienced" fluid power "technicians" have no concept of fluid power safety.
10.	The mainstream American maintenance person is generally referred to as a "new parts fitter!"
11.	Fluid power industry governing organizations are certifying "fluid power technicians" - absolutely no previous experience needed. A person can be a fully certified fluid power mobile or industrial technician in the course of 36 to 48 hours!
12.	Machinery and equipment manufacturers are "certifying" maintenance personnel, independently of any fluid power governing body. An aerial lift manufacturer will "certify" in writing (in the form of a card) a person to service, troubleshoot, and repair the hydraulic systems on its entire product line with no more than five hours of hydraulics training.
13.	While there is no end to the number of fluid power learning institutions in the U.S., there is a national shortage of bona-fide fluid power technicians and troubleshooters.
14.	With the total absence of a national, formalized apprenticeship program, profit-minded managers would rather hire semi-skilled personnel, than highly qualified craftsmen and women. Trained personnel have a right to earn wages commensurate with training and experience.
15.	Don't be fooled by the fact that an instructor is "certified." As I mentioned previously, a toothpaste salesperson can become a fully-fledged "certified" instructor in the space of two weeks!
16.	The majority of books and manuals that most schools and colleges recommend are technically incorrect, show unsafe and inaccurate test procedures, and can be written by a person with absolutely no hydraulics experience. In addition, they are generally marketing tools for machinery and component manufacturers.
17.	The majority of fluid power training classrooms are "accident incubators." You will, in all probability, not learn how to service and troubleshoot hydraulic systems/components safely or scientifically.

Needless to say, it is my strong opinion, that the entire fluid power industry lacks direction with regard to education, training, and certification - in other words MARKETING!

To the many people who might be considering a career in this exciting industry, and thus are looking for an educational institution that might be good enough to earn your hard-earned dollars, here are a few tips:

Find out how long the school or college has had its fluid power program.

Find out how long the instructor has been teaching hydraulics, and more importantly what is the instructor's background?

The basis of all craft teachings MUST BE SAFETY! Find out how much safety is covered during the course. Drop in to the institution during a class, and see if the students, and more importantly, the instructor, are wearing safety glasses.
If you see anyone, especially the instructor, working on or around hydraulics without safety glasses, THIS IS NOT THE SCHOOL FOR YOU!

Tour the fluid power training department - if it has any particular manufacturer's logos, flags, banners, etc., adorning the walls, you are going to pay a lot of money to receive what manufacturers should provide free - SALES!

Check the textbooks and manuals VERY CAREFULLY! They MUST be generic (absolutely no product bias), and if there is a troubleshooting manual, check it for any information about exhausting oil to atmosphere for "testing." If there is, you are at the wrong school or college.

Know what field of hydraulics you want to pursue. For example, if you want to engage in a career as a maintenance technician with a heavy emphasis on troubleshooting (an excellent career!); make sure that the school or college, and the instructor are geared toward your interests.

Interview graduates. Ask them if they were satisfied with the institution, and find out if they learned what they needed to know to do their jobs safely and efficiently, rather than what the institution felt they needed to know! This is where the marketing comes into the picture!

Beware of joining a company that promises to send you to "factory" training schools. First, the vast majority of managers and supervisors lack moral and ethical standards, and thus will have no problem with having you "learn" hydraulics by trial and error!
Secondly, the vast majority of machinery and equipment manufacturers "schools" are glorified sales campaigns. Never forget that their business is to manufacture and sell products for profit. Thus, any form of education, other than a management course adjacent to a golf course in Arizona, is deemed a "burden" on the budget - an "intangible" as the corporate money managers put it!

Upon graduation from your school or college, if you were to apply to me for a job as a maintenance technician, I would expect you to be able to do the following:

a.	Implement a comprehensive fluid power safety program for my company.
b.	Practice safety with such resolve that you are revered by your colleagues. You MUST be a fluid power safety team leader who knows how to lead by impeccable and tireless example.
c.	Implement a comprehensive proactive maintenance safety program for my mobile and plant hydraulic systems.
d.	Work in concert with my safety department to compile job safety breakdowns for all my fluid powered equipment and machinery.
e.	Work in concert with my purchasing department to standardize all hydraulic components. Also, develop a filter quality standard so I could achieve zero downtime with my machinery and equipment.
f.	Work in concert with my engineers to develop minimum safety and engineering standards for the machinery and equipment we purchase.
g.	Have and know how to use ALL available fluid power diagnostic instrumentation.
h.	Be able to troubleshoot any and all fluid power components and systems without EVER exhausting hydraulic fluid to atmosphere.
i.	Be able to evaluate all contract employees for appropriate training and certification.
j.	Be able to evaluate all pertinent manufacturers schools for quality and content.
k.	Be able to have constructive dialogue with rebuild facilities about defective components. This includes quality assurance, capability, component failure analysis, component testing, testing machinery, lapping, etc.
l.	Be able to share your strong work ethic and capability with your colleagues.
m.	To be able to read, compile, and draw fluid power schematics.
n.	Execute minor repairs and adjustments on the majority of hydraulic components.
o.	Be thoroughly familiar with beta ratios and cleanliness targets as they relate to ISO 4406.
p.	Be thoroughly familiar with the operation of load-sensing systems, pressure-compensated pumps, and closed-loop systems.
q.	Be thoroughly familiar with proportional and servo operated valves, and their respective circuitry.
r.	Know how to safely lockout any hydraulic system variation.
s.	Be thoroughly familiar with all aspects of hydraulic hose assembly.

The Fluid Power Safety Institute™ wants to help you -
If all else fails, contact us at the Fluid Power Safety Institute™. We will give you a career "plan" outline for whatever field of endeavor you choose to pursue in this, the largest industry in the world, with the least number of "trained" personnel - the fluid power industry!

Finally, we regret to advise you that there is, at this time, no school or college that we are able to fully endorse - for obvious reasons!

NOTE: If you feel that your school or institution, and your instructor(s) would like to be considered for endorsement by the FPSI™, please request an endorsement package from us.

Conclusion -
Needless to say, I am constantly amazed at the number of "certified" and/or "qualified" hydraulic maintenance personnel with whom I come into contact on a daily basis.

I have never met one who met my reasonable standards for fluid power "certification" or "qualification."

Students, when it comes to education and training, the foundation upon which your entire future, your safety, and the well-being of your family is based, accept nothing less than excellence!