Reflecting on a season of success
Randy Ortgiesen, head of the Facilities Engineering Services Section, wrote this week's column.
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Randy Ortgiesen |
Well, it's that time of year again when I spend quite a bit of time in various sections of timber across northern Illinois. Fall has become a cherished season for me and my family for many reasons. The season offers a lot of quiet time and a unique opportunity to clear one's mind and reflect.
This past weekend, with the before-dawn chirp of the cardinal and the just-after-dawn tapping of the nuthatch as background, I thought about what our laboratory has just accomplished by successfully getting back to business after a multi-month accelerator shutdown. I really mean it: that's what I was thinking about. Maybe it was because there won't be too many more Tevatron shutdowns. Or maybe it was admiration for the way the laboratory always, always comes together to plan, estimate, find resources, work long hours and weekends, maintain safety, adjust and execute on time, while making it look easy, even though we all know otherwise. All that was amazing, but this time it was actually all the other critical things we accomplished in parallel that captured my thoughts.
Roughly simultaneously with the shutdown, the laboratory accomplished a weeklong audit of our Integrated Quality Assurance program, launched the Cyber Security Tune IT Up campaign, completed multiple DOE reviews including a construction readiness review of the NOvA project, accomplished many milestones for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects, finished time-sensitive MINU construction at the Main Injector and much more. Many of these critical activities involved the same people responsible for the accelerator maintenance shutdown.
It was a job — many jobs — well done, but it's not yet time to relax. Now we must continue operation of the world's most productive accelerator complex, plus, future project planning and achievement of DOE critical decisions important to our future. And, did I mention that these activities will need to be conducted by many of the same people responsible for performing ongoing laboratory operations.
So much for mind-clearing rest in the northern Illinois timber. Well done, and keep up the good work.
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