Israel Tractors & Equipment (ITE), the Caterpillar dealership in Israel, and Ruppin Technical College have launched the National Center for Training in the fields of Earthmoving.

The joint venture has begun with the training of earthmoving equipment operators to receive their operator's license from the Ministry of Transportation.

ITE is the Israeli representative for the American corporation Caterpillar, the world leader in the manufacture of heavy construction equipment.  Ruppin Technical College is one of the outstanding colleges in the country with more than six decades of experience in professional education. Together they have opened the National Center for Training in the fields of Earthmoving beginning with courses for earthmoving equipment operators.  These will soon be followed with service technician training in mechanics, hydraulics and electronics.  In addition courses will be opened in heavy equipment maintenance, drilling equipment operation and maintenance, earth moving construction site management and more.

The training center was created to address the acute shortage of trained and experienced man power and the lack of any educational institute in Israel in the field of earthmoving for the past 6 years.  In additional there have been tremendous technological advances to earthmoving equipment which require in depth training for the safe and profitable operation, maintenance and repair of this vast array of equipment.

As part of the training, which will be held at the Ruppin Technical College, the students will able to operate various current models of Caterpillar equipment in the specially created training area adjacent to the college as well as study and work on machine components in the modern classrooms and shop facilities. The training will utilize course material based on the Caterpillar worldwide training program and exclusively adapted to meet the needs of Israeli students.  The courses will be given by instructors who have both extensive training experience as well as being experts in the field of earthmoving equipment operation and maintenance.

The operator course currently being held is a 3 day course, 10 hours of classroom study and 24 hours of "hands on" operation including the use of state of the art Caterpillar machine simulators.  The subjects taught include, transportation laws, proper operation of various types of equipment, safety and profitability in machine operation and operator level maintenance.

Tami Zuckerman, Ruppin Technical College CEO, says about the joint venture:  "The Ruppin Technical College sees working with the leading companies in the Israeli economy as a strategic goal.  The project with Zoko Enterprises (ITE) is additional layer of joint cooperation that will contribute, not only to the students, but also the Israeli economy as a whole, which is in dire need of trained professionals in this field".

Tamir Shimoni, Israel Tractors & Equipment deputy CEO for Infrastructure is happy about the joint effort and says, "ITE, Israel Tractors & Equipment, believes that an earthmoving training center is a significant and integral part of the total support we give our customers.  ITE will invest all the needed effort and resources in advanced Caterpillar equipment and the highest quality training."