The number of contract operated
water and wastewater plants in the United States increased more than five fold
during the 1990s. Contract operators succeeded by showing that these plants could be
operated more efficiently and effectively by using a number of strategies.
Water and wastewater utility managers responded to this challenge by adapting
the contract operator's strategies and focusing on:
reducing unit operations and maintenance (O&M) costs;
achieving staffing efficiency;
optimizing operations; and,
increasing effectiveness.
This paper demonstrates that, by and large, the industry has been successful in
meeting this challenge. However, this decade's challenges will be quite different and utility manager's focus will have to shift from:
downsizing to rightsizing;
O&M cost reduction to capital and support efficiency; and, from
optimization (or competitiveness) to constant improvement.
This paper focuses on the implications of staffing demographics on utility
management and the steps that management must take on the road to a
rightsized organization. The American Water Works Association Research
Foundation (AwwaRF) has recently awarded a research project to study the
implications of labor demographics entitled "Succession Planning For A Vital
Workforce in the Information Age." This study which is also co-funded by the
Water Environment Research Foundation is briefly described.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 150 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 7 |
