Building Construction Management Software for a Nuclear Power Plant
Bill Wencel
Former Systems Development Manager at Carolina Power and Light
Bill Wencel hired Fred Englert at Carolina Power and Light and managed Fred when he supervised the building of a construction management software product that maintained design and construction information in a four-unit nuclear power plant. The system retained design, construction, and testing information for every component in the plant. The plant is now in full operation.
"I created the idea for the software and came up with the basic modules, but Fred quadrupled the functionality of the system. He also placed people at the building site to act as liaisons between the construction workers and the analysts and programmers working for Fred downtown. That move opened up lines of communication and was very popular: It was a stroke of genius on Fred's part. If construction contractors had ad hoc queries or specific requests, the liaisons could speak their language and provide immediate feedback.
In a high-pressure environment, Fred built camaraderie by doing extra things, like organizing parties. The camaraderie facilitated the information exchange between contractors and people in the corporate environment. It was medicine to prevent future problems.
One problem you have with construction projects is going into meetings and arguing over status. But with Fred's processes in place, there were no qualms about status. The data was there so we could focus our energy on real problems and issues.
Fred works because he loves working, and it's easy to manage a guy like that. He is a joy, extremely professional, thorough, and competent; a stellar performer. People like working with Fred. He is also meticulous. With Fred, there are no surprises and nothing is left to chance."
