Whitney and Son held educational sessions Feb. 5 and 6 that focused specifically on the proper operation, maintenance and repair of the Metso models LT105 and LT106 portable tracked crushers. A Metso cone crusher school was held Feb. 12 to 15.

During the course of these training sessions, operators, owners and maintenance staff of contractors and aggregate producers who own these machines learned all functions of them from top to bottom, including setup, operation, repairs, cause and effect.

Some aspects of the training were done in a classroom setting using a PowerPoint presentation and then participants were taken to various stations set up throughout the Whitney facility where they were given hands-on training with actual Metso portable jaw crushers.

“We had a similar event two years ago and the response was overwhelming,” said Whitney and Son’s Jason Whitney. “This year, we expanded the school to include Metso cone crushers and a third school where we focused on Deister screens.”

The Deister screening school was held on Feb. 19, 20 and 21.

According to Charlie Jones, general manager of Whitney and Son, “Our goal is to give our customers the opportunity to be well equipped to deal with any situation that may develop in the field on their own whenever possible. The school teaches detailed information about the maintenance and upkeep of the crushers, along with the intricacies of the lubrication and hydraulic systems. We spend a lot of time talking about cause and effect so that the operators understand the limitations of these machines and proper operating procedures, and what will happen if those boundaries are pushed.

“We are very proud of our service people,” Jones added. “We feel strongly that we have the best trained technicians available and one of the things that we stress to our technicians is that we don’t like secrets. To whatever extent possible we want our end users to understand the machines that we sell just as well as our technicians. Our customers have made a major investment in this equipment. Downtime is incredibly expensive, so whenever possible we want our customer to be able to handle any situation that arises, and these schools are the perfect opportunity to achieve our goals.”

Whitney and Son is a family-owned New England company, founded in 1964 as Whitney Associates by Nason Whitney. Whitney and Son currently operates on a five-acre facility in Fitchburg, Mass., that boasts three buildings and 38,000 sq. ft. under roof.

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