VEGA Australia’s training centre equips plant operators with the knowledge to keep bulk material handling efficient, safe and future-ready.
Every construction project depends on bulk materials arriving on time and to specification. Behind that consistency sits a network of instruments monitoring level and pressure. VEGA Australia has built a training centre to teach best practice in selecting, setting up, programming, commissioning and operating those instruments to the highest standards and capability.
The construction supply chain is finely balanced. Concrete plants and bulk handling facilities must deliver material without interruption, and even a minor error in measurement can create costly consequences. An inaccurate reading may waste tonnes of product, hold up equipment or compromise compliance.
“Instrumentation must be accurate and reliable when monitoring and controlling industrial processes to maintain efficiency, minimise waste, ensure product quality, and meet compliance with regulations and safety,” says Greg Randall, senior internal sales and product specialist at VEGA Australia.
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Accuracy depends on knowledge
While instrumentation technology has advanced quickly over the past two decades, the risks of misapplication remain common. Randall has seen those risks play out in batching plants, from poor positioning of instruments to sensors compromised by dust.
“Selecting the wrong instrument for the job, failing to allow for the angle of repose of a pile with radar level, or mounting instruments in unsuitable locations are all common mistakes,” says Randall.
Such errors drive inaccurate batching, downtime and frequent call-outs. VEGA’s training helps prevent them through best-practice installation methods, careful instrument selection and correct setup.
Knowledge gaps are common, even among experienced engineers and commissioning staff. Randall notes they often stem from limited understanding of sensors or difficulty diagnosing faults.
VEGA’s courses address this systematically, moving from fundamentals through to advanced configuration and backup, so participants can operate instruments confidently and resolve errors.
Training that mirrors real operations
To shift learning from theory to practice, VEGA invested in a purpose-built facility in Caringbah, New South Wales. The centre houses live rigs that replicate the operating conditions across a range of applications.
“The facility enables VEGA level and pressure instrumentation to be run in applications simulating real-world environments,” says Randall. “Courses can be tailored to customers’ specific needs.”
A batching plant has different challenges to a quarry, and the training adapts accordingly. By replicating conditions participants will face on site, VEGA ensures the lessons are directly transferable.
Training at VEGA’s centre is designed to mirror the realities of plant operations. Participants work with live instruments, moving through wiring, setup, programming, diagnostics and fault finding, the tasks that determine whether equipment performs reliably on site. They also learn to back up configurations, a discipline that saves time when systems are upgraded or replaced.
Commissioning demands digital fluency as much as mechanical skill. Courses integrate Bluetooth connectivity, the VEGATOOLS App and PACTware, equipping teams to configure and maintain instruments through the platforms that now dominate modern plant operations.
“Bluetooth connectivity has made setting up instrumentation so much easier, but a thorough knowledge of software tools is still a prerequisite for proper setup and diagnostics,” says Randall.
To embed that capability, sessions are capped at four participants, allowing trainers to tailor activities to individual pace and provide genuine hands-on time.
“A small group ensures each individual receives the attention and personalised training they deserve,” says Randall. “It is a better environment both for the trainee to gain hands-on experience and for the trainer to judge competence and tailor activities to suit each person’s pace of learning.”
This approach gives participants skills they can put to work immediately, cutting errors, downtime and uncertainty in facilities that support the construction supply chain.
Just as importantly, it underpins safety: poor installation or faulty instrumentation can overload equipment, eject material, breach compliance or, in extreme cases, trigger hazardous or explosive conditions.
Automation further reduces those risks by removing people from dangerous environments where manual measurements would otherwise be required.
“A proactive approach in helping customers properly implement automation minimises potential risk while enhancing efficiency, reducing downtime and maintaining material quality,” says Randall.
From case studies to future pressures
He highlights a major bulk handling project that shows the impact in practice, where VEGA played an active role in guiding instrument selection, providing installation advice, delivering training and supporting commissioning.
“Throughput improved by more than 25 per cent, and downtime that caused production delays was dramatically reduced,” he says.
This example has similar implications for batching plants and material suppliers. Improved accuracy and fewer breakdowns translate into dependable deliveries, tighter quality control and less wasted material – exactly what construction projects demand from their supply chains.
Those demands will only intensify as wireless monitoring, remote diagnostics and AI-driven optimisation become mainstream.
Randall believes such advances make training indispensable, giving teams the capability to adapt quickly and sustain performance as technology evolves.
“Technological advances are on an exponential upward curve, and investment in training has never been so important,” he says. “We endeavour to partner with our customers, ensuring they have the products, knowledge and skills to keep ahead of this curve, while also allowing us to understand their processes and needs.”
VEGA’s training centre ensures customers get the full potential from their current instruments as well as those planned for installation.