[Escoordminutes] ES Division Coordination Meeting Minutes -- August

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, August 
29, 2006, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room.  Attending were Lew 
Serna, Ramon Gutierrez, Bob Broilo, Jon Thunborg, Guy Stanzione, James 
Sullivan, Gene Cole, Jim Ruff, Mark McKinnon, Jim Ulvestad and Paul Savedra.

BUDGET — PO’s have been submitted for the following: Hatch Gear PM 
(Electrical #53363), Refurbish 3 AZ Bearings (Acct#53361), $300K for RR 
ties and Track Ballast. PO’s for the following equipment has also been 
submitted; E-size copying machine (drafting #53321), Ballast Regulator 
(Track #53342), VLBA Containers (acct #53330) and MC5 Backup Bus repairs 
(Auto Mech #53341).  It is possible that some funding of the RR material 
will be cut back.

All PO’s needing to go out for bids should have been submitted by August 
25, 2006.  Other PO’s that need to be charged to this fiscal year should 
be submitted by September 15.  Be sure to let purchasing know that the 
PO needs to be committed this fiscal year. Also make sure you get 
receiver copies back promptly so payments get out before the end of 
fiscal year.

The following PO’s still need to be submitted before Sept.15: Remodel 
the AAB Office/Break area (#53362), Thermal Welder (Track# 53342) 
Remember these Items will have to be expensed before the end of this 
fiscal year.

VLBA TT Trips-- Shipping the container to St Croix is extremely 
expensive, so we propose to ship a container one way with all the parts 
needed to repair the antenna and with tools needed for future tiger team 
visits.  The existing container is fairly beat up and will be replaced 
since it may not be acceptable for shipping much longer. A new sea 
worthy container will be purchased soon to make the trips from here on 
out. Shipping costs for the container round trip is around $15K. Ramon 
estimates the cost for tools and a container is around $22K. The tool 
cost may be reduced by shipping some of the necessary tools in a box 
each visit instead of purchasing these tools and keeping them at St. 
Criox. Ordering of containers and tools may occur towards the end of the 
fiscal year (September).  A similar situation exists with the MK and HN 
site where shipping costs are about $12K minimum.  A permanent container 
may be desirable for these sites as well.

The 2006 VLBA KP and MK visits are complete; The AZ 1 wheel assembly was 
replaced at MK during the visit.  The HN maintenance visit is scheduled 
for September 20-27.  A 3-4 day extended visit to replace one AZ wheel 
assembly at HN will be requested.    A wheel assembly will be shipped to 
HN for replacement.  Both wheel assemblies will eventually need to be 
replaced.  The second wheel will be replaced in three years during the 
TT visit to HN.

An effort to replace all old style wheel assemblies during Maintenance 
visits will be investigated.  Quotes for machining axles from and 
outside shop are desirable.

AZ Bearings – An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a 
bearing change can occur.  Parts from the bearings removed from antennas 
are needed for measuring and fitting of new parts and should be stored 
until they are scheduled to be shipped to Rotek for repair. Antenna 14, 
16 & 18’s bearings have been shipped to Rotek for refurbishment.  There 
is an 8-9 week lead time for delivery on a refurbished bearing. 
Inspection of the bearings for possible refurbishment is still pending. 
A PO has been issued to refurbish the bearings as soon as possible.

Antenna 26’s bearing was been changed in May 2006. Grease samples show 
that antennas 28, 10, 20, are good candidates for the next bearing 
changes. Large metal pieces were recently found on Antenna 28’s AZ 
bearing grease.  This bearing will likely be replaced next, in FY2007. 
There is one good Azimuth bearing on hand. One spare bearing should be 
maintained at all times in the event a catastrophic failure occurs. If 
possible bearing replacement will occur at a rate of one per year in 
order to maintain the EVLA outfitting schedule.

NEW PROJECTS:
Control building Stairways— The Control Building Stairways are being 
replaced due to their rapid deterioration.  The stairways will be 
replaced with an improved design conforming to ADA. Materials have been 
ordered and drawings have been sent to the Machine Shop and the Weld 
shop for fabrication of parts.   A new concrete landing will have to be 
poured at the base of the eastern stairway. The stairs will be repaired 
one flight at a time so the work can be fit in along with EVLA work. The 
eastern stairway is now deemed unsafe due to trip hazards.  A barricade 
preventing the use of the eastern stairway will be installed. The 
western stairway is usable.  Due to the amount of EVLA work scheduled 
for the Welding and Carpentry shops the project will be delayed until 
such time that these groups can get caught up.

