The head of the KSB Mining Academy, Lee Whitlock, delivering a presentation
11 min read

‘We used to learn the hard way – now we do it smarter’

 

How do employees in a fast-evolving industry gain the expertise they need to thrive? At KSB, the answer is in the Mining Academy—a structured learning programme delivering real-world knowledge from seasoned professionals via accessible, easy-to-understand online courses. In this interview with Stream of Stories, Academy Director Lee Whitlock discusses how the initiative safeguards decades of specialised knowledge and prepares the next generation for success.

Stream of Stories: The first class of the KSB Mining Academy graduated in April. What inspired the creation of the Academy?

Lee Whitlock: In 2020, KSB conducted a market analysis to identify areas with untapped potential. One of these areas was the mining sector. We quickly realised that we needed a well-trained workforce to achieve our growth targets. You can't send someone into a room full of highly qualified engineers and procurement experts for a sales pitch without training. They're going to be eaten for lunch, right?

The idea was therefore to develop a world-class training programme that would be accessible to KSB colleagues worldwide, no matter where they are. It's focused on sales related people—front facing folks that are talking to customers, going to mine sites or engineering procurement companies. We want to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible. It’s not just about product and application knowledge, but also about communication skills, commercial understanding and presentation skills. Whether in a virtual meeting or face-to-face, our aim is to help the teams express themselves clearly and represent KSB convincingly.

What was training like before the Mining Academy was established?

In many ways, new employees had to learn the hard way. I mean learning through one-on-one mentoring with a local manager—when they had time. Or learning through mistakes. For example, you’d create a quote, submit it, and then realise you’d made an error. That kind of trial and error shaped who I am, but it’s not efficient. With structured training, we offer a smarter way that eliminates those painful learning experiences. People can become effective more quickly and with less struggle.

With that said, KSB Mining is not new to training as we have provided in-person customer and employee technical training since 1978. The 5-day annual ‘Slurry Transport Using Centrifugal Pumps’ and 3-day bi-annual ‘Maintenance of Centrifugal Slurry Pumps’ courses, offered at Grovetown GA, USA are taught by highly experienced colleagues and are truly first class. That is why some of our KSB Mining Academy learning paths require completion of these advanced trainings in the later stages of their coursework.

Looking back, when we were training people, we used to fly them into Grovetown from places like Indonesia or South Africa. That required pulling colleagues away from their daily work to prepare and deliver in-person training. It was resource-intensive and risky. Sometimes we’d invest weeks or months in someone’s development, and then they’d leave the company. So, we needed a way to train people where they are and identify those who are committed and capable.

Guiding the Next Generation: Lee Whitlock

With 30 years at KSB, Lee Whitlock brings a wealth of experience to his current role as Director of Market Requirement Management & KSB Mining Academy. His previous positions include eight years as Director of Product Management for slurry pumps and 14 years leading the Hydraulic Test Lab in Grovetown. A strong believer in personal and professional development, Lee's commitment to nurturing individuals goes beyond the workplace—he and his wife are parents and guardians to nine children, a loving mix of biological, adopted, and foster children.

Portrait of Lee Whitlock

What does the curriculum of the Mining Academy look like?

We defined four distinct learning paths targeting different roles within the mining sales team.

The first one is Pump Applications. It’s made for employees who review requests for quotation and select appropriate products. They need a strong understanding of our product range and how to apply it. We designed this course with regions in mind that don’t have large training budgets. That is why the course is 100% accessible online. Employees from countries such as Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Peru are enrolled. In terms of time commitment, it takes about 100 hours.

The second one is Pump Sales: It is designed for key account managers and field salespeople who interact directly with clients at mining corporations. It takes about 300 hours to complete this course.

The third one is Pump Support. This path is targeted at hands-on technical experts who install, maintain, and repair equipment in the field. Pump Support is expected to be about 300 hours as well, with 100 hours focused on hands-on tasks in the shop or field.

The last one is the Mining Champions path. It’s for hand-selected individuals who are identified as future leaders. They undergo the most comprehensive training, including commercial, technical, and strategic development.  This path is the most demanding—over 460 hours of training.

One of the key benefits of this new training model is that colleagues maintain access to the on-line training content (videos, hand-outs, etc.) and can refresh whenever they need to as long as they remain with KSB Mining.

