“Never, never rest contented with a circle of ideas, but always be certain that a wider one is still possible” – Pearl Bailey

Transcending empowerment across our craftspeople to drive leadership at their work site fosters ideas and strengthens paths to execute a procedure or plan. Gabrial Stevenson and Stephen Shook Jr. utilized their empowerment and delivered expertise during a block outage at Florida Power & Light (FP&L) Okeechobee Clean Energy Center in March 2020.

Three units at the site required diverter blade alignment of the number two bearing tunnel cooling module, along with a multitude of other maintenance needs. Stephen and Gabrial were placed in a core site team to assess alignment on the blades across all units. Many engineers have analyzed the same task, only to have the blade return to misalignment. After discussing the existing instructions to disassemble multiple components, it took Stephen and Gabrial less than an hour to draw up an improved process. The site engineering team approved of the modified procedure that resulted in successful alignment, a reduced amount of manhours, and boosted cost savings for our customer. Greenville Engineering has now approved of this new procedure for fleet-wide use on HA units.

“Steve and Gabriel brought something to the table that was fresh and new. Their professional courtesy, positive attitude, critical thinking skills and ability to work under stressful conditions was paramount to making this particular outage successful.  It is always a pleasure to work with APM south,” said Field Engineer and Project Manager, Joseph C. Harrell.

The duo’s focus in safety, quality, and integrity is resounding

Stephen Shook Jr. has repeatedly displayed his keen attention to safety and quality throughout his time with APM. His strong work ethic helped him quickly achieve his certified mechanic position and an important spot within a core site team that consistently receives high-level customer feedback.

Newly hired Gabrial Stevenson’s strong characteristics in being safety and quality focused, a great team player, and active in discussions, has brought positive recognition from his team and supervisors. His addition to the core team has benefitted them tremendously.

Excellence radiates from meaningful discussions

High collaboration and important conversations among our craftspeople and leadership teams drive improvements. “We challenge our employees to openly think about solutions or better ways to perform a task. Not to be afraid to share their ideas,” commented APM South Region Service Manager, Matthew McCrary. We are so proud of our people who consistently bring their original ideas to the forefront!

Thank you Gabrial Stevenson, Steven Shook Jr., and APM South, for embellishing Florida Power & Light Okeechobee Clean Energy Center with your expertise and excellence!