Cummins Trains Louisiana Diesel Technicians

With several shipyards and marine operators in the area, Morgan City, La. is a center for crewing and supply of the Gulf oil industry. Since last January, a partnership between the Louisiana Technical College (LTC) and Cummins Mid-South has trained more than 120 diesel mechanics and engineers on aspects of high horsepower Cummins engines. As a distributor, Cummins Mid-South supports both their own and independent dealers in a network covering the states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana. The training is available to Cummins dealers, customers and selected LTC diesel tech students. Training is also available to the Diesel Technology instructors of the LTC system throughout the state. Employees of a wide range of marine operating companies have already taken part including those of Candy Fleet, Tidewater, Cenac Towing and McCall Boat Rentals. Rick Ryan, service manager for Cummins Mid-South Inc., in Morgan City says, "This demonstrates Cummins long term commitment to current and future commercial marine customers." Under the alliance between education and industry, Cummins Mid-South's program instructor Dwain Pangle has taken over an unused shop facility at the Young Memorial Campus in Morgan City. There, he utilizes a wide variety of engine training modules rotated in from Cummins Mid-South's cental training facility at Memphis Tennessee. In all, he will offer nearly 30 different three- to five-day certification courses on various models of Cummins engines. Before joining Cummins Mid-South several years ago, Pangle - himself a graduate of LTC at Morgan City - worked 20 years in the marine industry. Last February, he traveled to the LTC campus at Monroe to offer a one-week training program and will offer the same program at Shreveport this October, to upgrade certification for Cummins dealers and their customers. The response to classes has been dramatic, he says. "It has doubled since we moved the program down to Morgan City. We have even had three students from India," Pangle says. There is a particular demand for training on Cummins new generation engines such as the QSK19 for which two more courses have been scheduled at the Morgan City facility: August 23-27 and August 30 to September 3.