Whether you are a full- or part-time resident—or here on vacation—heavy equipment is directly or indirectly responsible for everything our region offers.
The term describes machinery used for construction, mining, farming and more. Heavy equipment also comes in various shapes and sizes, each with a specific purpose. Some are familiar—especially to imaginative youngsters with a strong desire to build things—and some are not.
In addition to child favorites such as bulldozers and dump trucks, there are excavators, loaders, backhoes, compactors, motor graders, scrapers and cold planers used to dig, load, transport, compress, flatten, level, haul and/or mill.
The primary heavy equipment used in agriculture—a considerable part of Florida’s economy—is our good friend, the tractor.
Once fitted with various attachments such as plows, harrows, seed drills, fertilizer spreaders, mowers, and balers, tractors can perform different tasks like soil preparation, planting, harvesting, and hay baling, depending on the attachment.
Consider this: Heavy equipment helped create the road that takes you to your favorite restaurant, just as it helped build the eatery’s physical structure before harvesting the crops you’re about to eat.
And who maintains these impressive machines so they can continue to impact almost every aspect of life in Southwest Florida?
The answer: Heavy Equipment Service Technicians.
Though the majority of our students pursue a four-year college degree after high school, our commitment to education comes with the understanding that not all well-paying jobs require this step.
The Immokalee Foundation has been instrumental in developing and funding a two-year Heavy Equipment Service Technician (HEST) training program, a collaboration with Immokalee Technical College.
“It’s heavy equipment that delivers water, power and food,” explained Don Fites, HEST program champion and retired chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, Inc. “All the things that we take for granted require heavy equipment to deliver and produce them and make it possible for the sort of lifestyle that we have. Florida, especially Southwest Florida, is also in a significant building boom. People want to live here and all the housing you see would be impossible without heavy equipment.”
Through classroom training and internships, HEST students receive practical experience in engine operation, rebuilding diesel engines, hydraulic system testing, heavy equipment fleet maintenance, and rebuilding transmissions.
They also learn specialized skills in electronics, including the use of manufacturers’ diagnostic tools.
“One of the biggest challenges facing the construction and agriculture industry is the lack of skilled technicians that can work on machinery,” said Katherine Kelly of Kelly Tractor. “The HEST program is helping young people make a living wage while meeting the needs of our ability to build roads/infrastructure and harvest crops, which benefits society as a whole.”
HEST Program graduates are equipped with industry and state certifications such as Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) exams in diesel engines, brakes, electrical and preventive maintenance and inspection.
Kelly, who has long championed the Foundation’s impact, continued, “The Immokalee Foundation’s mission aligns very well with our business and community goals as we believe education is the key to making our community a better place for all and helping develop young people to meet the future needs of our industry.”
…and the needs of a community we share with the world.
