When The Australian Pipeliner discovered that AJSS had launched an ed-tech venture called Stacked Learning that was making waves in the engineering training space, we knew we had to take a closer look.
The training methodology seemed simple but enticing: taking real-world engineering scenarios and digitalising them to produce training modules that last for decades, accessible anytime, anywhere.
But as we entered the company’s Cheltenham training centre – an unassuming, red brick building – it was immediately clear that we had stumbled upon something that truly danced to its own music.
Pipeline industry veteran Arthur Stack is the man at the helm of this new venture, called Stacked Learning. Throughout his long career he’s seen firsthand the labour and skills shortages plaguing the industry.
“There are people with incredible skills that are retiring and leaving our industry, and retaining and passing on that knowledge is a key driver of why Stacked Learning exists,” he said.
“The pace of work has also accelerated, which means information has to be more readily available. It’s very difficult now for a young engineer or technician to go in and spend five years learning a specific set of skills, when the modern market demands that they learn in only one year. And where you might have had a crew of 20 a decade ago, now with costs cuts and efficiencies driving business you’ve got a crew of 12, and the efficiency drive is unrelenting.
“Our industry is always focusing on working smarter, not harder, but proper and efficient training is a critical part of that ethos that is often overlooked.”
The technological backbone
Stacked Learning Operations Manager Monica Savanovic leads the tour of the training facility, weaving us past several pieces of critical site equipment such as a Rolls Royce gas turbine, which is one of a number of engines and package components students can dirty their hands with – each one the price of a luxury vehicle. But the most impressive part of the facility isn’t what’s physically present, it’s what isn’t.
Using a mix of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI), Stacked Learning can create digital twins of plant, equipment, and worksites, showing how they operate and interact with different forces. This allows critical site and office staff to get incredibly detailed and hands-on training with machinery components, entirely risk-free.
The Stacked Learning team showed us several digital equipment representations such as a gas turbine and centrifugal gas compressor using AR, which appeared on the table at which we were sat. Each component could be manoeuvred and disassembled with ease.
“Learners come to us to simulate live work on high voltage power generation control systems with no fear of consequence or see the flow of gas inside of a pipeline.” Savanovic said.
“We are aspiring to create a picture of real-world events to a level that’s not been seen before.”
Often, these training courses are created bespoke to help address specific challenges clients are having with plant and equipment. Entire worksites can even be digitalised for a fully immersive training experience.
This zero-consequence learning environment is perfectly suited to the pipeline industry, where assets such as high-pressure gas pipelines demand utmost care and competency.
In today’s pipeline industry, another common risk comes from hexavalent chromium, a highly toxic industrial byproduct that looks like a green or yellow dust. It can form on high-temperature components when materials containing both chromium and calcium are used, such as in some anti-seize or insulating products. Hexavalent chromium possesses a long-term health risk to many field workers throughout their careers.
Deadly as it is, the danger of hexavalent chromium isn’t completely understood by many, so much so that on average it costs companies $3 million in damages every year.
Fortunately, this is just one of many industry pain points that Stacked Learning is targeting through its digital training courses, making workers safer and more competent.
By engineers, for engineers
Arthur shows us into the ‘Ross Day’ Technical library, named for in honour of Ross who pioneered new and innovative forms of preventative, predictive and troubleshooting maintenance at ESSO Australia.
Technical books line the walls like sardines crammed in a tin. Just as Arthur has learned from and been inspired by other experts in the field, he now tries to pass on that passion and knowledge to the next generation of operators, maintainers and young engineers. Both the room and the man are very much an allegory for the business itself.
Once again, the method to accomplish this goal is sound: recruit industry experts on the cusp of retirement, transcribe their knowledge through a series of highly technical interviews, and feed that data into a specialised AI learning system to form the basis of educational content. Dr Alasdair Lee, Stacked Learning Director of Training has leveraged his years of academic and educational training background in the sector to ensure that the tacit knowledge gathered from experts is not lost forever and remains as a digital archive.
In this way, lifetimes’ worth of knowledge is trapped in time and condensed into readily available learning modules. No more unwieldy thousand-page manuscripts and boring PowerPoint presentations; instead, information is intentional and accessible – its strength in its brevity.
Supported from the beginning by his colleagues Tom Chapman and Alison Robb, clearly Arthur’s passion is infectious, as he’s managed to recruit many veteran engineers, and some of Australia’s biggest names in gas infrastructure to champion his cause.
Tom continues to support the Stacked Learning team on content oversight and review, and it was Alison who drove the business transformation through its AJSS Interactive Learning phase into the launch of Stacked Learning in 2022.
But as impressive as the technology is, it’s the delivery which makes it shine.
Face-to-face learning is one of the core delivery suites of the business model. The Stacked team knows how to work a room, typically working with two experienced instructors, leveraging a mix of physical equipment, cutting-edge digital tools, and engaging games that not only delivers sharp, sophisticated learning, but also fosters terrific engagement with the audience.
“We have a deep understanding of what the pain points are that operators, maintainers, technicians and engineers experience in the pipeline industry,” Arthur said. “We know what makes them tick. We know what keeps them interested.”
Going global
The company is young, only stepping out on its own in 2022 under the Stacked Learning banner, a major milestone in its mission to expand globally.
At the time of our visit, part of the Stacked team was scattered across Myanmar, Brunei, Thailand and the Philippines, as the business expands its footprint in southeast Asia. In early 2025, Stacked Learning signed a three-year licencing agreement in North America with similar agreement planned for LATAM Europe, the Middles East and Asia. In October 2025, Stacked Learning signed an agreement with the Adinin Training and Development Centre in Brunei to license its content across the Brunei oil and gas industry.
“We’re bringing Australian standards into countries where that kind of safety knowledge isn’t readily available,” Savanovic said.
“Our model works, it’s scalable, and it’s giving many professionals access to a wealth of vital information.”
By the end of our time with the Stacked Learning team, we were impressed by the break-neck pace at which it had grown – and were left wondering where they will go next.
For more information, visit Stacked Learning and AJSS.