How does the training take place?

When we set out to create a globally accessible training program, we knew it needed to be available online. Most of the courses are therefore hosted on YouLearn, KSB’s global training platform. That’s where the Mining Academy lives.

But not all the training is online. Apart from Pump Applications, all paths include advanced training at Grovetown or other training locations. With completion of online courses prior to the advanced training, attendees are prepared to aggressively engage in developing the more advanced knowledge and skills.

Also, towards the end of the Sales, Support and Mining Champion programmes, participants have to complete challenging tasks. One of them is a mine site visit, where they work on projects assigned by their mining manager. The most difficult requirement is the expert-level final project for Mining Champions. The trainees can choose from several options. These include publishing a case study based on a customer solution or creating a Mining Academy course. The hardest is authoring a technical paper and presenting it at a global conference.

A group of graduates of the Mining Academy

The first graduating class of the Mining Academy consisted of 102 trainees. They were recognised at the Global Mining Meeting in Grovetown in April and some can be seen in this picture.

How do you select trainees for the programme?

It is an honour and a sign of great trust to be invited to the Mining Academy. Therefore, you cannot simply enrol yourself. We share KSB Mining’s confidential information in the courses, so we reserve them for employees who we think will stay with KSB long term.

Access to the Academy’s content begins with sponsorship, and that must come from the trainee’s local manager. These managers understand who is committed and who’s likely to stay with the company long-term. This model ensures that only those with real backing from their local organisation gain access.

Is there a celebration when a trainee graduates from the Mining Academy?

Unfortunately, we can’t afford to fly everyone in for a big event. What we do instead is celebrate graduates during the annual Global Mining Meeting. During the ceremony for the first graduation class in April, I gave a presentation and showed the achievements of the 102 graduates. Each trainee was honoured in front of the senior management of KSB and received a certificate, hard hat stickers, and high-quality pins they can wear on their vests or backpacks. When you're on a mine site, you wear an orange safety vest. These pins go on that vest. Someone might ask, 'Hey, what’s that pin for?' And then you have an opportunity to talk about what you’ve learned and accomplished.

If the person was present at the ceremony, I called them up to receive their award. If not, I invited a colleague from their location to accept it on their behalf and bring it back. I encourage them to hold a local ceremony—pizza, cake, whatever—to mark the occasion and present the certificate, pins, and stickers. The only group that we fly in are the Mining Champions. It’s a big deal. They get to walk across the stage and be recognised in person. This year, nine of them completed the programme, from eight different countries.

The mining industry is evolving. How do you keep the curriculum relevant?

A changing industry means we can’t be rigid or assume the content is ever ‘done.’ One example is IoT solutions. This wasn’t part of our original plan. But we developed SLYsight, a cutting-edge Slurry Pump Wear Monitoring Technology, and realised we needed a full module on it. Mining is moving toward smarter solutions, and we have to keep up.

We're also expanding into dewatering. KSB Indonesia has excelled in this market, and one of our champions is developing a course on dewatering & dredging to share their expertise. It will help other regions replicate that success.

What are your future plans for the Mining Academy?

Right now, all of our training content is in English. But some countries where we see the greatest potential for growth—like Chile, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico—are Spanish-speaking. Some of our colleagues there would benefit by having the training in their native language. To help them, we’re going to select key technical training modules and translate those into Spanish.

Another big upcoming development is providing content that’s approved for external use. Let’s say you graduate from the programme and need to give a presentation to customers—maybe a ‘lunch and learn’ with a group of engineers at a mine site. For that, you’ll gain access to an approved PowerPoint presentation in the KSB corporate format that’s polished, professional, and compliant.

What motivated you personally to lead the Mining Academy?

Personally, I love to see people grow. I guess you can tell by the fact that I have nine children. Of course, I therefore also have a great interest in KSB being profitable, expanding its market share and paying me my salary for many years to come.

Also, I wish something like the Mining Academy had existed 30 years ago when I started. It would have sped up my learning immensely. Back then, we learned everything the hard way and coveted the opportunity to participate in the Slurry Transport or Maintenance Courses. Now, we can on-board and train people so much faster. I love seeing younger employees have opportunities to learn more efficiently than we did.

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