Transporter Axles – The transporter axles are exhibiting several cracks 
which are being rubbed out (repaired) preventing propagation of the 
cracks.  This is a temporary fix as more cracks will eventually 
reappear. These axles should probably be replaced in the next 10 years 
with axles made of a different material and design to increase their 
life.  They are currently lasting about 12-14 years and were last 
replaced in 1992.  There are 12 axles per transporter and each axle will 
cost around $3K to replace. There is one spare axle of the existing 
design available. A plan to purchase 3 newly designed axles per year to 
replace all transporter axles in 8 years time is being proposed.  It is 
worthwhile to investigate the cost of having these built up at one time 
by an outside shop. The last two inspections of “repaired” axles (in 
service for about 2 years) revealed no cracks.  This project is ON HOLD 
pending further monitoring.

VLBA Gearbox and Wheel Assy.  The one spare Wheel assembly that was 
built was installed on the MK antenna; parts are available for a second. 
Another spare should be built as soon as possible.  Also there should be 
enough spares to repair the spare VLBA Gearbox that has been 
cannibalized.  If the parts have been expensed the gearbox should be 
restored.  Steve Aragon will check on spare parts to make sure that they 
have been expensed and withdraw the necessary parts to restore the VLBA 
Gearbox.

SEWAGE LIFT STATION— The VLA sewage lift station upgrade is in progress. 
  The upgrade will bring all pumps and controls above ground eliminating 
the confined space entry for almost all required maintenance.  Only a 
couple of check valves will remain below the surface.  The building has 
been erected.  Remaining materials should be ordered this fiscal year 
and charged to Account # 53362.  A meeting is scheduled on the afternoon 
8/29/06 for planning the remainder of work for this project.

VLBA CORRELATOR HVAC— The VLBA correlator HVAC System at the AOC is very 
old and in need of replacing.  The funds for this project which will be 
included our Facilities Infrastructure Budget Account #53362.  The units 
have been ordered and have been received.  This job has been 
successfully completed.  Future Correlator HVAC maintenance and callouts 
will revert to New Mexico Tech.  Thanks to all involved for a Job Well Done!

TS BREAK AREA— the Tech Services break area has been in operation since 
the building was built in the ‘70’s and is in poor condition. 
Contribution from ES and Electronics Division has made a renovation 
possible. Work is complete with only final touches needed.

SANDBLASTING AREA— there is a need for a sheltered sandblasting area at 
the paint booth with more storage space for better organization.  With 
the sandblasting area we can recover and reuse the sandblasting media 
and organize Paint Booth work more effectively.  The concrete floor has 
been poured and the storage bins are in place.  Work on the roof will 
proceed as time permits.  The sandblasting area is functional now.

AAB OFFICE/BREAK REMODEL-- A plan to remodel the AAB office space and 
break area is being devised.  Work on this project is funded. Materials 
must be expensed before the end of this fiscal year. Use account #53362. 
  Electrical PO’s are in but still need Carpentry and HVAC.

BUS REPAIRS— The newly acquired MC5 bus needs minor repairs before it 
can be put into service.  This project is funded on the Auto Account # 
53341. Repairs are in progress and nearing completion. Once this bus is 
placed in service we can return the White Bus to GSA.  The MC5 bus will 
become a backup bus in the event the Blue or Yellow MC9’s break down.


Hatch Gear PM— Time for a 6-8 hour outage to perform this PM has been 
scheduled with operations for September 22, 2006 beginning at 7:00am. 
Use Account #53363 for this project. A meeting for planning work on this 
project will be held in 2 weeks.

Oil Storage Tank—The two old storage tanks behind the Generator building 
will be replaced with a one double wall storage tank bringing us into 
HAZMAT compliance.  Concrete bases will be necessary to set the tank 
down and plumbing will be required.


EVLA STATUS ;
Correlator Room— It has been determined that general purpose cables will 
be allowed in the correlator room plenum. We are awaiting for the floor 
contractor to finish so we can continue with HVAC startup.  Still need 
under floor 110 V wiring, Filter RFI check, Doorway pinch interlock, 
Hallway ceiling, The Fire system and related equipment shutdown systems 
will be tested on the week of 18 September.  It has been determined that 
the HVAC motors do not require a soft start.


EVLA Antennas: Antenna 23 is in the AAB.  This is the beginning of the 6 
antenna per year production schedule. A goal of 12 antennas outfitted by 
September of 2007 is set.  20 L-band feeds will need to be finished by 
September 2007, along with 2 new S-band feeds by the end of December 
2006! A Christmas tree will need to be made for the S-band feeds. 
Keeping the schedule is very high priority.  There are Currently 21 VLA 
antennas and 7 EVLA Antennas.  A 20 Antenna rule for VLA antennas now 
exists.   A callout will occur for VLA antennas when we have only 19 
antennas operational.  EVLA antenna callouts will be made mostly for 
equipment safety reasons and will be determined by operations. So far ES 
Division EVLA antenna outfitting is on schedule.

