Six Sigma, the cloud and clarity

Project risk management makes installing electrical transmission lines in India safer and more expedient

Project risk management is an emerging domain in projects that install electrical transmission lines in India. Risk management attempts to cover any unwanted or unexpected event that can affect the project's outcomes. A series of such risk events occurs in many electrical transmission line projects.

In developing countries, the problems can increase because the highly techni- cal projects take place in an infrastructure environment that is evolving, not mature. And in the growing economy that is India, the government plans to increase produc- tion wattage exponentially from its current value of 210,951.72 megawatts. The sector involves many government organizations, like Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCI), various state electricity distri- bution boards, National Thermal Power Corp. (NTPC) and Indian Railways. Some private organizations also are involved in installing electrical transmission lines in India.

Each installation project involves simi- lar activities, but the technical details can vary to a large extent. And in India, the railways operate a wide network of electri- cal lines with high transmission voltage, ranging around 25,000 volts. Such proj- ects face the same risks as conventional projects to install electrical transmission lines. All this means that the number of projects being executed in the future will continue to grow.

A risky business

Executives working in this sector have divided the whole process of electrical transmission line installation projects into various subsections. A quick analysis of one project helps us understand why.

In northern India, it took about one year to install transmission lines for a new substation. However, at different times, different units were installing towers and stringing wires, leading to a number of severe problems and risks. These projects require a huge amount of work on sites that can cross hundreds of kilometers of land and pass through different geographi- cal regions. Hence, it becomes an absolute necessity to divide the projects into differ- ent portions or sections. Another point to be noted is that at times, small contractors are used to install transmission lines, so each project can have different sections that are handled by different contactors, further decreasing coordination and increasing the probability of risks.

In one such incident when a national level transmission line was being installed, a few sections of the line were delayed so much that the critical path (the sum of the total time taken to complete all the proj- ect's essential activities) almost doubled what was planned. So professionals always spend a large amount of time dividing the project into various subsections to try to reduce critical path time and make risk management more effective.

Our study surveyed professionals to come up with a common description for these subdivisions of activities necessary to complete the installation of any conven- tional electrical transmission line. The main divisions are:

1. Tower base preparation

2. Construction of tower

3. Installation of ground wires

4. Erection of electrodes and conductor

5. Stringing, sagging and clipping

6. Installation of associated hardware

7. Jumper cable installation

<p>8. Vibration damper installation

9. Spacer installation

Each of these common processes can be termed a phase in the installation of any transmission line, irrespective of its length and working voltage. It is worth mention- ing that for a 33,000-volt line that covers more than 500 kilometers, contractors could start work in more than 25 sites along the whole stretch of the line. In many projects, work starts simultaneously on many different sites. Giving contracts to different players over a large geographic region helps reduce the project's critical path time by initiating a large number of parallel activities.

However, this also makes it diffi- cult to monitor risk, and the industry faces many losses. The need for central monitoring is great, but the numerous small contractors involved don't always follow standard guide- lines. This increases each project's risk, sometimes leading to a drastic blow for project outcomes through delays - or even completely halting a section of the project.

As you can see, ensuring that work on different sections of the line constantly adheres to guidelines for proper risk mitigation is a major problem. Personal experience, combined with discussions from experts in this field, shows that most monitoring is done in the form of sheets that list different parameters, and each site can have multiple sheets detailing the tower's parameters. The Institute of Electri- cal and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) offers many sheets with such guidelines.

These sheets are used to monitor work progress and measure the project's tech- nical attributes. Safety guidelines, which are filled out on a regular interval in every project and subsection, also are included. However, applying a Six Sigma project has led to a new and improved way of using these sheets and guidelines.

Suggested methodology

Six Sigma is an efficient tool for reduc- ing deviations from a set of standards. Six Sigma's strict quality outputs (3.4 defects in one million) control the quality at each step of the production - not just at the final step - by following strict guidelines throughout the process. This is similar to how it is necessary to follow strict IEEE guidelines when installing electrical trans- mission lines.

Still, experts in the field had some apprehension when discussing whether Six Sigma would work in the electri- cal transmission field. Six Sigma mostly is employed for quality maintenance, is considered a benchmark for developing quality standards and has proven viable in the manufacturing sector. But would it be applicable in projects that install electri- cal transmission lines? Since Six Sigma also has been practiced in the services sector, some experts believed that, with alterations, the quality tool could make a difference in the field.

According to Total Quality Manage- ment by Dale H. Besterfield, Carol Besterfield-Michna, Glen Besterfield and Mary Besterfield-Sacre, "design for Six Sigma" has been used by many compa- nies to adapt the tool to their needs. Other authors, like Howard S. Giltow, David M. Levine and Edward A. Popovitch in Design for Six Sigma for Green Belts and Champions, have detailed how the use of Six Sigma has reduced defects and increased manag- ers' abilities to fulfill project requirements. Figure 1 details our team's adaptation of the methodology for use in electrical transmis- sion line installation projects.

After much discussion with experts in the field, the team approved the methodol- ogy. That left the team with the large task of making the plans work on actual projects.

Automating inspection

Automating inspection sheets and compil- ing them on a central server requires an arrangement that collects data on a daily basis. Smaller projects can have teams dedicated for automating inspection on a weekly or daily basis for each segment of the project.

But on larger projects, the process must be fully or partially automated because of the risk level and monetary inputs. There- fore, we suggest that larger projects follow a system for automatic collection of risk- related inspection data sheets.

The inspection sheets must be devel- oped before the company starts installing any electrical transmission lines. These sheets can cover the projects' various divi- sions and risks and include checking the poles, making sure the transmission lines don't sag, and scheduling line checks.

