Get the Buzz ... APM Gas Power Implements Innovative Process Improvements at Colorado Bend II
Estimated Read Time: 7 minutes
APM Gas Power mobilized on February 12, 2024, in Warton, TX for an outage at Colorado Bend 2. Over the next 2 months, they demonstrated dedication to safety, continuous learning, and the Life Saving Rules. On April 29, 2024, the APM Gas team completed the job with zero recordable injuries and 20,219 person-hours!
Leading the APM crew of 18 people each shift was APM Dayshift Superintendent, Jose Mireles, and APM Nightshift Superintendent, Micheal Hensley. Before the team started on the 7 HA major inspection for the turbine and generator, they prepped for a successful outage with multiple planning meetings between APM, GE Vernova, and FieldCore and a Lean outage workout. In addition to preparations for an excellent outage, the natural mentorship of the team also contributed to this outage’s success. Experienced APM crew members took the four apprentices that were new to APM and turbine work under their wing as involved mentors. These mentors used their experience and expertise to help walk the new members through appropriate tooling, proper PPE, how to do green cards, and gave instructions on onsite expectations. This environment of support and comradery elevated this outage to a chance to engage learning opportunities and improve the technical and interpersonal skills of everyone onsite.
The learnings gained at this jobsite didn’t stop at mentorship. The Gas crew also experimented with tooling they had never used before to make the job easier. They utilized articulating arms on the disassembly and reassembly of hot gas components and attached a Milwaukee battery chain to the articulating arm, which made it effortless for the crew to complete tear down and reassembly. This had the additional benefit of not needing to use the crane or forklift, which made it available for others onsite that needed it. They plan to implement their learnings about this tooling and process optimization for future outages with similar scopes.
There were multiple valuable STOP moments initiated from the team’s diligence and commitment to delivering quality work safely.
Lynn Puckett stopped work after he realized that the tooling sent for generator work would damage the components, saving the equipment from unnecessary damage. They were able to proceed after a day when they receive the proper tooling.
Another STOP moment was called after the crew found magnetism on the rotor when taking turbine clearances since they weren’t sure how it would impact the equipment. After the site team decide how to manage the situation and brought experts to take magnetism out from the unit, the customer decided they were ready to resume reassembly.
The Gas crew was great about initiating stop moments on hold points. This meant that they would stop working on a task when they come across hold points and would get sign off to continue from the Superintendent and Field Engineers, which was especially important since this was a live outage site.
Lastly, they continued to prove excellent safety focus using the Life Saving Rules, specifically Working at Heights and Line of Fire.
When working at heights, the team did disassembly on a scaffold platform instead of an aerial lift, which gave them more area to work.
They also used green tags or tie offs and paid attention to weather patterns and inspections for scaffolding.
To manage line of fire, the crew established barricades with tags including information on the tasks occurring and contact information. This was to prevent overhead hazards that can cause line of fires.
Additionally, they mitigated potential line of fire hazards for hydraulic tooling by consistently including it in STA cards and communicating to work partners on potential failures. This was especially important because shell bolting that needs to de-tension or re-tension for reassembly requires high pressure hydraulic tooling that if not used correctly can be dangerous. So, the crew ensured people were aware of how to safely use that tooling, the associated hazards, and proper PPE by discussing and planning accordingly.
We would like to recognize some exceptional individuals who elevated the site with strong quality, safety, and learning focus!
Sarah Jones was recognized by the GE value stream team for having the most suggested improvements throughout the outage. Her helpful suggestions and eye for improvement opportunities will facilitate change for future outages improvements.
Foreman Gregory Coffey consistently recognized and created tasks in the live outage system that weren’t included and added more suggested improvement tasks. He constantly was thinking ahead on how to make the outage smoother.
Carol “Lynn” Puckett led generator work and came across the tooling issue from the previously mentioned STOP moment. His experience, constant focus on the quality aspect of everything he touches to get it right the first time, and willingness to train and mentor newer crew members has made him an invaluable asset to the superintendents, crew, and outage success.
Thank you to our amazing Gas team for their demonstration of mentorship, safety and quality focus, and commitment to finding innovative process improvements!