IPS Donates Trainer Engine To Montana State University Northern

The Interstate Power Systems Billings branch recently donated a trainer engine worth more than $100,000 to the Montana State University Northern (MSUN) Diesel Program. The donation further bolsters the robust array of training tools available to students in the diesel program, and will help them continue to learn and train on state-of-the art equipment.

This donation was the culmination of over a year of work. The trainer engine was built from the body of a non-functioning semi-truck engine that Northern had sent to IPS. IPS donated their time and crafted the engine into a fully functioning trainer. More than 250 hours were spent customizing the trainer engine, including the fabrication of a custom-built wiring harness, control box, skid and battery charging system.

After handing over the keys, IPS employees spent the day training MSU-Northern faculty on the engine’s programming, components, platform and associated software. All training sessions were recorded with the assistance of IPS and the videos will soon be used to train students.

Jesse Bradley, Service Manager with IPS Billings facilitated the donation and technicians Casey Coffey and Rob Van Papeghem built out the trainer and handled the faculty training.

“It’s a huge part of our focus as an industry to make sure that MSU-Northern’s diesel program is putting out top quality technicians,” said Bradley. “I’ve employed three technicians from MSU-Northern and can attest to their excellent training. We appreciate the chance to partner with MSU-Northern.”

Greg Kegel, MSU-Northern Chancellor, is excited about the relationships that have been developed and looks forward to establishing even more partnerships in the future. “We always hear from our partners that they can’t hire our students fast enough. I think that says a lot about the quality of our students and how successful our partnerships have been. We’re proud to work with great partners like IPS who help our students reach that next level.”

This story was adapted from an article originally published by Montana State University Northern on January 21, 2021