The Success Xpress is a mobile training facility built into a 53-foot
truck trailer that provides working coal miners access to high-quality
training in key coal mining skills using the industry’s most advanced
technology. The Success Xpress is owned and operated by EKCEP.
The Success Xpress' mobile classroom includes wireless connectivity technology
that provides internet access at eight onboard computer workstations.
The Success Xpress' hands-on lab area contains a Joy, Inc. electrical
training panel that features circuits and other equipment exactly like
those used by mine electricians at actual coal mines.
Ruby Maggard (in foreground), an instructor with Southeast Kentucky Community
and Technical College, shows miners at Sapphire Coal in Letcher County
how to operate the Success Xpress' continuous mining machine simulator.
David Ruth (right), EKCEP's Coal Mining Services coordinator, checks the
hand-held Joy, Inc. control panel that operates the Success Xpress' computerized
continuous mining machine simulator. Ruby Maggard, an instructor with
Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College, looks on.
Governor Ernie Fletcher (second from left) joined EKCEP Executive Director
Mable Duke (far left), Kentucky Education Secretary Laura E. Owens (third
from left) and Beth Smith, commissioner of the Department for Workforce
Investment (far right), for a photo immediately after touring EKCEP's
new Success Xpress mobile training unit on Dec. 14 in Hazard.
Governor Ernie Fletcher watched himself on the LCD Smart Board screen
at the front of the Success Xpress' classroom. Shannon Carter, systems
architect for the Center for Rural Development (in foreground), demonstrated
the equipment.
EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke (center) gestures toward the Success
Xpress' electrical training panel as Governor Ernie Fletcher (far right)
and Education Secretary Laura E. Owens (second from right) look on. Paul
Pratt, dean of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College's Office
of Community Workforce and Economic Development, (far left) explained
the equipment to Fletcher and Owens.
Dennis Mayo (in background) and Shannon Carter prepare to demonstrate
the virtual-reality headset and hand-held control panel miners use to
train to operate a continuous mining machine with the Success Xpress'
state-of-the-art 5DT mining simulation software. Mayo is interim director
fo the Coal Careers Program at the Hager Hill Campus of Big Sandy Community
and Technical College, and Carter is systems architect at the Center for
Rural Development.
Robert Klatt (standing), a lead CONSOL Energy coal trainer from Pennsylvania,
watches as Dan Price (in foreground) and Rex Penn—both also top CONSOL
trainers—try out the computer-based training programs that are a
prerequisite to trainees operating the Success Xpress' continuous mining
machine simulator.
Serving Eastern Kentucky's Coal Industry
The Success Xpress is a mobile training facility built into a 53-foot truck trailer that can provide working miners or mining students access to high-quality training in key coal mining skills using the industry’s most advanced technology.
The Success Xpress features a state-of-the-art classroom outfitted with a three-dimensional computerized mining simulator and a hands-on lab area featuring electrical training panels exactly like those on actual mining equipment. It is owned and operated by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP), Inc., a nonprofit agency that administers workforce development programs in eastern Kentucky.
The Success Xpress can be driven to remote coal mines, colleges, high schools, or any other location where training is needed. This mobility allows working miners to train for certifications in essential high-skill positions (mine electricians, METs, equipment operators, foremen, etc.) at their work sites, reducing the impact of training on their companies’ productivity.
The Success Xpress makes the best possible training and instruction accessible to working miners at any location in the EKCEP service area, according to Crawford Blakeman, EKCEP Business Solutions manager.
“Wherever there’s a need at a coal mine for more skilled and better trained miners, Success Xpress will be ready to literally drive that training to their front door,” Blakeman said. “Being able to present this training in such a mobile way allows workers to train for advancement more efficiently with much less impact on company productivity.” (Click here to access a schedule of the Success Xpress' upcoming appearances.)
The simulator in the Success Xpress classroom includes a virtual reality headset and hand-held control panel. A student can wear the headset and experience the sights and sounds of operating a continuous mining machine to cut coal from the walls of an underground mine. Other students in the class can watch the operator’s progress on a 40-inch flat-screen display.
Distance-learning technology aboard the Success Xpress allows mining courses to be taught by specially qualified instructors at remote locations and transmitted to students in the mobile classroom. Remote-controlled cameras in the mobile unit allow the class to interact with the remote instructor in real time.
Any sessions taught by instructors—whether on board the Success Xpress or from a remote location—can be digitally recorded, saved, and replayed on demand. The Success Xpress classroom also includes wireless connectivity that provides internet access at eight computer workstations.
Additionally, should the need arise, the communications equipment in the Success Xpress would allow it to function as a mobile command center in the case of a mine accident or emergency.
Based in Hazard, EKCEP administers government employment and training programs and employer services in 23 rural mountain counties, including the entire eastern Kentucky coalfields. EKCEP also administers the JobSight network of workforce centers, which provide access to a dozen government workforce programs for job seekers and employers through a single location.
The Success Xpress fills a major role in EKCEP’s ongoing efforts to help the state’s largest industry replenish its dwindling and aging workforce and capitalize on the rapid increase in the demand for coal in recent years, according to EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke.
