"It is a mistake to assume that if everybody does his job, it will be all right. The whole system may be in trouble."
W. Edwards Deming 

Pushing The Envelope
Steve was originally hired at the Hanford nuclear site eleven years ago to "push the envelope" as a new maintenance supervisor. The 586-square-mile Hanford Site is located along the Columbia River in southeastern Washington State. A plutonium production complex with nine nuclear reactors and associated processing facilities, Hanford played a pivotal role in the nation's defense for more than 40 years, beginning in the 1940s with the Manhattan Project. Today, under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy, Hanford is engaged in the world's largest environmental cleanup project, with a number of overlapping technical, political, regulatory, financial and cultural issues.

Little did Steve or the Department or his employer know just what direction the envelope would be pushed. Steve has applied a number of theories and principles in a credible, rigorous manner. This has resulted in important changes to management of the site. Steve's work started as primarily statistical in nature, based upon Dr. Shewhart's original work with control chart. The work has grown and evolved such that it has impacted the way decisions are made by leaders in many areas of quality, safety, systems and production at Hanford. Other Department of Energy sites, including in Nevada and Idaho have also been making use of these ideas in their performance indicator and decision making processes.

At times this was not an easy path. Steve will provide some coping strategies and ideas for those in similar situations and those who desire to continually improve. His sources for theories and ideas include Dr. Deming, Tom Peters, and Ayn Rand (Atlas Shrugged), an engineering and operations research technical background (including duty on nuclear submarines), and a growing network of friends within the In2:InThinking Network efforts, the American Society for Quality, and the Deming Electronic Network. Steve has authored several articles for the American Society for Quality, and his employer, Fluor Hanford has been utilizing his work extensively its projects at Hanford Washington.

About Steve
Steve Prevette is a practitioner of Performance Measurement using the Theory and Tools developed and promoted by Walter Shewhart and Dr. W. Edwards Deming. He currently works as a statistician for Fluor Hanford in Richland, Washington, reporting to Occupational Safety and Health. He supports performance indicators in a broad spectrum of subjects, including safety, environment, operations, maintenance, and quality. Steve provides his organization 1525 charts and analyses per month. Yes, Steve has a control chart of the number of charts made each month. Steve was recently published an article on "Systems Thinking" for the American Society for Quality July 2003 issue of Quality Progress which was very positively received. He has provided the Red Bead Experiment for more than 1,500 persons in the state of Washington, and leads a monthly training session in performance indicators. He also teaches evening statistical courses for City University's Richland WA site.

Other background includes: Born in 1959 in Pennsylvania, raised in New York State and Massachusetts. Received a BS degree from Virginia Tech in Civil Engineering in 1981. In addition to engineering studies, was a member of the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, and marched in the Regimental Band, the Highty-Tighties. Wrote half-time shows during senior year. Joined the Nuclear Navy Propulsion Program while in college. Completed Nuclear Power and submarine training, assigned to the USS JACK (SSN 605) and USS WOODROW WILSON (SSBN 624). Was sent to Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey CA and received a MS in Operations Research. Received the "Chief of Naval Operations Award for Excellence in Operations Research while a student. While assigned to a torpedo maintenance facility in Charleston, SC was exposed to Dr. Deming's work. Was the Total Quality Leadership Coordinator for the facility. Performed an analysis of military promotion rates by race and gender for the Defense Military Equal Opportunity Institute. The published paper used Statistical Process Control (SPC) in a previously unique application, and did provide some meaningful results for the Department of Defense.

With his wife Jennie, they care for two Lhasa Apso dogs that own them. Steve and Jennie are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary this year. Steve's primary hobby is model railroading, and is active in a local model railroad club and the National Model Railroad Association.

Contact him at steve.prevette@rattle-the-cage.com