More than pipes and wires

Poor old Arthur Carlson at “WKRP in Cincinnati”. He just didn’t understand the turkey’s design limitations. Or his own liability clause.

When you’re out to bid on engineered products or services, do you understand every aspect of the specification? Do you need to? If you’re alone, maybe. But if you have resources available to you…

I spent some time at a nuclear power plant on the West Coast, responsible for contracted labor and services on the turbine deck.  Responsibilities included contracts for work provided during overhauls and refueling cycles.  And, as I was to experience, contracts for emergency repair work on a main generator rotor. 

Soon after a planned refueling and minor overhaul outage, vibration anomalies and temperature spikes were noted in the unit’s main generator rotor.  Left unaddressed, it could lead to a catastrophic event at a power plant providing about 20% of California's electricity needs.

The engineering lead for turbine deck work was a long-time, crusty, disliked employee who was feared by those who reported to him, and not appreciated by management or my peers in Purchasing: too much of a “loose cannon”. I liked him immediately.

We became an effective team by suspending suspicion and recognizing that we both had the same goal in mind: get “our” turbine deck back operating at 100%.  We talked to each other, not at each other; we spoke sincerely and simply; we kept on track and in constant contact; and we worked in our own areas of expertise, not in each other’s.

Our small but critical parts in a bigger effort paid off: the unit was returned to 100% availability by replacing the main generator rotor with a borrowed equal and contracting the repairs to our own unit. And the expenditure of about $25 million dollars.

At a minimum, keep your product engineer close by and up to date. Communication is key. Remember, you’re a team and you just might make a turkey fly.