Putting UVM on the Assembly Line

Effective UVM Through and must be replenished to pre- Integration of Workforce, vent defect in the operation of the power delivery “product.” Planning, and Technology • If the supply of “space” does not keep up with the demand for By Jarod Cassada, Managing Member, “space,” the quality of the prod- CVMC, LLC and Michelle Vignault, uct will decline or fail. Organiza- Marketing and Communications Manager, tional expenses will go up and Clearion inventory of “space” will go down Figure 1: The Clearion solution is an as greater resources are allocated example of a technology that utility Henry Ford showed the world a bet- to fixing defective product (i.e., managers can integrate into their ter way to produce cars in 1913. outages, reliability work, hot program. This diagram is courtesy of Since that time, the manufacturing spotting, responding to customer Clearion Software, LLC industry has steadily improved upon demands). The price for “space” his methods. Better planning, im- will go up as will demand for military training as an example proved technology, and highly skilled clear “space.” where skills ensure survival. Military workers have pushed productivity, training involves drilling and the rep- cost management, and quality con- etition of activities until they be- trol to new limits. How do we apply Little’s Law I = R ÷ T come an acquired response. Line the valuable lessons learned in manu- clearance workers do not learn the facturing to an industry that does not I = Inventory (the number of trade from reading. They must expe- work in the controlled environment units within the system) rience the work firsthand. A certain of a factory setting? Can a well- R= Flow Rate (the rate at which amount of time is required before a designed vegetation management (VM) the inventory is replenished) line clearance worker is well trained program take queues from the im- T= Time (the time it takes for and able to recognize and mitigate provements on Ford’s assembly line? the inventory to go through hazards. It is longer still before they the process) know what to do when encountering A utility VM (UVM) program manufac- a migratory bird nest or how to as- tures a vital part of a greater fin- Example: sess a tree for growth characteristics ished product. That part is a “space” and risk. Their knowledge becomes free from the interference of vege- Inventory (I) = 20,000 miles of more invaluable as they learn the in- tation that allows for the safe, reli- overhead line on a utility sys- tricacies of a particular system. able operation of an overhead tem to keep clear of vegeta- Skilled workers are difficult to ac- electric system. This space is a vital tion “space.” quire and replace. It behooves the part of what the utility needs for manager to utilize the talents of a their finished product to function The cleared space has a useful worker for the skills they have which properly. The factory floor where life expectancy of four years. cannot be substituted. This is similar this space is created is the service So, Time (T) = 4 years. to a tool in a factory. The tools are territory itself. Put simply, a mile of dedicated to certain tasks. Using a overhead line at risk from vegetation Flow Rate (R) = 20,000 miles certain tool to perform other tasks enters the factory and a mile of line “space” (I) / 4 years (T) = may not be detrimental to the tool, free from vegetation risk exits the 5,000 miles cleared “space” but it keeps the tool from function- factory. The UVM program is, per year ing in its best use. Consider delegat- metaphorically speaking, a line ing or removing all other tasks the clearance factory in the space-mak- The resources to clear 5,000 arborist is performing, such as plan- ing business. miles must be added to the ning or notification, that can be inventory each year! done effectively with another tool. UVM Factory Assumptions It is imperative the manager has an inventory of tools at his or her dis- • It is not cost effective to manu- To place UVM onto the assembly line, posal and deploys them appropriately. facture more “space” than what a manager must integrate the work- the system needs. force, planning, and technology. Planning • The manufacture of “space” shall be managed to prevent product The Workforce (Crew) The workforce is expected to be pro- cost from exceeding the product ductive. Productivity does not equate value. Skills are acquired with experience to efficiency. Efficiency is not neces- • The “space” has a finite lifespan and time. Consider, for a moment, sarily effective. If tree workers are

Page 22 Utility Arborist Newsline FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY

hitting all their productivity num- Technology resources where and when they will bers, but the productivity is in ex- have the most impact. The more or- cess of what is required, this is not Utility work does not always start at ganized and available the date is, efficient. If the productivity includes one point and go straight through to the easier it is to analyze. tasks that can be substituted for a another. Powerlines also do not cross lower cost method, the operation is areas that are homogeneous. The Fewer required workers, increased less than effective. Planners can be utility may be subject to regulatory reliability, improved safety, and/or used to identify what needs to be changes, environmental stresses, or environmental stewardship are all produced and determine the proper new demands from the customer. Al- possible. The technology component tool for that portion of the manufac- though unique tasks cannot be empowers managers to gauge vital turing process. The batching and avoided, technology can be used to parts of the assembly line: cost, timing of work is best managed exploit synergies and batch work. quality, and production. Working through a technology solution to en- Hardware and software can be used with a software solution that under- sure the tasks are completed as effi- to greatly improve organizational ca- stands UVM is recommended to en- ciently as possible and that a surplus pability. Adding more information is sure the data and hardware are of space is not being manufactured. like adding a bigger lever, allowing a complementary to the production of Figure 2 demonstrates some of the manager to exhibit more effective “space.” processes where planning and tech- force where it is needed. A higher nology can be used to improve the order of technology allows a man- Henry Ford demonstrated high effi- line clearance product (“space”). ager to add layer after layer of infor- ciency with low resources with his mation in an organized fashion, assembly line. The UVM manager creating a more complete picture should strive to drive operations to Figure 2 (Below): Hayes/Wheelwright and sharing that picture with a wider the lower right corner of the matrix. UVM product-process matrix, courtesy of Clearion Software, LLC and CVMC, audience and stakeholders. It also al- The integration of contract planners LLC lows managers to integrate informa- and a software solution to track tion from other sources to focus work flow with the workforce is

FLEXIBLE OR CUSTOM LOWPRODUCTION HIGH

JUMBLED HIGH

Outage Response/Claims Jobs are unique Large Removals/New Construc琀on/Overhang W R O E R Jobs are Hot Spong/Make Safes/ S K worked in Reliability/Trimming O Batches or U F Scheduled Rebuilds/System Hardening/ R L Small Removals C O E W S Line Clearance Work is Cycle con琀nuous and connected Herbicide Cycle CONTINUOUS LOW

LOWEFFICIENCY HIGH DEPENDABLE OR STANDARD

Page 24 Utility Arborist Newsline HIGH

Big Custom OFFICE Solu琀ons HOT SPOT

R DATABASE SYSTEM E Batch CONTRACT MANAGEMENT S Method GIS O ANALYTICS IVM U ANALYTICS GIS INTEGRATIONS R C E CYCLE S Con琀nuous MANAGEMENT Development - Proof of Concept PROOF OF MOWING - Phase Approach CONCEPT SPRAYING CUTTING LOW Figure 3: LOW HIGH Hayes/ Wheelwright UVM EFFICIENCIES efficiency-process matrix, courtesy of Clearion Software, LLC and CVMC, LLC

essential to finding synergies and ure to use a higher order of technol- Every utility should put their UVM batching jobs with similar charac- ogy is like building one car at a program on the assembly line. UVM teristics, such as proximity to line, time. Although it provides great is more effective through integra- geography, accessibility, reliability flexibility, it is expensive and re- tion of workforce, planning, and risk, and environmental issues. Fail- quires a great deal of resources. technology.

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