In the System
ORCMT fixes TVA’s $40,000 a day problem
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| Parading around Employees from Energy Systems and ORNL helped spread Christmas cheer and some 500 pounds of candy at the Oak Ridge Christmas Parade. Lockheed Martin retirees prepared the candy as usual, and this year, a float was added to the company's entry. The float was constructed with the help of bargaining unit employees Pete Durant, Roy Sharp and Mike Watkins. Photo by Brett Pate |
Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology completed the emergency repair of a 64-ton turbine impeller from the Tennessee Valley Authority's Raccoon Mountain Pumped Water Storage Facility near Chattanooga a full week ahead of an extremely aggressive manufacturing schedule.
That means TVA can have the turbine back on line and generating power—and revenue for TVA to the tune of $40,000 per day. ORCMT was first contacted about this repair August 28, and the entire task was completed October 12, seven days ahead of schedule. General Manufacturing personnel worked 24 hours per day, seven days per week to complete the 16-foot, 8-inch- diameter turning task on the 26- foot Dorries vertical boring mill in the Alpha 1 shops.
Additionally, Y-12 riggers, the Security Patrol department, numerical control engineering, and the ORCMT program management office were keys to the success of this task.
After the impeller left Oak Ridge, TVA attached the impeller shaft, attached coupling bolts, performed welding, and completed the final assembly and has the impeller back on line producing electricity.
The large turbine is used at Raccoon Mountain to pump water from a lower to an upper reservoir during periods of low electrical demand. The water then flows back through the turbine to generate hydroelectric power during periods of high electrical demand.
Survey says Skills Campus is big contributor
Recent data released on state-of-the-art training programs of the Manufacturing Skills Campus at the Y-12 Plant indicate that the campus is a strong contributor to the region’s work force development and in turn the region’s economic development.
Survey data through August 1998 confirm that since it opened in 1993, the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology campus has provided manufacturing skills training to more than 740 Tennesseans from more than 45 counties across the state. That training has resulted in over $13.2 million in private-sector benefits, which would be equivalent to creating or retaining more than 440 jobs.
The Skills Campus, an outreach program of ORCMT, has a dual mission of transferring advanced manufacturing skills to private industry workers and, at the same time, training and retraining Y-12’s Defense Program workers to maintain the plant’s national security mission core competencies.
Chip Chandler of MARCA (Vonore, Tenn.) expressed pleasure with the Skills Campus for “greatly accommodating our workers’ schedules by bringing the class that was needed to us. The refrigerant recovery class was very beneficial to MARCA because it allowed our workers to get EPA certification all at one time, which would have been impossible otherwise.”
Skills Campus courses focus on precision machining, machine tool maintenance and alignment, industrial maintenance and industrial process maintenance technologies. Courses are often customized to address specific needs of the customer.
Courses are taught in both the traditional classroom setting and on a “factory floor” that allows intensive hands-on practice under the supervision of an experienced instructor. Skills Campus instructors boast an average of 20 years’ experience in precision manufacturing and maintenance technologies.
Entrepreneur applauds Oak Ridge facilities
Doug Horne, Farragut entrepreneur and owner of Horne Properties, was the guest speaker at a recent Manufacturing Technology Services brown bag luncheon where he talked about regional business development and the entrepreneurial approach to doing business. The organization of the future must be fast, focused, futuristic and fun, he said. The facilities and expertise in Oak Ridge remain a key element in attracting new business and industry to this part of Tennessee, according to Horne.
Horne said that business development requires that people go out and seek unique opportunities and then apply the time and talent of the organization to developing those opportunities.
He saluted the Oak Ridge Centers for Manufacturing Technology for its efforts in reaching out to business across both Tennessee and the nation and suggested that Oak Ridge needs to go out and find entrepreneurs who can take advantage of the resources here. Horne, who also owns Republic Newspapers, said he has learned in his years in business that matching problems to talents and having an entrepreneurial approach rather than a managerial approach are keys to successful business development.
“As an entrepreneur you have to look at many things the way a coach looks at them—comparing strengths and weaknesses. As entrepreneur you have to be willing to take the risks, take the gambles. Many times entrepreneurs are in it for the game, they like the element of risk. Often all you have is time, talent and a little money,” he said.
He noted that attention to details is critical in successful business development. “Effort does not count; results do.” Horne started his business after the left the Tennessee Valley Authority. He has developed Wal-Mart and Kmart stores and is the founder and owner of 21st American Driver, a new trucking company.
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