ROP Productivity Increase
Thinking about work from a unique perspective can make a significant difference in the level of productivity achieved.
At Electric Conduit Construction (ECC) we do our best to understand the needs of our customers and respond to them with innovative solutions. Understanding is facilitated by meetings, conference calls, email, and text messages. Even the best planned project can benefit from team discussions on ways to improve processes, shorten schedules or explore proposed efficiencies.
Customer comment
“After three years of planning and construction, as well as eight strategic meetings in 2024, we have successfully livened 14 ROPs for Link B23781 in one day using the innovative and bold "Leap Frogging" method. This approach required the collaboration of two members from each workflow: ECC, UCOMM, and PM-IT. This method has been a game changer in terms of utilizing knowledge sharing, consistency, time and cost savings, and overall efficiency.
The team demonstrated remarkable ability by troubleshooting and resolving errors in real-time, utilizing all core stakeholders. They faced challenges ranging from reconfiguration of router designations to needing overhead support to power an ROP cabinet, and they tackled each issue head-on.”
An example of this is a recent project involving the installation and connection via fiber optic cable, of ROP’s (Routers on a pole). These ROP’s must be installed in a cabinet, wired, and connected via fiber optic cable. The units then must be evaluated for continuity, power, alarm interlocks and overall functionality. This includes software updates and testing from the main control center.
On the project referenced above in a typical day ECC crews would support the activation of 4 to 5 ROP’s per day. Towards the end of the project our utility customer urgently needed more ROP’s online in a much shorter time than previously allocated. The ECC, utility and IT teams met and worked out a new system for bringing the ROP’s online. This new system requires one extra crew and close coordination with the control center. By leapfrogging crews, the control center was able to activate the ROP’s with zero downtime between each location. This increased production to 14 ROP’s per day.
Teamwork, communication, and innovative thinking helped us meet our customers’ needs and complete the project according to their new schedule.