Hot Mix Asphalt Center Begins Offsite Certification

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Each one of us is aware that things seldom remain the same. The asphalt paving industry is certainly not immune from this, and in the past few years many new tools, specifications, test procedures and a host of other changes have made their way into our industry. Some have been welcomed and the jury is still out on a few others, but one in particular blew in like a dreaded West Texas dust storm – the recession. The downturn in the economy affected us all. If there was a positive side to this, it would be that we learned how to be more creative and resourceful in the stewardship of what is entrusted to us.

All of us have had to cut back, trim and redistribute our budgets. One of the affected areas is our travel budget. There are instances where travel is now more prohibitive whenever the need arises to send employees off for training. We know there are huge benefits that come from proper training, consistent certification and continuing education. All of these things have a positive impact on the quality of our asphalt pavements. Because of this, we strive to serve our members and industry by being dedicated to meeting your needs when it comes to training, certification and education. This is why the Hot Mix Asphalt Center is now offering offsite training for more of our certification programs.

We have been holding the Level 1B Roadway Specialist certification course in all areas of the state for many years, while keeping the other certification programs at our facility in Buda, Texas. Now, beginning in February of 2011, we are offering to come to your facility for SB 101, SB 102 and SB 103 certifications. The idea of providing offsite training is not new. We have been discussing this for some time, but we were not able to see either demand or need until we received a telephone call from a consultant company asking for it. The company called us in October of 2010 and explained that they had several people who needed certifications in our Soils and Base courses, particularly SB 101, SB 102 and SB 103. Because of travel constraints and because of the negative impact of sending 10 people away for a week, they asked if we could come to them.

The logistics of sending five, 10 or 15 people at one time to the Hot Mix Asphalt Center for training and certification can have a negative impact on your travel budget. Plus, the liability alone of having employees on the road is a factor in and of itself. Usually a company needs to allow one day of travel to and from the training facility. Not only does that expose extra risks for mechanical breakdowns and the risk of traffic accidents while on the road, it is also lost revenue by not keeping those employees at home working instead of spending the extra time travelling.

Another consideration is just plain ol' human nature. A person is more comfortable working in a familiar setting than in a strange setting. We see, on many occasions, technicians struggling with certification simply because they are not familiar with our specific setup. Our pans are not in the same place as theirs, nor are our ovens sitting on the same side of the gyratory presses as theirs. It is a fact that laboratories are set up differently, and it takes a while to become accustomed to working in a new place. We all know that one is certainly more comfortable working in a familiar setting than in a non-familiar place. We also know that when you are comfortable in that setting, it is naturally conducive to easier and quicker learning. You cannot place a number on that, but we all have to agree that there is definitely a benefit to having your employees trained and certified in their own laboratory.

It all makes perfect sense. Although there are some minor hurdles to jump before making this successful, with a little planning and foresight there is no reason why this will not work. The largest obstacle, which can easily be overcome, is having the space and equipment available to train everyone who needs to be certified. It is unfeasible to try to move our equipment to an offsite location. Therefore, the company requesting the offsite training has to guarantee that they can provide the lab space, equipment and material to use for training. We simply cannot haul all of the equipment and the hundreds of pounds of soils to various places each time we travel offsite to train.

Another thing that we are not willing to compromise is the integrity of the program. All courses will be taught full-length. There will be no condensed training for any reason. The Hot Mix Asphalt Center has been successfully training technicians since 1993. To date, more than 5,000 QC/QA technicians have received their certifications in Level 1A Plant Specialist, Level 1B Roadway Specialist, Level 2 Mix Design Specialist, SB 101 Properties Specialist, SB 102 Field Specialist, SB 103 Materials Analyst Specialist, SB 201 Strength Specialist and SB 202 Compressive Strength Specialist. We will continue that high level of professional training with all of our classes at the center.

These three soils classes are the first ones to be offered offsite, in addition to being held here in Buda. Once the offsite soils courses are successful, will look at offering our Level 1A Recertification and Level 2 Recertification courses offsite as well. Hopefully, these will be available by late spring to early summer of 2011.

If you are providing Quality Control/Quality Assurance testing for state projects, these certifications are required. Now that the toll ways, pass-throughs and all state and federally funded projects are under TxDOT's umbrella, these types of projects require QC/QA technicians to be certified as well. By offering offsite training, we feel that the Hot Mix Asphalt Center is now better prepared to meet the demand the industry has to certify these new technicians.

If you are in need of certification or would be interested in holding a certification class at your facility, please call Karen Pagitt or Kyle Swaner at the Hot Mix Asphalt Center at 512-312-2099.