The competitive push for more efficient power generation prompted the management of East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s Spurlock Station to provide training and to implement standardized work processes in order to achieve higher productivity. To that end, Spurlock’s management collaborated with salaried and hourly personnel to design and implement work process optimization. Two years later, their proactive, operations-driven culture is promoting continuous improvement at this facility.
For more than 20 years, a two-unit coal-fired plant stood among Kentucky tobacco and corn fields along the Ohio River. Its 325-MW unit went into operation in 1977, and a 525-MW unit was added in 1981. The plant staff were highly committed to keeping their plant running and their customers supplied with electricity. For more than two decades, the East Kentucky Power Cooperative’s (EKPC) Spurlock Station benefited from a maintenance-driven work culture staffed with experienced employees. Then change happened.
In the past 10 years, the plant’s rating, value, and complexity nearly doubled, and many other changes were introduced as a result of new equipment and technology, employee retirements, and new staffing. For example, in April 2005 Spurlock (Figure 1) dedicated a new 268-MW unit that uses a circulating fluidized bed process—a first for EKPC. That unit, known both as Unit 3 and the Gilbert Unit, ranks as one of the cleanest coal-powered units in the nation, but its operations and maintenance (O&M) challenges were quite different from those of the conventional units. Then in April 2009, Unit 4, another 268-MW unit, began operation.
 |
| 1. Physical change spurred operational change at Spurlock. Through its work process optimization program, the Spurlock Station is embracing the challenge of change. Source: East Kentucky Power Cooperative |
As a result, the facility’s staff had to adjust to changing work procedures and culture. At the same time, the competitive imperative to generate power more efficiently required training and the standardization of work processes. All employees were called upon to meet and work through the challenge of change together.
Developing a WPO Culture
As part of the change in operations, Spurlock’s management collaborated with salaried and hourly personnel to design and implement work process optimization (WPO). Now, two years after that process began, their proactive, operations-driven culture is promoting continuous improvement at the facility. A revamped operator training program, the addition of six planners and four engineers, the integration of production teams, and a new computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) that is in development keep all employees aware that they can never go back to the old ways of doing their work.
As Spurlock staff have learned, time commitments and strong personal efforts from everyone are necessary in order for real change to be implemented. The station manager often shares his vision of “the desired future state” with station employees. That vision includes:
- Engineered solutions to problems and improvement opportunities—“continuous improvement.”
- Daily and weekly maintenance schedules.
- Dedicated planned outage resources.
- Responsibility-centered performance management.
- Employee development and succession plans.
- Close relationships among supply chain, warehouse, safety, fuels, and environmental teams.
- Multi-skilled production teams.
- Stronger technical and risk management evaluations.
- Enhanced financial tracking.
- Optimized staffing levels/contract resources.
Business drivers that are part of the desired future state vision include ensuring employee and plant safety; being environmentally compliant; reducing production costs through improved asset reliability and availability; and effectively managing labor, inventory, contractors, and fuel costs.
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
