The Success Story

Gerry was asked to evaluate the fiberglass turbine blade repair process in Energy Maintenance Services, Inc.’s (EMS) manufacturing facility in Abilene, Texas. This assignment also required determining the actual costs of repair with a clear direction to reduce unit turbine repair costs.

Through documenting every step of the existing process and creating a Value Stream Map / Process Flow Diagram, Gerry was able to work with the Abilene leadership team to develop streamlined processes that greatly improved the repair cost structure and cycle times to return the turbines to the wind farms.

To achieve this company-impacting objective, Gerry developed new and more specific organization-wide job descriptions that enabled the team to focus on key performance metrics. Gerry received the full support and sanctioning of Corporate HR for these new roles.

Gerry successfully worked with the Corporate Finance group, based in South Dakota, to establish new operating cost standards that were critical in determining both profitability and developing future bid proposals. Gerry’s work was used to help EMS and new and profitable customers for fiberglass composite turbine repairs.

His efforts to transform the Abilene organization led to a more cohesive team, energized around a common purpose and sense of direction.

Finally, the critical path to successful delivery of turbine blades to the wind farms on time, was improving the performance of the on-site vendor responsible for all materials required for repairs. Gerry worked with the vendor’s leadership team to dramatically improve the supply chain processes which resulted in a 30 % reduction in blade turn time cycles for EMS, achieved in just a few short months.

Peter Dawes , President
Energy Maintenance Services
Div of Broadwind Energy