Approved QA Program

Advent's company philosophy embodies the importance of quality assurance principles including control, feedback, and need for continuing improvement. Within six months of Advent's inception, the company owners had developed and implemented a Quality Assurance Program which incorporated the "best" features based on their experience with other programs. "Best," in this case, meant incorporating controls which maximize the potential for continuing quality improvement and flexibility for individual client needs, but minimizing unnecessary controls.

Aspects of Advent's QA Program include:

Corporate and Project Structure:

Advent's organization includes both corporate and project aspects. The head of Advent's QA Program is the Vice President, Quality Assurance (VPQA). The VPQA monitors and provides quarterly status reports on the effectiveness of the QA Program to the company president. The VPQA is Douglas C. Wood, PE. Each quality project has a Quality Assurance Project Engineer to monitor compliance with quality requirements for that project. This person is required to be independent of the productivity roles on the project and is therefore not subject to cost and scheduler pressures.

Regulatory Compliance:

Advent's QA Program complies with:

10 CFR 50 Appendix B and ANSI/ASME NQA-1-1994
Reg. Guide 1.28 Revision 3, August 1985 - "Quality Assurance Program Requirements (Design and Construction)"
Reg. Guide 1.64 Revision 1, June 1976 - "Quality Assurance Requirements for the Design of Nuclear Power Plants"
Reg. Guide 1.88 Revision 2, October 1976 - "Collection, Storage, and Maintenance of Nuclear Power Plant Quality Assurance Records"
Reg. Guide 1.144 Revision 1, September 1980 - "Auditing of Quality Assurance Programs for Nuclear Power Plants,"
Reg. Guide 1.146 Revision 0, August 1980 - "Qualification of Quality Assurance Program Audit Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants"

Industry Standard Compliance:

Advent's QA Program complies with:

ANSI/ASME NQA-1-1994
ANSI N45.2-1977
ISO 9001 (general compliance, but not formally audited and registered)

Flexibility for Individual Client Needs:

Advent's QA Program consists of standing procedures and project-specific instructions which are written to address a specific project scope and are based on specified client procedures.

Approvals:

Advent's QA Program has been reviewed and approved by four client utilities and one additional organization:

Detroit Edison
Consumers Energy
Wisconsin Electric
IES Utilities (now Alliant Utilities)
Spectrum Technologies USA

Project Organization:

Advent utilizes a multi-discipline task force approach headed by a Project Manager. A Quality Assurance Project Engineer (QAPE) at a peer level with the Project Manager is also assigned.

Continuing Quality Improvement:

Advent managers meet once a year to review the effectiveness and weaknesses of the QA Program and to discuss future improvement options.

Task Force Approach

Advent uses a multi-discipline engineering task force organizational approach. As discussed in the book, In Search of Excellence, by Thomas J. Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr., this task force approach is significantly more effective and efficient at performing work of this type than alternative approaches (such as those used by larger organizations). The effectiveness is derived from the flexibility afforded by a task force, the inherently effective communications, and the minimal levels of supervision / management. Consistent with Advent's Quality Assurance Program requirements, independent checking and Quality Assurance monitoring is also provided.

The proposed project task force team is headed up by a Project Manager who is chosen based on extensive experience and knowledge of the project work scope. The Advent Project Manager is the principal point of contact between Advent and the client for technical and contractual matters. The project team consists of Lead Engineers, Technical Support Engineers, Checkers / Validators, Technical Alternates and a Quality Assurance Project Engineer (QAPE).

The Advent Project Manager coordinates or follows technical activities within the project, provides project training as needed, and serves as the interface with the client for technical matters, key technical issues, and commercial matters.