Siemens introduces purpose-built ‘training wall’ for practical experience

Training has always been at the very heart of Siemens’ relationships with its partners. The company has always recognised the vital role it plays in optimising the potential of fire safety solutions.

With that in mind, the new ‘training wall’ features the popular Siemens fire safety panels – namely Cerberus PRO and Cerberus FIT – alongside detectors and sounders, including the FDA241 and FDA262 from the aspirating smoke detection (ASD and ASD+) range, all networked to allow engineers to see how the different elements can work together.

The ‘training wall’ also boasts a duo of fire dampers controlled by Siemens actuators, which are integrated with the fire safety systems, as well as a PXC4 automation station, a Connect Box IoT unit and a Desigo optic embedded device from Siemens’ building management systems portfolio, all of which can be integrated as part of a Siemens Building X single digital platform.

System experience

Justin Leeks was appointed fire product trainer at Siemens back in 2023 and delivers many of the education programmes. Leeks recognises the importance of those individuals undertaking the training being able to actually derive real-world experience of using the systems.

“Theory is important, but it only goes so far,” suggested Leeks. “I’ve worked as a fire systems engineer myself so I understand how ‘getting your hands dirty’ by being ‘under the bonnet’ and seeing how these systems operate is the best way in which to learn. This knowledge can then be taken into the field by engineers who understand the specifcs of the systems and how to best manage installation, commissioning and maintenance procedures.”

Leeks added: “One of the benefits of the systems is that a lot of the work can be done in advance, pre-configuring a whole site and thereby offering significant savings in on-site installation and commissioning time. We would like to thank Advanced Air and detectortesters for supplying some of the equipment for the ‘training wall’. It’s great to see that other companies also recognise the value of training the next generation.”

Cost-effective and comprehensive

The Siemens training programme is designed to be cost-effective, but also comprehensive, with e-Learning used to cover the fundamentals followed by face-to-face training that goes into more engineering detail.

The ‘training wall’ has been future-proofed, duly reflecting the nature of Siemens’ solutions, with a modular approach enabling new products to be added as and when they’re developed.

Rob Yates, head of building products (fire safety) in the UK and Ireland at Siemens, remarked: “Effective training programmes are vital for underpinning the future of the fire safety industry. Much is spoken of the skills shortage, which demonstrates all too clearly why it’s more important than ever that we invest in the training of those who do choose to venture into fire safety engineering. Hopefully, in doing so, not only do we develop their skills, but we also potentially encourage others to consider the sector as a career option.”