[Escoordminutes] ES Division April Coordination meeting minutes

[Lew Serna]

Minutes for the ES Division Coordination Meeting held on Tuesday, April 
29, 2008, at 10:30 am, in the LL CB conference room. Attending were Lew 
Serna, Charley Chavez, Ramon Gutierrez, Bob Broilo, Guy Stanzione, 
Martin Lopez, Gene Cole and Jon Thunborg.

(Note: May ES coordination meeting is canceled)


BUDGET ---Site & Wye Track budget is over $40K short but an effort to 
replace the $40K is being made. 4500 RR Ties have been ordered. Track 
will have to wait for more funds to order further track material. 
Spending may continue under the assumption that you have last years 
operating budget. Funds for ordering parts to overhaul the yellow bus 
engine are spent from the ops budget ($12K) which will likely overrun 
the Vehicle Maintenance Budget.  Several pieces of equipment need to be 
replaced due to being worn out such as the Steam Cleaner ($3-4K), Band 
Saw ($6K) and Break.  A request to Brent to search on surplus for these 
items would be worthwhile. Also hydraulic cylinders for the track mobile 
will need to be replaced at a cost of $6K.  Several accounts are likely 
to be overspent so keep a close watch and order critical items only.


Stock Proposal- Skip Lagoyda introduced a service whereby a company, 
Fastenal, can provide a shop stock of products that they sell in bins at 
individual VLA shops. The idea is that an inventory of products used in 
a shop can be maintained by a Fastenal representative. The 
representative would visit the VLA on a regular basis taking inventory 
and restocking his bins. The respective shop would then be charged on 
items removed from the stocked bin. This idea is attractive to the 
warehouse since this would reduce the cost of warehousing a large 
inventory. This may also be a good idea for maintaining certain products 
in different shops as well. Skip will arrange a meeting between Fastenal 
and Supervisors/leadmen to see if this is a service we can use sometime 
in the near future.

VLBA -- Tiger Team visits to OV, NL are planned for 2008. St Croix will 
take an extended mechanical maintenance visit in the fall to replace 
Subreflector, Elevation Bearing, finish painting, install platform and 
change out one Azimuth wheel assembly. Antenna mechanics should ensure 
we have wheel assemblies ready for North Liberty, Owens Valley and St. 
Croix.  We will maintain one spare as well.  The platforms are planned 
to be completed in PT this year.  The paint on the HN subreflector was 
deteriorating and its surface contour will require some work to get in 
final spec. The reflector will need to be prepared in time for the SC 
maintenance visit. A more robust box to ship the subreflector will be 
needed. TT Visits for this year are NL 4/30/08-5/07/08, OV 
8/18/08-8/25/08.   

The BR foundation will require repairs in the near future due to 
deterioration at an approximate cost of $15K. MK dish panels that were 
damaged were replaced. The damaged panels need to be repaired for spares.


AZ BEARINGS -- Next Bearing replacement for Antenna 28 will occur in 
July/August of 2008. Bob Broilo is the Bearing Change Supervisor for 
antenna 28. An estimated three weeks in the AAB are required before a 
bearing change can occur. A chordal diameter on the old bearing is 
needed for comparison to the replacement bearing. 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. Delivery of these bearings should be June of 
2008. If possible bearing replacements will occur at a rate of one per 
year in order to maintain the EVLA outfitting schedule. There is one 
good Azimuth bearing on hand. One spare bearing should be maintained at 
all times in the event a catastrophic failure occurs however; we are 
reasonably assured that the 3 refurbished bearings will arrive this 
summer so we will use the spare for antenna 28 if necessary. Grease 
samples show that antennas 10, 20, are also good candidates for 
scheduled bearing changes.

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. The western stairway 
is complete. A new concrete landing will have to be poured at the base 
of the eastern stairway and the steps replaced. The eastern stairway is 
deemed hazardous and is currently barricaded to prevent its use. Work on 
the eastern stairway will continue as the workload permits. No further 
progress.

ST Croix Maintenance Visit--- St. Croix Antenna has undergone extensive 
repair and painting work due to its severe corrosion problems. Work 
began on September 10 through December 21 completing 99 % of the 
painting. Some topcoat painting remains at the base of backup structure. 
In addition the AZ Wheel Assy, Subreflector and elevation bearing 
replacement work will be completed. This work along with finishing the 
painting is tentatively scheduled to occur in October 2008. The 
warehouse reports that there are enough parts to prepare for ST Croix 
and to maintain a spare (or 2ea). This St. Croix Trip is expected to 
last about 3 weeks.

