- Live Outage” approach utilizes digital solutions to improve the field execution experience with standardized procedures while maintaining safety best practices
- It was kicked off in the United States to help complete 7F outages with a substantial reduction in cycle time
- The best practice is now available in Europe and in the Middle East for GE 9F gas turbine operators
ATLANTA, GA – November 30 2022 – Following last year’s implementation of a new lean approach to outages, called “Live Outage,” which was developed with input from experts from the field and experts in lean methodology to improve the field execution experience, GE (NYSE: GE) and FieldCore, GE’s owned field services company, today announced this innovative outage workflow is available for GE 9F gas turbines in Europe and in the Middle East. Initially launched in the United States, at over eighty power plants powered by GE 7F gas turbines, it helped complete outages safely with a substantial reduction in cycle time.
Live Outage is a system of digital applications, tools, sequencing, and other initiatives to transform outages through lean methodology. The Live Outage application hosts the critical content and standard procedures that field crews need, all at the point of work. The weatherproof, touchscreen-based, digitized platform replaces a more antiquated, paper-based approach and makes best practices scalable and reproducible at sites around the world. Further, the app tracks project progress in real time, with status bars for each of the hundreds of tasks that need to be completed, and, in the future, it will automatically generate daily project reports for teams and power plant operators.
“GE’s top priority is to safely conduct our operations and keep our employees and those who do work on our behalf safe. In addition to our strong safety culture and detailed environmental health and safety (EHS) programs across the organization, we used lean approaches to enable operational accountability and implement learnings faster,” said Steven Miller, Services Leader for GE Gas Power in Europe.
“By using lean management and simplifying our procedures, we put information in the hands of those doing the work, with an increased focus on safety and quality. This marked a massive shift from previous field practices, leading to continuous improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cycle time,” said Jeremiah Smedra, Value Stream Program Leader at FieldCore. “A faster outage means the interval between shutting down a power plant for maintenance work and bringing it back online is shorter and the power plant can go back to producing and selling power more quickly, which benefits our customers. Today, Live Outage is available in Europe and in the Middle East, and we will expand implementation across additional gas turbine technologies worldwide.”
Gas turbines can weigh hundreds of tons and are comprised of a myriad of parts and fittings. Some components operate in hot and harsh conditions. At the same time, they must fit together like clockwork, with gaps between moving parts sometimes measuring less than the width of a human hair. Hundreds of tasks need to be completed during an outage while maintaining the integrity of the units and the safety of the field service personnel.
GE field crews are expected to complete more than 700 major outage jobs in more than 60 countries in 2022, each one lasting roughly two to six weeks.
About GE Gas Power
GE Gas Power is a world leader in natural gas power technology, services, and solutions. Through relentless innovation and continuous collaboration with our customers, we are providing more advanced, cleaner and efficient power that people depend on today and building the energy technologies of the future. With the world’s largest installed base of gas turbines and more than 670 million operating hours across GE’s installed fleet, we offer advanced technology and a level of experience that’s unmatched in the industry to build, operate, and maintain leading gas power plants. For more information, please visit www.ge.com/power/gas and follow GE’s gas power businesses on Twitter and LinkedIn.
GE Gas Power is part of GE Vernova, a dynamic accelerator comprised of our Power, Renewable Energy, Digital and Energy Financial Services businesses, focused on supporting customers’ transformations during the global energy transition
For further information:
Laura Aresi
Public Relation Leader -GE Gas Power
[email protected]
