In 2020, the Apparatus Shop saved us, and ultimately our customers, more than $640,000. If you've never heard of an apparatus shop before, don't worry: you're not alone. At the highest level, an apparatus shop is responsible for repairing and maintaining equipment.
Our Apparatus Shop was created decades ago to repair high-voltage distribution switches, reclosers and transformers. They do a wide variety of work from testing all the rubber gloves and blankets before they are used to responding to emergency events and getting needed equipment into the field. They replace components and parts that are worn and repair leaks and even do a little body work on the apparatus.
However, around 2010-2011, due to staffing shortages, the repairs to the equipment stopped and the shop focused on putting new apparatus in the field. The staff kept all repairable equipment that was still salvageable just in case they were able to bring on another employee someday.
In 2019 Supervisor David Buckner drafted a proposal to demonstrate how much money the organization could save by bringing on one additional employee who would focus solely on repairing broken equipment. This would save us in having to purchase brand new equipment.
“Every time I ran the numbers, I was always coming up at a savings somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million a year,” Buckner said. “That number is calculated based on the amount of money we save in re-using broken equipment that is now fixed instead of buying new equipment.”
Energy Services Officer Travas Deal and Energy Construction Operations Maintenance Manager Thane LaBarre gave Buckner the green light to hire an additional employee. Buckner hired another apparatus tech in October 2019, giving him the ability to dedicate one technician to solely making repairs.
In 2020, the team repaired 135 apparatuses for a total savings of $640,633. And that number is only through the first three quarters of the year! Repairs stopped in October because of staffing issues due to COVID-19.
Looking back on the success of the first year, Buckner says it worked really well and he hopes to be able to save this amount of money - or more - each year.
“As we continue to do more work, we’ll be able to start expanding and fixing even older pieces of equipment,” Buckner said.
This is just the latest example of how our employees are always putting the customer first and doing what they can to keep rates as low as possible.