New European Training Facility takes shape

Located in the heart of the Norwegian maritime cluster in Aalesund, within the University area of the city, the new Rolls-Royce training centre will occupy over 3,000m² on two floors of a brand new building now nearing completion. It will comprise conference rooms, class rooms and offices.

One of the simulators will be a replica of a bridge with views to match

The new centre enables us to provide customised and tailored training that focuses on the customer’s needs and demands, and also fulfil our own service engineer training needs. Course delegates will be involved in both theoretical and practical aspects, and the range of training simulators will ensure individual working scenarios can be practiced in very realistic conditions.

E-learning packages are also being developed and will be available to customers through the Rolls-Royce learning management system. One room will house a state-of-the-art simulator, a replica of an offshore vessel bridge with 360° field of vision.

It will include a Rolls-Royce winch operating system that can be programmed to simulate all aspects of vessel operation, as well as many more scenarios that would be impossible to train for onboard, for example, a total ship power black-out.

In addition, simulator domes are being installed complete with LCD screens. These small personal domes allow users to train on a number of operations as they can be configured for systems or stand alone operations like subsea, bridge, crane or winch operations. This gives greater flexibility and the opportunity for a large number of users to train at the same time.

Special training examples of equipment will be housed on the ground floor workshop area, including engine sub-assemblies, steering gears, waterjets, thrusters and deck machinery.

When fully operational the centre will have around 15 full-time employees. Educating instructors, developing and quality assuring courses together with the training materials is ongoing. Gas turbine product training will remain centred in Bristol, UK and Indianapolis in the USA.