Antenna HVAC will undergo several changes over the next several months 
to try and meet new Vertex room specifications.

Antenna 13 feed moisture monitoring shows that moisture is inside the L 
band feed since July 8 and needs to be investigated.

Ramon will investigate the merits of having a Metal Working machine and 
how it would impact efficiency on fabrication tasks in the AAB.


SAFETY REPORT
Accident Report:
There have been a total of 9 Accidents reported this year. There have 
been 6 accidents attributed to the ES Division.  Ended the year with 12 
accidents for 2005

2006-001 ES Div. Carpentry Shop	Employee injured while replacing floor 
tiles.
2006-002 ES Div. Servo Shop	Employee injured back while moving shop around.
2006-003 ES Div. Secretary	Employee injured head while getting into a 
vehicle.
2006-004 ES Div. Track Crew 	Employee damaged to prosthetic leg.
2006-005 Business Div.  HR 	Employee has possible carpel tunnel in right 
wrist.
2006-006 ALMA PSI Group	Employee received an electrical shock from a 400 VAC
2006-007 ES Div. Carpentry Shop	Employee injured hand with pneumatic 
nail gun.
2006-008 Computing DIV. CID 	Employee tripped over raised edge of floor tile
2006-009 ES Div. Transporter Shop Employee injured while attaching new 
feed cone in Ant 26

Incident Report:
There have been a total of 7 Incidents reported this year. There have 
been 3 incidents attributed to the ES Division.

JHA:
A Job Hazard Analysis needs to be completed for the installation of the 
new upper receiver cabinet and feed cones.

Training: There will be a DOT required training for supervisors on Wed 
August 30th at 9:00AM in the Café Con Room. The training will be 
conducted by Socorro Mental Health (SMH). Two SMH employees will be on 
site to conduct this training. This training will be conducted in- 
accordance with Department of Transportation (DOT) rules and 
regulations. The DOT requires training for supervisors under Title 49 
Part 382 Subpart F, Section 603.

Next Monthly All Hands Safety Meeting:
The next all hands safety meeting will be held on August 31 @ 3:00 PM in 
the VLA Cafe. Sandra Gomez a Safety Specialist with Airgas and with over 
13years in the safety field will provide training on Lockout/Tagout to 
all employees at the VLA site. It is a requirement by the OSHA that all 
employees receive Lockout/Tagout training annually.

Arc Flash Program:
The program is in a hold mode awaiting Bob’s report and Jaime’s time.

Emergency Services:
Rope Rescue:
The Rope Rescue team had a full day training session on 8/23/06. The 
training went very well.
Radios:
The new radio antenna was installed on the AAB on 8-4-06 by Bob Broilo, 
Dave Alderman and Richard Murillo. The new radios will be in soon.

OTHER:
Coke or Pepsi?-- We have had many troubles with the Coca Cola Company 
with regard to service at the VLA; some thought is being given to change 
to Pepsi in hopes of better service.  Supervisors should ask employees 
if they object to the change in product by the end of this week.


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
AUI President, Ethan Schreier, will talk to NRAO staff on August 30, at 
3 p.m. EDT. Due to limited space available at the VLA, a video tape will 
be made for viewing by employees unable to participate.

  End of year Warehouse Inventory- Warehouse inventory will be performed 
the week of September 11th through the 15th.  On the 11th, the warehouse 
will close at 1:30 p.m. so that all of the receivers and issues can be 
put into the system.  The warehouse will continued to be closed until at 
least the end of Thursday, the 14th; perhaps even part of that Friday. 
If finished ahead of time, the warehouse will open earlier.  The 
warehouse will let everyone know if that happens.  Only Emergency 
withdrawals will be issued while inventory is in progress.

  End of summer party.—End of summer party is scheduled for Thursday, 
September 21.  As usual the Pit Bar-B-Que will be cooked by track crew 
and the food will be served by the supervisory staff.   The no host 
lunch for September is canceled.

The AUI Board will meet at the AOC on October 10-12 with a possible tour 
at the VLA on October 12. It is possible they would like to reserve the 
VLA Cafeteria Conference Room for their visit.

Terry Romero is soliciting NRAO NM NEWS newsletter articles for 
September.  Please submit your articles in early September.