GP Strategies Launches Desalination Training Series on GPiLEARN™ Training Portal

ELKRIDGE, Md., July 25, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Global performance improvement solutions provider GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) today announced that its Energy Services Group, which provides power industry performance improvement products and services, has added training content on desalination to their extensive GPiLEARN™ online course library. The Desalination Series covers reverse osmosis, multi-stage flash distillation, and multi-effect distillation.

Over 120 countries throughout the world have desalination plants, with the most significant users in the Middle East and North Africa.  Desalination plants remove salt and other minerals from seawater in areas where fresh water is scarce or hard to extract.  Since these plants represent a major capital investment, it is critical that the workforce be trained to properly operate and maintain the equipment in a manner that will minimize costs and maximize availability.

"The new Desalination Series is another way in which GP Strategies is helping our global customer base train and qualify their workers in a cost-effective and timely manner," said Joe Nasal, Senior Vice President of GP Strategies' Energy Services Group.

GP Strategies has helped train several desalination plant workforces through a combination of On-line (GPiLEARN) and Instructor-led training.  One example is GDF SUEZ (SAMEA), which operates several desalination plants in South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa regions and has a direct equity interest in more than 26 GW of power generation with 4.8 million cubic meters per day of desalination capacity in operation or under construction.

Sunil Kumar, Training Manager at Suez-Tractebel Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in Oman, stated, "GPiLEARN presents power plant and desalination plant operation principles and craft maintenance fundamentals training in a concise and easy-to-use manner. GPiLEARN modules can be used for training fresh recruits and also for re-qualifying experienced employees. Once all the employees in a plant complete these training programs, the owner/operator can expect standard basic theoretical knowledge from all O&M staff. GPiLEARN training, along with the site-specific training programs, makes our employees highly competent in performing their daily O&M functions."

John Carr, Regional HR Project Manager for the GDF SUEZ (SAMEA) corporate office in Dubai, commented, "The GPiLEARN portal has the capability to blend generic power plant training modules with our own plant-specific operating manuals and procedures to ensure we provide every opportunity for the employee to reference the most accurate and best quality of information at all times. The differing technology and plant design features of our typical Middle East plant portfolio required the need to work closely with GP Strategies to design additional course material. This included the addition of desalination process training content, which is a common feature throughout the plants we operate and maintain in the region. Thanks to our partnership with GP Strategies, we were able to meet this need and provide quality training material for our fleet."

GPiLEARN online training programs allow for cost-effective, efficient implementation of a blended learning solution that incorporates over 1,600 course offerings for power plant engineers, technicians, operators and other skilled workers. Currently, the GPiLEARN web-based training portal is used by more than 250 power generation companies in over 40 countries.  To learn more about GPiLEARN, visit: http://gpilearn.gpstrategies.com/.

About GP Strategies
GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) is a global performance improvement solutions provider of training, eLearning solutions, management consulting and engineering services. GP Strategies' solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting and business improvement services, customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers. Additional information may be found at www.gpstrategies.com.

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SOURCE GP Strategies