Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson was packed with Utilities Service Alliance (USA) supply chain management professionals and nuclear suppliers who gathered for the 14th Annual USA SCM Winter Conference Jan. 24-27. Conference participants came to the desert southwest from across the country to learn the latest in delivering sustainable, positive change to the organizations they represent.
And this year, Energy Northwest earned the 2016 USA SuperSaver Award after documenting more than $5 Million in First Cost, Total Cost of Ownership and Rebate savings through their relationship with USA.
John Christensen, USA President & CEO (Acting) delivered a compelling presentation on day one of the conference that clarified the reason for change within USA, and shared details about recent performances USA has helped to deliver to its member stations. Changes in economics, INPO monitoring processes and industry focus on Delivering the Nuclear Promise led to numerous membership changes and John took the time to explain them. (Photo caption: Members of USA and Energy Northwest crowd the platform after winning the 2016 USA SuperSaver Award presented on the final day of the 14th Annual USA Winter Conference in Tucson. Left to Right: Greg Sponholtz, Supply Chain Services Manager, Energy Northwest; Jim Kitchens, Director, Economic Strategies, USA; Greg Holbron and Peter Girgis, both Procurement Engineers, Energy Northwest; Margaret Vinsant, Manager, Supplier Relations, USA)
“In 2017, USA has turned its attention to a value focus,” said Christensen. “The alliance has undeniably had the best year ever for cost savings/avoidance as well as operational performance improvement. That’s just a fact.”
Christensen announced the following goals and objectives for 2017 include:
• Gap Focus Area Performance Improvements
• USA Supply Chain activities
• React quickly and aggressively to any performance declines
• Aggressively support recovery station needs
• And USA projects, including: Material Cost Reduction, Cyber-Security and Decay Heat Removal
What’s no longer being done or has been significantly reduced heading into 2017 includes:
• CFAM Monitoring – we’ll rely on INPO PML and Station NOS activities
• USA KPI Site scope and expectations for use – eliminating all non-GAP Focus Area KPIs
• USA Board of Directors and SLT touch point requirements
• SFAM team assessment support
• Team travel and time commitments
• USA Business Plan scope
• Generic programmatic assessments (ie. Pre-Evaluation Assessments)
• USA staff Management Review Meeting support
• USA Delivering the Nuclear Promise Coordination
“We’re focusing on specific Gap Focus Area Performance issues and better communications and accountability to perform in these key performance gap areas,” said Christensen. “MRM reciprocity between sites, Nuclear Safety Culture Assessments, USA Mid-Cycle process, USA projects, Recovery assistance, Communications Strategy on USA value and all USA Supply Chain Activities.”
Christensen also shared that USA is working on better and more aggressive use of agreements. But he was quite clear.
“If you have something better in place, please tell us,” he said. “That agreement offers USA leverage in improving its contracts and its cost savings for USA members. We need you now more than ever. We’re in this together.”
The welcome reception, hosted by AREVA and ATC Nuclear, fostered networking among nuclear professionals who wait for this conference to reestablish connections with their peers. In addition to the unique networking opportunities and entertainment that included a real, live gunslinger (see photo at right), USA leadership filled conference sessions with some of the most knowledgeable presenters anywhere. Now who could pass that up?
One of the keynote presenters at the Winter Conference was Customer Experience Consultancy’s Ian Golding, himself a Certified Customer Experience Professional, shared the criticality of excellent customer service experiences in his presentation, “Creating a Customer Centric Organization to Deliver Sustainable Growth.”
Every year, Golding writes observations about learnings he’s gathered in his business travel around the globe. And this year, he focused on four things companies must pay attention to if they want to sustain and accelerate the growth of their businesses.
“Collaboration is a key factor. You must keep working on breaking down the impenetrable silos of your organization and come together as one,” said Golding. “There are several focus areas every company should pay attention to in 2017. The first is Education – people have not been taught the importance of Customer Experience. They must learn this and develop the necessary skills to make it happen every time. The second is Simplify – one of the greatest challenges to business leaders is to STOP doing the things that don’t make a difference,” said Golding. “Steve Jobs’ biography is a great read – he is one of the best examples of a leader who intuitively understood the need to simplify. When he returned to Apple, he got them to STOP focusing on lots of stuff and focused on four things. Third and finally, Focus – a long term focus is critical if organizations want to become Customer Experience Leaders. Leadership must acknowledge that Customer Experience is a long term business commitment.”
In addition to vibrant speakers, social activities that helped supply chain professionals network more actively with one another and their vendor partners, was the use of a new smartphone app, powered by QuickMobile, which provided conference attendees the ability to see calendars, review PowerPoint presentations, provide immediate feedback for presenters and connect with their peers like never before.
The 2017 Executive Summit is set for Amelia Island, Florida, from June 7-9. To build upon our ongoing pursuit of operational and safety excellence and our willingness to collaborate with our colleagues, the theme for our 2017 conference will be “Delivering Value – Back to the Basics.”