Volvo selects Operating Engineers facility at Wadsworth for training

A northern Nevada center that trains skilled heavy equipment operators landed a contract to provide training for the staff of Volvo Construction Equipment North American Inc.

The Operating Engineers Local 3 Joint Apprenticeship Training Center, a joint labor-management training program at Wadsworth east of Reno, will host the training program through this week.

The training program previously was operated in South Carolina.

Greg Smith, administrator of the center, said the two-week training marks an unusual partnership between an apprenticeship program and a national corporation.

Volvo, he said, needs to give its sales and training staff experience on its newest heavy pieces of heavy equipment.

It turned to the Operating Engineers program, which also trains heavy equipment operators and mechanics, to provide training grounds and classrooms.

Apprentices and journeymen in the Operating Engineers local union, meanwhile, will get an early look at technological advances in construction equipment.