The Success Xpress, a mobile training facility built into a 53-foot truck trailer, will be stationed in Middlesboro over the next three weeks to provide miners with the Bell County Coal company 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 computerized three-dimensional 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 throughout eastern Kentucky.
Miners with Bell County Coal are scheduled to train on the Success Xpress from Nov. 12-30. Those miners will sharpen their skills as they train on the Success Xpress’ electrical panels and continuous mining machine simulator.
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 on the Success Xpress 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. It also allows high school students who are considering careers in coal to get a firsthand look at the high-tech nature of modern mining.
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 the nationwide winner of the U.S. Department of Labor’s 2007 Recognition of Excellence Award for “Leveraging the Power of e3 Partnerships.”
That award recognizes the value of projects that demonstrate sustained collaborations among employers, educators, and economic development. EKCEP was one of only five organizations from across the nation to receive Recognition of Excellence Awards this year.
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 upgrade the skills of its current workforce, according to EKCEP Executive Director Mable Duke.
“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.”
Success Xpress has trained working miners and students in Clay, Floyd, Harlan, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Letcher, Martin, Perry, and Pike counties. The Success Xpress has also visited the Kentucky Junior Coal Academy at Lawrence County High School and the Pike County Coal Academy at the Belfry Area Technology Center, allowing hundreds of high school students to spend time at the controls of the unit’s continuous mining machine simulator.
During a recent two-week stop in Pike County, more than 100 underground coal miners at the James River Coal Company’s McCoy Elkhorn operations mined “virtual coal” with the Success Xpress’ simulator. Full shifts of mine electricians also diagnosed and corrected simulated “faults” in training exercises using the facility’s electrical training panels.
Based in Hazard, EKCEP administers government employment and training programs and employer services in 23 rural mountain counties, including the entire eastern Kentucky coalfields region. 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 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.
For additional information on EKCEP and the Success Xpress, contact Crawford Blakeman at 606-436-5751, or visit www.ekcep.org.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To arrange a visit to the Success Xpress during its on-site training work in Bell County detailed in the above article, contact Michael Cornett, EKCEP communications manager, at 606-436-5751.
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