Luminant Academy Helps Keep Lights On, Economy Rolling By GREG JUNEK, Business Editor   |   Apr 07, 2008

It does not draw tourists and it does not manufacture anything onsite, but Luminant, Tyler Junior College and economic development officials say the new Luminant Academy at the TJC West Campus will be important in bolstering Tyler's economy.

Luminant is the power generation side and a subsidiary of Energy Future Holdings Corp., a private corporation that acquired TXU Corp. last year.

Unoccupied space on the north end of TJC's Skills Training Center was reconstructed to create the training facility. Construction began last summer, with Luminant investing $1.7 million into building the two-story, 24,000-square-foot academy. It was completed in January.

Employees and new hires from Luminant facilities across Texas are coming to train at the academy, many of them spending several weeks here. The company is paying for their lodging.

It was mentioned at a recent Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce meeting that more than 40 rooms had been booked at two hotels. Officials estimate up to 300 people a year will train at the academy. About 90 people were in training a couple of weeks ago.

"If we had a tourist attraction that created this kind of bed nights, we would be so excited," said Barham Fulmer, Tyler Economic Development Council board president, during a recent academy open house.

Officials have conservatively estimated that money the company and academy trainees spend on lodging, food and other items will amount to an annual economic impact of nearly $1 million.

Last week, trainees were at work on the premises, but training for Luminant employees did not begin with the opening of the academy. TJC helped the company start the program before the interior of the new facility was completed.

"Our first major classes - which you are seeing right now our basic Skills Toolbelt class - actually started March 3," said Dirk Hughes, Luminant Academy director. "What we have found, though, in the actual construction and development of Luminant Academy, is there was such a demand for classes for specific training to happen, we actually started some class work here in July and August of last year, when this facility wasn't even constructed, and we worked with Tyler Junior College to make use of a lot of their facilities."

The academy is charged with training of every Luminant employee, about 3,180 people, Hughes said.
A major part of the current training is for new-build plants in Franklin and Rockdale.

"As we develop more training programs and expand into our charge, we'll be training folks who work in the Tatum area at our Martin Lake facility or Mount Pleasant there at our Monticello station and Fairfield - which is my hometown - at Big Brown, plus our gas-fired plants, which are located all over the state of Texas," Hughes said.

It will also train employees who work in Luminant's mining facilities, which are located near its plants.

TXU had the academy in mind before its acquisition, Steve Horn, Luminant vice president of technology and operational readiness, said.

"This was part of a very large plan early on to improve and continue in an organized fashion the training of all of our facilities," Horn said.

During the 18-week Basic Skills Tool Belt training program, the employees receive hands-on instruction in simulation equipment, industrial controls, pumps, piping, safety training, hydraulics and rigging systems.

It is estimated that the academy will generate nearly 103,000 contact hours in 2008. Contact hours are the measuring data by which funding is calculated for Texas community colleges' next biennium.
The Luminant Academy contact hours could translate into more than $400,000 in funding for TJC, officials said.

"This is a great example of a public-private partnership with the college and the business community working together at our best," TJC President Dr. Mike Metke said. "By working together with Luminant Academy, we are helping provide more highly skilled employees which translates into better service, higher wages and greater job security."

In addition to the Basic Skills Tool Belt, Luminant Academy also offers one-week new employee training programs. These are scheduled two weeks out of every month for the legacy plants and mines. The typical class size is 15 to 20 students.

Work to complete the academy is not finished, Hughes said.

This summer, boiler simulators - about a $3.7 million investment - are scheduled to be moved into the academy.

"These simulators will exactly imitate the operation of our Oak Grove facility and our Sandow facility, to the point that the control room that they will be sitting in here will be the exact mockup of what they will see at the power plant," Hughes said. "What we want to do is give our employees that sense of how to operate our facilities, and learn how to do it here where there is not a piece of equipment tied to it, to where when they actually go back to the facility they feel more comfortable in operating that equipment."

It also intends to purchase mining simulators, which will make employees feel as though they are sitting in and operating mining equipment.

Hughes said he met with four different colleges in seeking a place to locate the academy, and realized Luminant had the right fit with TJC when Dean of Continuing Studies Aubrey Sharpe showed him the Skills Training Center.