VLA ANTENNA FOUNDATION MOVEMENT--- A problem with north arm antenna 
foundation movement needs to be addressed. It appears that the two 
rearward station pillars have been slowly separating over the years at 
BN3 and BN5 with BN5 being the worst. They have separated far enough in 
about 33 years that 2 bolts (one on each reward pad) can no longer be 
used to secure the antenna pads to the foundation pillars. Markers have 
been set for taking measurements to try and see which pillars are 
actually moving and at what rate. If it becomes obvious that the plates 
need to be repositioned, this work is in progress. Measurements need to 
be re taken while the stations are without antennas.
The plates from BN5 have been removed for modification in the machine shop.


VLA LIGHTING- All high mercury content light bulbs should be eliminated 
from stock. A plan to replace all ballasts and bulbs to efficient 
electronic ballasts is initiated. In addition to removing the high 
mercury content bulbs the savings in kilowatt usage would payback the 
initial cost in less than 2 years. Skip is funding this energy project. 
The Control Building is complete and the Tech Services building is now 
being converted.

GENERATOR REPAIRS--- Minor leaks were noticed at the engine rear seals 
and it is desirable to install a better fuel filtering system. A bearing 
on the generator unit also should be replacement as a PM. This work 
would cost around $15K and will be put on the funding wish list.


POWER MONITOR--- A plan to install power monitoring equipment in the 
Hatch gear will require a power outage lasting 2 days. A hatch gear PM 
is also needed.  The preferred time for installation would be the fall 
when the weather dry and calm. Perhaps the work can be scheduled on a 
weekend (or double maintenance day). The power monitoring equipment is 
very useful in determining our power quality needs and will keep 
operations informed of power status at all times. A time will need to be 
determined by operations.

EVLA;
Civil--- Correlator Room: A preventive measure to test batteries and 
lubricate the Correlator Door will be implemented by the ES Electrical 
group. Cable trays are ordered by Doug Gerard. DC Power supply Cable 
Tray layout will be coordinated in conjunction with Electronics Division 
data cables installation. The cleaning underneath the computer flooring 
will follow installation of cabling. FM 100 training is scheduled for 
August 8.. A mock Correlator rack will arrive so that a dry run on 
installation can be made to prepare for rigging and installing the real 
racks around May 15. Several groups will be involved with the rack 
installations and Guy Stanzione will coordinate the effort.

EVLA Antennas--- Feeds: Contracts for casting S-band and laminating of 
the S-band are finalized. S-Band rings are being cut in preparation for 
assembly. For efficiency S-band feeds will be laminated two at a time 
every 8 weeks. The second S-Band Christmas tree will built using L-Band 
Christmas tree parts once the L-Band lamination work is complete 
sometime in early June. Out of 18 L Band feeds tested, there are 2 that 
remain on the on the shelf that have been tested. VSWR tests will be 
made to several L-Band feeds later this summer.   It is desirable to 
install as many feeds as possible while in the AAB.  Some S-band feeds 
will probably need to wait until the antennas are back in for overhauls. 

 In the event remaining VLA antennas are shut down after the 22^nd EVLA 
antenna is complete it may be desirable to remove power and complete 
some of the outfitting tasks in the field for some groups.

SAFETY REPORT :

It is the NRAO policy not to do any asbestos work and any work that is 
to be done is to be contracted out. This is because of the cost burden 
that includes medical surveillance, training, as well as workers 
compensation insurance issues.

Wednesday, April 30, Jody Bolyard is presenting the Leadership Training 
at the VLA site. He is presenting the training in Socorro on Tuesday.

We are seeing minor injuries that are the result of folks not staying 
aware of their surrounding environment or improper lifting techniques. 
As you know, once we start seeing multiple minor injuries, we inevitably 
see a major one.

TAILGATES--Supervisors and leadmen should conduct tailgate sessions daily.


ANNOUNCEMENTS:
PEP---
April-- Solicit self appraisals
May 15--- PEP Training for Supervisors/leadmen
May-June 30-- Supervisors complete forms and conduct interviews
July 7--- All PEP's due in HR

 Manager/Supervisor Safety Training Session---- At the VLA Cafeteria 
conference room April 30th  at 3:00 PM.

 All Hands Meeting with Bob Dickman at the VLA Cafeteria 11:00 am. on 
Thursday, May 1.

 Supervisor Affirmative Action Meeting on May 7, 9:30 in the VLA 
cafeteria conference room.

 PEP workshop for supervisors/leadmen at 10:00 am. on Thursday, May 15. 
VLA cafeteria conference room

 
OTHER:
Eleventh Synthesis Imaging Workshop June 10- June 17.

 VLA Tour for Synthesis Imaging Students will require the use of the 3 
VLA buses and drivers on Sunday, June 15, 2008.

 Re-dedication of AOC with Senator Domenici at AOC on 5/30/2008.

 LMI-NSF Review of NM Ops 6-23 to 6-25.

 

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