Month: April 2014

Prairie Island retirees mentor to build robot

Author: Lisa Kuehl

Former employees Don Fricke, Brad Goudy and Chuck Propst put aside work, not their minds. These retirees from USA member Prairie Island have been using their time and talents to mentor local students. As part of the US FIRST Robotics Program, these retirees spent January and February helping a Red Wing High School, Red Wing,...

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Q&A with USA Site Leadership Team Member Grover Hettel

Author: Kelly Rae

Columbia Generating Station’s Operations Vice President Grover Hettel has served on the Utilities Service Alliance’s senior leadership core peer team for about two years. Hettel recently sat down to talk about being a part of the USA team. What is the USA site leadership team? The site leadership team (SLT) is made up of vice...

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After focus on t-mods, success for USA plants

Author: Stephen Tait

Picture this in your plant: Improper fasteners holding together an air conditioning unit, a random drain hose leading to a floor drain or a pipe without the proper heat-resistant insulation and/or coatings. It shouldn’t be too difficult to imagine — these are some of the examples of unauthorized temporary modifications once found at plants in...

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USA names Manager-Performance Analysis

Author: Joe Delmar

The Utilities Service Alliance (USA) has named Andrew Brown as the fleet’s Manager-Performance Analysis effective immediately. Brown is on loan from fleet member Xcel Energy where he spent the past six years coordinating performance indicators, corrective action and other performance improvement related programs. He also served as project manager for the rollout of Observation Way...

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Xcel Energy receives Corporate Partner Award

Author: Lisa Kuehl

Building strong business relationships can have many benefits. Recently, USA member Xcel Energy received the Corporate Partner Award for demonstrating its commitment to maintaining relationships with a broad base of suppliers. The award, given by the National Association of Minority Contractors-Midwest Chapter, acknowledges Xcel Energy for its contract with minority supplier Shaw-Lundquist to build a...

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