 |
|
|
April 10, 2008 | AECI honors 19 employees at Thomas Hill Energy Center with Excel awardsContact : Nancy Southworth Photographs of award recipients available electronically. Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) recognized 27 employees with Excel awards at the wholesale power supplier’s 15th annual recognition awards ceremony April 10. Nineteen of those employees work at the cooperative’s Thomas Hill Energy Center. The recipients of the Excel Awards are nominated by their peers for excelling in their work with the cooperative. Awards are given based on achievements in 2007, with the exception of the Distinguished Service Award that recognizes sustained excellence and service to AECI. At Thomas Hill Energy Center, Barry Johnson, engineering/planning coordinator, and Wayne Oliver, construction manager, were recognized as part of the Excel Innovative Action Team. The award recognizes a team that demonstrates a sense of urgency, the ability to mobilize quickly, willingness to learn new skills and processes and the ability to make decisions quickly and respond to its constituency. This year’s award recognizes successful coordination of an ongoing $385 million construction project at Thomas Hill Energy Center to add environmental controls to the plant’s three generating units. When operating in 2009, the controls will reduce the cooperative’s nitrogen oxides emissions rate by 90 percent. Planning began in early 2005 before the Environmental Protection Agency announced the deadline for complying with new environmental controls. Operating on an extremely tight schedule, the team successfully procured materials, equipment and skilled labor in a seller’s market. Construction continues through 2008. At its peak last fall, about 1,200 skilled laborers were on the site. The team was praised for demonstrating a sense of urgency, listening carefully, identifying key obstacles and promptly finding solutions. Johnson focused on the engineering design, concept implementation and coordination with Burns & McDonnell, the engineering and construction management firm hired by AECI. During construction last year, he and the construction oversight team worked 10 days on and four days off, working out of a construction trailer at Thomas Hill. Oliver joined the team early last year to serve as the onsite construction manager, responsible for daily coordination with Burns & McDonnell, contract laborers and AECI. Nelson recognized for his knowledge and skill Michael H. Nelson is the recipient of Associated Electric Cooperative’s Excel Award for Employee of the Year in an Operational Field. Nelson was honored for his technical knowledge, commitment and communication skills over the past seven years as a shift supervisor and preceding 19 years as a control room operator. Last year Nelson also completed a three-month stretch as acting operations superintendent at Thomas Hill Energy Center. As a coach and mentor, Mike excels at making sure his crew understands his expectations of them and how their individual performance affects the plant’s performance. “Because he’s been in their shoes, he can provide the broader view and big picture,” said a nominator. Nominators also praised Nelson for his knowledge of boiler and turbine/generator operation and control. He represents Thomas Hill in professional organizations dedicated to improving plant performance. Nelson’s communication abilities also were recognized. “Mike stays informed on the AECI system generation status and communicates this information to his crew.” Richardson works to ensure reliability Terry L. Richardson, predictive maintenance specialist at Thomas Hill Energy Center, is the recipient of AECI’s Excel Award for Employee of the Year in a Technical Field. Richardson’s job is to take care of equipment and identify deteriorating parts and pieces of equipment that need repair before they break or damage the larger equipment. He performs analysis of equipment vibration, thermal imaging, ultrasound detection, ultrasound thickness measurement, oil analysis and metal alloy/element analysis. Last year alone, a nominator estimated his efforts saved AECI more than $600,000 in avoided maintenance costs or generation losses. Richardson also was recognized for his major contributions to the Power Plant Operations Associate of Applied Science degree program at Moberly Area Community College now in its third year. The program was developed in part to address the anticipated shortage of skilled labor (including power plant operations personnel) as the baby boom generation retires. In addition to developing curriculum materials for several courses, he is now in his sixth semester of teaching a course on power plant principles. A nominator noted, “Terry incorporates his knowledge of predictive maintenance into his teaching role. He will give demonstrations of various equipment, such as thermal imaging cameras and vibration monitoring equipment when discussing power plant equipment.” Richardson has worked at Thomas Hill since 1981, starting as an instrumentation technician specialist and moving into the predictive maintenance specialist position in 2002. Speaking of his job, Richardson said, “This is kind of a new and open field. … I feel very fortunate to be picked for the job.” Training helps team respond to emergency Fifteen Thomas Hill employees are the recipients of the Commendation for Courageous Response Excel Award: Lawrence D. Anno, Jr., auxiliary operator fourth period; Anthony W. Carver, chemical lab technician; M. Chad Clark, journeyman machinist/mechanic; Jonathan C. Grimsley, mechanic second period; Denny R. Harden, protective services officer I; William T. Jones, retired mechanical maintenance supervisor; Jack A. Kilgore, mechanical maintenance supervisor; Manfred L. “Butch” Langsteiner, journeyman mechanic; Ronald P. Neeb, protective services specialist; Leslie “Doug” Sharp, assistant shift supervisor; William L. Sherman, journeyman welder/mechanic; Richard W. Smith, auxiliary operator first period; Larry W. Wilson, yard equipment operator; Michael E. Winter, shift supervisor; and Melvin E. Young II, mechanic first period. The men were honored for their swift and expert response to a medical emergency the evening of April 18, 2007, at the power plant. At that time, a contract welder was injured. Emergency responders and protective service officers prepared the injured man for safe removal to an ambulance that took him to Moberly Regional Medical Center 24 miles away. Supervisors on the scene attributed the excellent response to the training the responders had received. Not two weeks before the incident, this very rescue team had trained on confined space incidents using a simulator very similar in size to the cyclone tube where the Code Blue took place. Safety is Associated Electric Cooperative’s No. 1 strategic objective, and team members receive monthly training on a wide variety of emergency incidents and employees drill regularly on safety practices. In 2007, for the second consecutive year, Thomas Hill employees set a record for the low number of workplace injuries that is well below the industry standard. Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. is owned by and provides wholesale power to six regional and 51 local electric cooperative systems in Missouri, southeast Iowa and northeast Oklahoma that serve more than 850,000 customers. AECI’s mission is to provide an economical and reliable power supply and support services to its members. AECI is a Touchstone Energy Cooperative. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F/D/V ### Released: 10 April 2008 |
|
|||
 |