38
ACT
JULY 2013
TECHNOLOGY REPORT
LIFT PLANNING SOFTWARE
This isn’t your typical
fitness boot camp.
Attendees at A1A’s
three-day session are
learning the ropes – of
how to use lift planning
software like pros.
Lindsey
Anderson
reports.
Last summer, the company started its
certification classes.
“Many students from our boot camp
started asking if we offered a certificate for
attending,” Weiss says. “We put together
a series of exams that certify the level of
knowledge of 3DLiftPlan.”
Camp basics
Training is started by assigning attendees
a lift plan and only letting them use a
chart book, ruler and protractor to find
the crane and create a lift plan. “This
exercise helps us figure out what their
basic understanding of finding a crane and
creating a lift plan,” Weiss says.
The three-day boot camp covers the
following topics of 3dLiftPlan; on day one
attendees will learn: Basic Lift Planning,
Quick Lift Setup, Crane Search, Basic
Jobsites, Basic Rigging, Custom 3D
Objects, Dimensions and then the Level
1 Certification Exam. The following
day consists of: Advanced Lift Setup,
Custom Loads, Advanced Rigging, Jobsite
Designer, Google Earth Import, CAD
Image Import and the Level 2 Certification
Exam. On the final day of the boot camp
attendees will cover: Crane Mats, Ground
Bearing Pressure, Multi-Crane Lifts, Lift
Video and the Level 3 Certification Exam
(take home).
“Our goal is to help all of our users
maximize their abilities so they can
deliver lift plans that help them land more
business,” Weiss says. “We want to help
our customers create the best and most
accurate lift plans. It is not possible to do
this without having an extensive training
program. We couldn’t do this just over the
phone, through e-mail, through manuals
and videos or through online webinars.
We have found that hands-on, face-to-face
training is best.”
Through the ranks
Recently, a boot camp was held at
Link-Belt Construction Equipment
in Lexington, KY, which partially
sponsored the event. In total there were
46 participants, including attendees from
Sims Crane & Equipment, Huddleston
Crane Service, Rudd Equipment, ALL
Erection & Crane Rental, Central Rent-
a-Crane, Central Contractors, Jim Smith
Contracting, Specialty Crane and Rigging,
Solley Equipment, Magnum Crane,
Landwehr Construction, United Crane
Y
ou won’t find kettle balls or
sprinting drills at Tawnia
Weiss’ boot camp. Instead,
attendees at the A1A Software president’s
three-day course will learn how to create
complicated tandem crane lifts, formulate
critical lift plans and, eventually, make a
video of the lifts they’ve engineered.
“The boot camp teaches attendees how to
utilize every feature of 3D Lift Plan,” Weiss
says. “Along with classroom exercises,
boot camp participants then have to tackle
three certification exams. Students who
successfully pass all three exams become
Certified Experts. Those who successfully
complete the first two exams become
Certified Professionals.”
But A1A’s boot camp didn’t happen
overnight; it was an organic development.
Boot camp beginnings
Florida-based web development and
Lift planning
software company A1A Software first
introduced 3DLiftPlan.com, a lift planning
and crane selection application, in 2008
and shortly after, inquiries rolled in.
“Once we launched 3DLiftPlan.com we
started to field lots of phone calls on how
to use it,” Weiss says. “The more features
we added, the more questions we got.”
As a result, in 2009 the company decided
to start offering weekly online webinars
and continued the service for about a year.
“We noticed that the users who attended
these online webinars were doing better
in most cases than those who didn’t,”
Weiss says. “Though they still struggled
with some of our advanced features, they
were able to create great lift plans using
the basic and intermediate features of
3DLiftPlan.”
A year later, A1A decided to hold its
first boot camp to take its users “to the
next level of understanding,” Weiss says.
More than 40 people showed up at the first
event, which shocked Weiss.
“I was completely stunned and taken
back by the how many people were willing
to give us three days of their time,” Weiss
says. “We learned so much from that first
class and have continually improved our
training with each class we do.”
That following February of 2011, A1A
had another boot camp class in Wisconsin
where 44 people attended. From there,
the company held camps in Houston,
Fernandina Beach, FL and Los Angeles.
ALL Erection & Crane Rental Corp. uses A1A’s 3DLiftPlan
software for planning complicated and challenging lifts.
