AIKEN, S.C. -Savannah River Nuclear Solutions (SRNS), the management and operations contractor at the Savannah River Site, recently streamlined calibration laboratories, avoiding an estimated $12 million in costs.
In 2016, SRNS began evaluating six of its organizations that performed approximately 18,000 calibration services annually.
The major calibration labs included the Savannah River Standards Lab (SRSL), Site Services Calibration Lab (SSCL); Savannah River Tritium Enterprise Hot Calibration Lab; and Health Physics Instrument Calibration Lab.
“Our goal was to determine the best cost and service model for the calibration services and reduce redundancy and facility footprint, while maintaining program accreditation and compliance," SRNS Best Business Model Process Program Manager Alexcia Delley said.
"We consulted with various onsite and offsite subject-matter experts, used results from a site services fiscal year 2017 study for consolidating labs and evaluated numerous alternatives to ultimately determine if we should outsource the calibrations to an offsite lab or restructure the six existing labs to keep the services onsite." Delley said.
SRNS decided not to outsource additional calibrations service, and determined that services at the SRSL and the SSCL should be consolidated into one building. Consolidating the calibration services eliminates redundant services and equipment and results in approximately $562,000 in anticipated savings over the next five years.
Consolidating into one building allows for an estimated $12 million in cost avoidance and reduces the site footprint by approximately 6,500 square feet.
Last year, SRNS identified $7.6 million in projected savings over the next six years after evaluating company functions. Some of those savings resulted from improving record and materials management. SRNS outsourced storage of some records at a low cost and optimized its records work flow process. The company also improved efficiency by implementing new bar scanning technology, reducing property marking and tagging for low-value items, and improving delivery schemes.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Energy, Office of Environmental Management