Figure 2 shows a sample inspection sheet from a leading company that installs transmission lines, while Figure 3 shows the division of a conventional trans- mission line and its cost breakup. The division comes from Wilford Caulkins of IEEE, and the cost breakup comes from "Power Transmission: The Real Bottle- neck," a September 2013 report by Booz & Company (India) Pvt. Ltd. and the Federa- tion of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Since implementing Six Sigma practices on a project to install electrical transmis- sion lines is a big task, the team developed a sequential step-by-step approach to come up with a framework for such a system:

1. Develop software that can process the daily inspection lists for precautions in an electrical transmission line project.

2. The main functionality comes from collecting this inspection data from a project that sometimes can span more than 500 kilometers. The much-talked- about phenomenon of cloud computing, used by many leading companies like General Electric to monitor functions across the globe, held the answer. This was the first time such a system was used specifically for electrical transmis- sion line installation projects in India. When considering the extra costs this system would add, the team recalled Philip B. Crosby's concept that quality is free. Savings come from eliminating the repeated manufacturing and other nonproductive activities that happen when risks are not controlled. For really small projects that cannot justify a separate team to apply continuous risk monitoring, the site engineer can fill the risk inspection datasheets.

3. In the next step, data from each construc- tion site will be collected and sent to the central risk command center.

4. This command center processes the data and applies a proper risk mitiga- tion plan for each site. This is a drastic improvement over the present system, where common risk mitigation plans are applied at all sites.

Figure 4 summarizes the whole process.

System validation result and future research

As a part of the initiative, we incorporated a risk command center at a small level in a project to install an 11,000-volt transmis- sion line.

The data was collected through daily inspections and sent to the central command via organizational email iden- tifications given to the contractor for the small project.

In the case of larger projects, cloud computing can use a separate local area network (LAN) to handle the emailed traffic. Many companies have developed interactive information sharing systems with cloud computing-enabled nodes for various project works. In our case, large transmission line projects follow this system to send data back to the central risk command center.

The command center processes the data and prepares risk plans for that project. The project showed signs of performance improvement, as site supervisors and engineers faced fewer day-to-day operational difficulties. In fact, 82 percent of the respondents reported that the system reduced operational difficulties.

In prior projects, site supervisors said they had to handle an average of 10 to 12 delays or halts each day because of various risks. The supervisors would make changes to ameliorate the problems, and the proj- ects would continue. But introducing this system allowed supervisors to be proactive, giving better technical advice and reduc- ing delays to an average of seven or eight times a day. These results infer that the new system decreases the risk impact and increases risk mitigation capabilities.

Although the system seems to be performing well, validation needs to happen on real-time, large-scale projects that install electrical transmission lines over lengthier geographic areas. Just as impor- tantly, most site supervisors welcomed the new system. In addition, data collection on a larger scale, not to mention the ability of central servers to incorporate more data about past instances and risks, should help reduce risks on larger projects. This leads to the conclusion that the system should be highly adaptable and easily scaled up to larger projects.

On-site experiences and the accounts of managers who handle projects that install electrical transmission lines helped the team classify the various risk catego- ries involved, account for the impact these factors have on such projects, and find out what bothers the working profes- sional in the field. The results show that constant ignorance of risk management has drastically negative results on project performance.

But the Six Sigma methodology helped design and implement a better system to identify and manage those risks on site. Simply keeping a close eye on every part of the project reduces the risks that delay or halt the installation of electrical transmis- sion lines. Such close monitoring analyzes if the project is proceeding on schedule while following standard safety precau- tions and technical requirements.

Many experts in this field strongly advocate having a governing body for risk management because, they say, after proj- ects are tendered, most contractors pay limited attention to risk management on site. While most contractors follow the rules on paper, in practice, due to either ignorance or their desire to increase profits, they consider risk mitigation plans unnec- essary and do not follow them.

But when these risks explode into real problems, the results often jeopardize the entire project by increasing the criti- cal path time necessary to complete the installation, not to mention the safety concerns for workers and the question of whether the project meets technical spec- ifications. Only then does the contractor realize the importance of preparing for risks before they occur.

Introducing a Six Sigma-based approach and using centralized data collection through cloud computing can help all contractors, and the electrical line transmission projects they work on, adhere to the prescribed standards. d

electrical nontransmission

India has a real need to expand both electrical-generating capacity and reliable systems for distribution, according to Indian Power Sector.com.

During 2008 to 2009, the nation lost 28.44 percent of its electricity during transmission and distribution. Electricity shortages cause numerous power outages throughout India, affecting the Asian subcontinent country's economic growth. Theft alone amounts to 1.5 percent of India's GDP.

Despite an ambitious rural electrifcation program, some 400 million Indians lose electricity access during blackouts. While 84.9 percent of Indian villages have at least one electricity line, just 46 percent of rural households have access to electricity, the website reported.

Shwetank Parihar is a research scholar in the Department of Management Studies at the Indian School of Mines, and he lectures in operations management, project manage- ment, total quality management, professional decision modeling and quantitative analysis at Motilal Nehru National Institute of Tech- nology. He has five years of experience in the cable manufacturing, consulting and installa- tion industries. He earned his master's degree in industrial engineering and management from the Indian School of Mines, where he is pursuing his Ph.D. in industrial engineering and management.

Chandan Bhar is a professor in the Depart- ment of Management Studies at the Indian School of Mines as well as dean of student welfare and a part-time director on the board for Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corp. He worked in industry for Coal India Ltd. and has more than 24 years of research experience in industrial engineering and management at the Indian School of Mines. He earned his Ph.D. in industrial engi- neering and management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and his master's degree in industrial engineering and management and bachelor's degree in mining engineering from the Indian School of Mines.