Nuclear Fleet
Continuous
Improvement
Program
By Frank Burke, NextEra Energy.
Frank Burke
Frank Burke serves as the Corporate
Functional Area Leader for Continuous
Improvement with NextEra Energy’s
Nuclear Fleet. He was a significant
contributor to the company’s selection as
the Nuclear Energy Institute 2016 B. Ralph
Sylvia, Best of the Best Top Innovative
Practice Award.
He brings 32 years of experience focused on
driving quality and process improvements
in Manufacturing, Operations, Sourcing,
Customer and Financial Services.
Burke holds a B.S. Degree in Ceramic
Engineering from Rutgers University
and has received multiple awards and
certifications including Certified Master
Black Belt, GE and NextEra Energy; GE
Presidents Award, Most Engaged Six Sigma
Business; GE Capital Presidents Award,
Project Most tied to Corporate Focus Area;
2 U.S. Patents – In the manufacture of
Surface Mounted Thermistors.
Nuclear Energy Institute’s Top Industry
Practice (TIP) Awards highlight the
nuclear industry’s most innovative
techniques and ideas.
This innovation won the 2016 B. Ralph
Sylvia “Best of the Best” Top Innovative
Practice Award.
The NextEra team members who
participated included: Mitchell
Goldstein, Nuclear CFO; Pam Metz,
Strategic Planning and Budgeting;
Frank Burke, Corporate Functional
Area Manager, Continuous Improvement
Program; Fred Cunningham, Project
Manager, Continuous Improvement
Program; David Bradford, Principal
Business Analyst.
Summary
As a result of the Continuous
Improvement Program, NextEra Energy
Nuclear has improved its INPO Index
from bottom quartile to top quartile,
improved equipment reliability, reduced
forced losses and is saving money in 2016
from prior plans since 2011, with 17%
lower Fleet wide staffing. The fleet has
achieved industry top decile production
cost per MWh since 2014.
NextEra Nuclear Fleet began
its Journey to Excellence in 2008. A
playbook was developed called the
“Nuclear Excellence Model (NEM)” that
defined the vision and values, determined
actions and established the roadmap to
achieve objectives. The model, along
with our Fleet and Site Excellence plans,
form the model for NextEra Energy
Nuclear Fleet to achieve and sustain
excellence, continuously evolve and
improve performance by:
Aligning fleet and site priorities
according to the four NEM focus
areas;
Integrating strategic initiatives,
objectives, and tactical actions to
drive consistent results; and,
Creating a process, the “Continuous
Improvement Program”, to focus
on high-value activities while
eliminating low-value work.
Since 2008, the environment
for nuclear operators became more
challenging with:
Slower electricity demand growth in
the United States;
Lower electricity prices as a result of
the shale revolution; and,
Greater capital expenditures toaddress
post-Fukushima requirements.
As a “Self Improving Culture
& Learning Organization,” NextEra
performed a self-assessment against
the industry on cost and INPO index.
Through data analysis, it was found that
there was a correlation in costs vs. INPO
index. The operators with the strongest
INPO index generally had the best cost
position.
The first step was to baseline the “As Is”
processes by performing time and motion
studies, setting productivity targets
for each of the NextEra nuclear sites
and processes, and benchmarking best
practices.
The business core strategy was to:
1. Maximizing effective capacity
2. Operating reliably and hitting plan to
get the most generation out of plants
a. Reduce unplanned losses
b. Achieving outage duration goals
3. Reengineering to improve efficiency
a. Standardize across the Fleet
(Organizations and Processes)
b. Centralize
c. Adopt industry best practices
The second step was to identify
improvement initiatives that would
standardize, centralize and improve
practices across the NextEra fleet with the
following focus areas for improvement:
Standardize
Fleet procedures
Qualifications
Training program
Corrective Action Program
Centralize
Outage planning and long-term
management
Engineering
Programs
Design
Collaborate
with
non-Nuclear
functions where possible
Improve Practices
Contractor management
Maintenance and work management
Electronic work packages
Strategic sourcing
Using the Continuous Improvement
Process, improvement initiatives were
evaluated, ranked, and prioritized. The
outcome was a set of initiatives that had
assigned sponsors, champions and project
leads to execute. Regular reviews were
scheduled to provide status updates for
leadership. That, coupledwith an effective
change management & communication
program - a campaign focused on “We are
changing for GOOD”, enabled increased
acceptance within the organization. It
provided the why and need for change
and a mechanism to provide feedback to
the organization on the effectiveness of
those changes.
As a result, the NextEra Nuclear
Fleet has made significant progress
in cost reductions, key indicators and
operating metrics.
To sustain high performance, the
Continuous Improvement Program is our
tool to improve processes and put the
Fleet in a position to thrive long-term.
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NuclearPlantJournal.com Nuclear Plant Journal, July-August 2016
