Members of the statewide Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (KWIB) recently got a firsthand look at the state-of-the-art Success Xpress, a mobile training unit built into 53-foot tractor truck trailer that is providing coal miners access to some of the industry's most advanced training technology.

The Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) brought the training unit to the KWIB's Sept. 20 meeting at the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) conference facility in Versailles. Success Xpress is owned and operated by EKCEP, a Hazard-based nonprofit agency that administers workforce development programs in 23 eastern Kentucky counties.

Success Xpress is a key component in EKCEP's national award-winning Coal Services Program, which employs a variety of services to help address the workforce needs of eastern Kentucky's coal industry. EKCEP's Coal Services Program was one of only five workforce programs from across the nation to receive Recognition of Excellence Awards from the U.S. Department of Labor this year. EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke accepted that award at the 2007 Workforce Innovations Conference held in July in Kansas City, MO. (To download and view USDOL's QuickTime video on EKCEP's Coal Services Program, right click this link, and select "Save Target As." To download a free version of QuickTime in order to view the video, click here.)

Duke spoke before the KWIB about the Success Xpress and its role in EKCEP's Coal Services Program. Success Xpress was created with a portion of EKCEP's share of a $3.1 million federal grant from the Department of Labor. The grant was awarded to EKCEP and the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (WKWIB) in December 2005 for miner training in the state's eastern and western coalfields.

"The coal industry has indicated time and again that it needs trained, skilled miners," Duke said. "Success Xpress allows EKCEP to help address that need, and its mobility allows us to bring specialized training to the region's miners and students in a way that has never been seen before."

Following Duke's remarks, members of the KWIB toured the Success Xpress and viewed its onboard miner training equipment. The simulator in the Success Xpress classroom includes a virtual reality headset and hand-held control panel. A trainee can wear the headset and experience the sights and sounds of operating a continuous mining machine to cut coal from the face of an underground mine. Others in the class watch the operator's progress on a 40-inch flat-screen display.

Success Xpress also features a hands-on lab area with electrical training panels exactly like those on actual mining equipment. Trainees can diagnose and correct simulated electrical "faults" using the panels.

Distance-learning technology aboard the Success Xpress allows mining courses to be taught by specially qualified instructors at remote locations and transmitted to trainees in the mobile classroom. Remote-controlled cameras in the mobile unit allow the class to interact with the remote instructor in real time. The Success Xpress classroom also features nine computer workstations, each with wireless internet access via satellite uplink.

Additionally, should the need arise, communications equipment in the Success Xpress would allow it to function as a mobile command center in the event of a mine accident or emergency.

The 25-member KWIB serves as an advisory board to the governor on the workforce-related activities of Kentucky's 10 Local Workforce Investment Areas, of which EKCEP is one.

For additional information on EKCEP's Coal Services Program, contact Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751.