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Operations Management Course for Utilities
   Operations Management Best Practices - A Capacity Building Program

Course Audience 

• The Chief Operations Officer (COO)'s Team: Utility sector engineering team, operations, and production, quality managers, project managers, and operations management consultants.

• Utility Sector Covers:

  •  Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution: NAICS 2211

  • Natural Gas Distribution: NAICS 2212.

  • Water, Sewage and Other Systems: NAICS 2213

• Note: This training course is designed for government and corporate professionals. We do not accept students seeking initial employment, postsecondary education or initial licensing programs

Course Objectives 

• Provide 360-degree view of the utility operations management and engineering functions to identify potential management blind spots and performance improvement areas (functional, safety, efficiency and effectiveness)

• Offer experiential analysis of the challenges of COOs, Operations Managers and Engineers

• Review of value chain management, production management, project management and quality management functions

• Share insights on how to develop strategies, initiatives and programs to introduce and sustain operations quality management in utility services

• Highlight Lean Six Sigma (LSS) best practices, tools and models to develop and implement a safe, efficient and effective utility operations management system

• The course duration and topics emphasizes operations management decision-making. However, the topics can be customized to focus on different levels of operations, such as various administrative or engineering topics

Course Modules

1. Answering top utility CEO & COO questions. Strategic Operations Alignment and Integration: Linking investment, business and technical operations: How managers and engineering staff can help answer the top CEO, COO and stakeholders’ questions.

2. The Utilities Infrastructure Value Chain Maps (VCM) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

   • Electric Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution

   • Natural Gas Distribution

   • Water, Sewage and Other Systems

3. Utility Operations Management Model (OMM) - Provides an understanding of operations management frameworks, including planning engineering and safety networks as well as management reporting tools

4. Utility Operations Management Model (OMM) - Provides an understanding of operations management frameworks, including planning, engineering and safety management and reporting frameworks

5. Utility Operations Management Best Practices - Includes:

   •  ISO 9000 & 14000 Standards

• LEAN Six Sigma Systems

6. Utility Operations Management Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboard

   • Performance Management Best Practices

   • Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Training Course Focus

• Develop the core operations management skills and competencies. The core competencies include operations knowledge, planning, monitoring, control, problem-solving, reporting and communication.

Training Model

• Experiential action learning

• 25%-50% seminar and 50-75% experiential discussion and project work

• The development and evaluation of management skills are based on KASAC training model

Key Concepts & Best Practices

Utility Engineering, Process, and Quality Management

• Smart Cities & Utility Infrastructure (Electric Power. Natural Gas. Water, Sewage and Other Systems). Utility Superstructure (Organizational). BPPT (Budget, People, Process and Technology) Operations Model. Planning, Engineering and Safety Frameworks

• Value Chain Planning (VCP) including Demand Forecasting, Generation, and Distribution Planning.

• Social, Health and Safety Frameworks. Environmental Risk Analysis. Impact Assessment. Waste Management. Pollution Prevention.

• Critical analysis of the applications and limitations of popular quality management and business process improvement practices, models and frameworks, including: Six Sigma. Lean Operations. Kaizen. 5Ss. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Analysis. Visual Controls. Process Controls. Diagnostics and Root Cause Analysis (RCA) Tools. Waste Elimination. Total Prevention Management (TPM). Deming Wheel. Total Quality Management (TQM). ISO 9000 standards implementation and audit. ISO 14000 standards implementation and audit.

• Process Assessment Metrics: (TCO. ROI, Generation / Transportation / Production Cost, Breakeven, Location, Capacity, Productivity, Utilization, Layout).

Utility Operations Management Best Practices:

• Top Utility CEO & COO Strategic Questions. Strategic Operations Alignment and Integration: Linking investment, business and technical operations: How managers and engineering staff can help answer the top CEO questions.

• Utility Sector PESTEL (Political, Economic, Societal, Technological, Environmental, and Legal) Risks, Regulations, and Responsibilities. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) frameworks. Occupational Health and Safety. Environmental Management and Pollution Prevention. Risk Management.

• Utility Value Chain Analysis (VCA). Investment Portfolio Analysis Management Customized to Electricity, Water, or Gas Utilities).

• Next Generation Energy vs. Traditional Power Generation Systems: Value Chains of Renewable Energy (Solar, Wind, Hydro, Geothermal, Nuclear and Biomass) vs. Fossil Fuels (Coal, Oil, and Gas).

• COO Challenges.  Strategic Project Management. Operations Planning and Engineering Models.  Forecasting and Aggregate Planning. Decision Trees. Business Process Improvement (BPI). Business Process Re-engineering (BPR). Capability Maturity Model (CMM). Change Management. PDBO  (Plan, Design, Build, Operate) Model.

• Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Demand Forecasting, Generation Planning, and Transport Network Planning. Review of Engineering, Design, & Process Monitoring Tools: SAS Energy Load Forecasting. Power Systems Simulation and Modeling (PSSE) for Transmission Operations and Planning, AutoCAD (Computer Aided Design) and ArcGIS Geographic information system and mapping software.  Benchmarking.

Courseware Content (Customized)

The management training courseware includes the following:

1. Participant's coursework and assessment project guide

2. Subject matter handbook and lecture notes

3. Executive summary of the subject matter:

   • Summary of essential concepts and operations management best practices

   • Examples and case studies

4. Operations management toolkit (management frameworks, decision models, checklists, etc.)

5. Experiential work-based assessment project

6. Online resources for the completion of the experiential assessment project

Performance Evaluation (Optional)

• Performance can be evaluated on the basis of individual or collaborative (collective) team project deliverables.

• There are no Q&A exams or tests. Candidates can choose to complete customized experiential work-based projects such as developing a relevant analysis document, management strategy, improvement action plan or a senior management presentation

• The course advisor will review the deliverables and provide improvement feedback

• The evaluation is a form of management consulting and experiential coaching for performance improvement

  Courses By Industry - Optional Customization (For Group Training):

All of the institute's training and case studies can be customized to each industry, including: government and public sector management, banking, insurance and financial services management, investment and asset management, energy, utilities, oil and gas management, trade and retail management, education management, pharmaceutical, healthcare, hospital management, construction management, real estate management, agriculture and fishery management, food and restaurant management, telecommunication and information technology management, transportation, freight and logistics management, aerospace, automotive, airlines management, hospitality management, tourism, travel and leisure management, media management, and manufacturing management.