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Last summer, the LDC hosted a 3-week Kaizen event from June 6th to June 24th, 2022. Through this Kaizen, the Gas Power division achieved success in creating D11 valve stands and a table design prototype! They were able to borrow a valve from the GE Houston Learning Center in addition to the D11 from our APM LDC and utilized the LDC’s large shop as a space for everyone to set up and collaborate.

The motivation for this Kaizen project came from the shared desire for workflow improvement. Very few outages already have the valve stands needed to rebuild valves, so they typically need to be built on the floor of the site. This team decided to develop table and stand tooling for future sites so that the process for working on valve components is streamlined, ergonomic, and more efficient.

This new tooling not only improves the quality, productivity, and time efficiency of the work process, but the safety as well. The valve table makes it much easier and safer to work since workers aren’t bent over to work on the floor level. It is also better for securing parts and valves, making it popular among the field personnel that have used it so far. Working on valves became something to enjoy instead of dread!

The team gathered people from different regions and discovered diverse approaches and methods to tackle the same task. While they faced similar struggles, everyone created alternative ways to overcome them. Through this collaboration effort, they learned new ways to operate and gained input and ideas that wouldn’t have been considered otherwise. The investment to bring in people that take part of outages, like field engineers and superintendents, gave invaluable insight to the field experience and first-hand knowledge that made this undertaking possible.

The Lean and Kaizen initiatives encouraged the field employees to take the opportunity to close the disconnect from tool design/prototypes to getting the tools needed on jobsites. This project showcased how enriched communication and enhanced collaboration streamlined the process to go from thoughts to a product in hand.

Thank you to everyone who participated and engaged in this innovative project. We want to recognize Nikita Skachkov, Alex Murphy, Steve Brown, Chris Michaud, Fred Hitchcock, Dan Press, Chris Opanhoske, John Dejewski, Charlie Stewart and the three local millwrights who participated for your contribution to this endeavor. We appreciate your input, ideas, initiative, and hands on involvement to create a wonderful tool for successful future outages!