Somero Enterprises, a manufacturer of laser-guided heavy construction equipment used to smooth and perfect poured concrete surfaces such as industrial floors and parking lots.
Somero’s customers operate in a high-stakes environment. A heavy equipment operator who makes a mistake while learning a new machine risks injury, expensive damage, and downtime the project can’t afford.
At Somero’s Concrete Institute, VR training supplements hands-on instruction to give operators safe, repeatable practice in high-risk scenarios before they ever touch an actual machine.
No training video or slide presentation can develop the muscle memory of what it feels like to operate the machine correctly; VR training lets operators feel their mistakes, then fix them, in a risk-free environment.
When the Cost of Failure is High, VR Training Lowers the Risk
Experience is the best teacher. But while mistakes are a great way to learn, they’re also expensive—and dangerous.
For example, Somero’s 10-ton construction vehicles are transported around the country on flatbed trailers. A slight error while driving the machine up the loading ramp could send it off the edge, risking property damage and personal injury.
Somero and its VR content partner, ForgeFX, lowered the risk by developing a VR module for operators to practice driving the machine onto the trailer over and over again.
“Failure is phenomenal in training. You can’t excel at something unless you try and fail,” explained Greg Meyers, CEO at ForgeFX. “In the real world, you can’t let someone drive off the edge of a trailer to learn spatial awareness. With VR, you can.”
The construction trades tend to attract workers who are hands-on learners. For these learners, virtual reality is the perfect complement to traditional video and classroom training. It lets them learn by doing without the risk of expensive failure.
At Somero’s training center for the concrete trades, VR training modules let students make the most of classroom downtime. While one student works one-on-one with the instructor, the rest can practice in a virtual environment.
By the time each student has their turn one on one, they have a sense of what it’s like to complete the task and what challenges they might encounter. They come to instructors with more thoughtful questions and learn new skills more deeply.
VR has enabled scalability of training as well as letting us leverage downtime. People really come out of it with a deeper understanding.
Dave Raasakka
Senior Vice President of Global Support | Somero
After laying and smoothing virtual concrete over and over again, students have the muscle memory and experience to make fewer mistakes when they practice on real concrete. That reduces the amount of training material the center goes through.
VR Training is Not a Video Game
To introduce virtual reality to its training methods, Somero partnered with ForgeFX, a content creator with a track record of developing heavy equipment training simulators.
VR designers collected CAD models and worked with Somero’s internal experts to learn all they could about the machines and how they should be operated.
Then they visited actual job sites to discover what challenges operators encounter in the real world.
The goal was to develop training simulations that teach valuable skills and feel as real as possible.
VR training shouldn’t feel like playing a game. It should feel like you’re actually there, having the experience. That’s what’s going to create the deep memory of actually doing it.
Devin Weidinger
Technical Director | ForgeFX
When a Somero trainee slips on a VR headset for the first time, they start by getting to know the machine. They look under the hood, start the ignition, check the tire pressure, and perform other activities to make sure the machine is ready for work.
As the user progresses through the modules, activities become more advanced and more technical.
One of the challenges VR developers face when creating custom simulations like these is deploying them to affordable devices.
Somero uses ArborXR for device management, which enables consumer devices like Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro to behave like enterprise devices.
Somero gets all the security, management, and controls needed for an enterprise-based application, activated on an affordable consumer device.
VR Is a Robust Addition to Traditional Training
At Somero’s Concrete Institute, VR modules complement traditional classroom training. They allow students to work at their own pace and to keep working at difficult concepts until they’ve mastered them.
The system tracks completions, scores, and checklists, so trainers can monitor students’ VR outcomes using the same rigorous standards used for real-world exercises.
The tools provided by ArborXR’s MDM solution enable Somero instructors to view headset usage, see where students are getting stuck, and even remotely view what students are seeing in the headset.
The modules don’t replace traditional training, nor are they busywork to keep students occupied. They’re in-depth explainers and hands-on practice that reinforce what students have learned in measurable ways.
ForgeFX ships regular app updates to Somero’s headsets, so the modules are always up to date and actually keep getting better as the program matures.
You can’t implement VR training effectively if learners have to wait in line to use a device. As you scale, adding more devices and more modules, your MDM becomes increasingly crucial.
It’s nearly impossible to scale without, at a minimum, remote device management and content control.
ArborXR lets us know everyone’s on the right version, everyone’s active, and there’s good data analytics for proof of concept. We can get a feed of what Somero is experiencing and collaborate live.
Devin Weidinger
Technical Director | ForgeFX
The success of its VR training program has Somero planning to expand the number of classes supplemented with VR.
Find that same success with your company training program. By adding immersive learning, you won’t just help your trainees master the concepts they should know; you’ll help them execute with the confidence that only comes from experiencing a situation firsthand.
ArborXR can help you get started today. We’ll guide you through choosing the right hardware, partnering with the right content developer, and deploying a program that keeps you in control.
Get started for free.