“The coal industry has indicated time and again that it needs more trained, skilled miners to handle today’s increased production demands,” 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 in a way that has never been seen before.”
Duke said that the expedited training offered aboard Success Xpress will increase the number of high-paying jobs available to the region’s workforce, allowing both the coal industry and its workers to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the high demand for coal.
“Success Xpress will always be on tour, on time, and on target with needed training for eastern Kentucky’s coal industry,” Duke said. “Thanks to this innovative new tool, we’re going to be training coal miners today for Kentucky’s future.”
The Success Xpress was created with a portion of EKCEP’s share of a $3.1 million federal grant from the U.S. Department of Labor. The grant was awarded to EKCEP and the West Kentucky Workforce Investment Board (WKWIB) in December 2005 to train new miners and upgrade the skills of experienced miners in the state’s eastern and western coalfields. The grant was awarded under the President’s High Growth Job Training Initiative, as implemented by the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.
In pursuing the grant funds, EKCEP and WKWIB leveraged approximately $7.1 million in other workforce and training funds from a variety of sources, including: EKCEP Workforce Investment Act (WIA) formula funds, WKWIB WIA formula funds, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS), and coal operators, including Alliance Coal, Charlais Coal, Peabody Coal, and James River Coal. Among these leveraged funds was a $250,000 allocation from Governor Ernie Fletcher’s Reserve Fund of the federal WIA, presented to EKCEP by Fletcher in March 2005.
The Center for Rural Development is also a participating partner, designing and coordinating the Success Xpress’ distance-learning technology.
•••
Click here to
access a schedule of the Success Xpress' upcoming appearances.
To read about Success Xpress' role in EKCEP's national
award-winning Coal Services Program, click
here. To download and view the U.S. Department of Labor's
QuickTime video on EKCEP's Coal Services Program—featuring
the Success Xpress—right click this
link, and select "Save Target As." To download a
free version of QuickTime in order to view the video, click here.
Employers or educational institutions interested in
booking the Success Xpress should contact the EKCEP Coal Mining
Services Coordinator:
Crawford Blakeman
Business Solutions Manager
EKCEP
941 N. Main Street
Hazard, Ky 41701
606-436-5751
cblakeman@ekcep.org
EKCEP's Business Solutions Services: Helping Business do Business
EKCEP's Business Solutions Team is committed to helping our region's economy grow and flourish by helping employers meet their workforce needs through services like:
On-the-Job Training
Employer Specific Orientation and Screening
Customized Training
WIA Work Experience Program
JobFit On-Line Job Matching Service
Industry-Specific Job Fairs
Conferences and Workshops
The Eastern
Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc, (EKCEP) is funded through
the Office of Employment and Training, Division of Workforce Services,
Kentucky Education Cabinet, with Workforce Investment Act (WIA) funds.
EKCEP is an equal-opportunity employer with equal-opportunity programs.
Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals
with disabilities.
Robin May (standing), an instructor with the Belfry Area Technology Center,
observes as students from the center use a computer-based training program
that prepares them to operate the Success Xpress' three-dimensional continuous
mining machine simulator.
David Ruth (right), EKCEP Coal Mining Services coordinator, speaks with
Bob Hollis (left), vice president of preparation for the James River Coal
Company, and Dennis Mayo (center), coordinator of the Coal Careers Program
at the Hager Hill Campus of Big Sandy Community and Technical College,
aboard the Success Xpress during James River Coal's Safety Summit on Feb.
28, 2007.
Joseph Free (standing), a senior at Belfry High School, operates the Success
Xpress' computerized continuous mining machine simulator as Paul Williams,
an instructor at the Belfry Area Technology Center, generates virtual
scenarios in which Free must operate the machine.
Dennis Mayo (at right), coal coordinator at the Hager Hill Campus of Big
Sandy Community and Technical College, demonstrates the computerized continuous
mining machine simulator aboard the Success Xpress for Booth Energy coal
executives (from left) Nelson Sumpter and Dennis Hatfield. Sumpter and
Hatfield toured the Success Xpress as the mobile coal training unit began
its two-week stay at the Belfry Area Technology Center.
David Ruth (center), Coal Mining Services coordinator for the Eastern
Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP) explains the operation
of the electrical training panels in the Success Xpress' hands-on lab
area to a host of administrators with the Pike County School System. Those
administrators include (clockwise from right) Annette Ward, principal
of the Belfry Area Technology Center; Roger Johnson, assistant superintendent;
Ralph Kilgore, personnel director; John Hunt, assistant principal of Belfry
High School; and Roger Wagner, superintendent. Not pictured is Rod Varney,
principal of Belfry High School.
David Ruth (left), EKCEP's Coal Mining Services coordinator, shows executives
from the Booth Energy coal mining group the Success Xpress' Joy, Inc.
electrical training panels in the facility's hands-on lab area. Those
officials include (from right) Nelson Sumpter, mine manager; Dennis Hatfield,
president; and Jim Chitti, electrical maintenance instructor.