Vol. 52, No. 3        February 12, 2000

Laboratories support

Sandia Reaches Out to the Community: Sandia employees achieved a milestone by contributing just over $2 million to their local United Way agencies and other community charitable organizations. During the Week of Caring, Aug. 9-14, nearly 100 Sandia volunteers worked with residents of the Amistad Youth Crisis Shelter to renovate its facility, which included landscaping, a patio, and a basketball court. Lockheed Martin Corporation provided funding for the renovations. Sandians also donated $12,500 for the purchase of 475 pairs of shoes to the Shoes for Kids Program. Thirty Sandia scientists and engineers partnered with teachers in the Albuquerque Public Schools to provide hands-on science instruction in the Labs' new CroSSlinks program. Overall, 2,370 Sandians reported 81,000 hours of volunteer time in the community. (12600)

The Human Resources Division sponsored a Spring Leadership Conference with the theme, "A Management Dialog: Making Sandia a Great Place to Work." The conference included all levels of management, 800-plus individuals, with the intent of candid communication about Sandia's future, budget, management structure, and corporate policies. Plans are in place for a similar conference in 2000 as a continuing executive focus to enhance management communication. (3000)

A Web-based Employee Attitude Survey was conducted in January 1999. Nearly 1,800 Sandians were randomly selected to participate, with a response rate of 61.3 percent, the highest yet for attitude surveys. Three issues identified are being addressed at the corporate level: 1) Deal with poor performers; 2) Make post & bid more accessible; 3) Enable "people management" skills. Divisions are implementing action plans that address division-specific concerns. Several things made this survey unique over previous years. The survey was developed internally and administered electronically with an approximate saving of $120,000. (3000)

New Mexico Site: Based on a needs assessment completed February 1999, a comprehensive, full-day New Employee Orientation (NEO) program was implemented in September 1999. Objectives for new employee are: 1) provide an official corporate welcome, 2) relay corporate culture, 3) provide information on total rewards, 4) emphasize the importance of security awareness, and 5) broaden the view of Sandia's state-of-the-art facilities and programmatic initiatives. Held once a month, NEO includes presentations on the corporate overview, diversity, computer security, counterintelligence, total rewards, health services, and benefits, plus afternoon tours of Sandia's sites. (3500)

In mid-1999, new three-year agreements were negotiated between the Laboratories and the Metal Trades Council (MTC) and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU). The agreements included changes in wages, benefits, and other related contract provisions. (3500)

An Electronic Time Invoicing System (ETI) was designed to replace the paper time invoice. Staff augmentation contract associates can now submit their weekly time invoices electronically and any regular Sandia employee within the department can authorize the invoice for payment. On-line edits have eliminated invalid information being submitted for processing, thereby eliminating hours spent each week used to address kick-outs and payment problems with suppliers. (3500, 4800)

DOE and Sandia continue an effective partnership to produce an annual Laboratory Performance Appraisal. During the past several years, Sandia and DOE/AL and KAO have worked together to evolve an integrated performance-based assessment process designed to help satisfy DOE's oversight responsibilities in one comprehensive annual review rather than the several appraisals Sandia had to respond to in the past. It also represents DOE's formal evaluation of Sandia's performance under our performance-based prime contract and, ultimately, Lockheed Martin's performance as Sandia's M&O contractor. The DOE report card for the past several years has rated Sandia "Outstanding" in all areas that were scored. (4100)

In FY99, Sandia/New Mexico's Decontamination and Demolition (D&D) program removed a total of 37,297 gross square feet, which exceeded the FY99 objective for removal of substandard space. Buildings removed include 828, 867D, 867E, 881, 882, 882A, 882B, 906, 921, MO94, MO188, MO189, and MO190. In addition, decontamination was completed for Bldgs. 640 and 641, which will be demolished in FY00. The D&D projects are identified and prioritized through a master planning process. The project team includes professionals from all ES&H disciplines, Facilities personnel, and contractors. (7900) (NWSBU)

Extraordinary teaming and potential problem analysis by the Facilities organizations helped ensure reliable operations and minimize Y2K vulnerability of critical Sandia systems over the Y2K transition. System compliance assessment, enhancement/verification/testing, and implementation of resource protection initiatives were key to the Labs' success. Labs-wide participation in the identification and remediation of Y2K-related concerns was promoted via Y2K problem-solving teams and contributions to "Y2K Roadshows," DOE/KAFB/City of Albuquerque alliances, and management interfaces. (7100/7800/7900)

By applying Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS) principles to construction work, Sandia's construction accident rate (OSHA 200 recordable) is one-third the national average. Many innovative approaches, such as Sandia Safety Stars, Sandia Safety Deficiencies, "Construction News Sense," and OSHA subpart seminars, contributed to the success. The results: fewer interruptions to construction work, reduced oversight, and better contractor relations.

With the increased scrutiny of Foreign Visits & Assignments (FV&A) and Foreign Travel programs, the Foreign Interactions team has met DOE's high standards in a turbulent environment. FI deployed the Electronic Foreign National Request System, an application that streamlines the request process. The application increases efficiency for the line and improves ability to respond to customers' needs. Cited by DOE's FV&A Policy office manager as "a model program," the team is a benchmark for other DOE facilities. (7100, 4600, 5000, 3500, 10000, 4800)

A major corporate initiative to conduct a Sunset Review of Corporate Business Rules was accomplished by the Policy and Requirements Team, 10001-1. With the support and involvement of several VPs, all Corporate Policy Statements and Corporate Process Requirements were reviewed against the No Go/Go criteria to determine their continued applicability at Sandia. End result: Better documents, more understandable rules and requirements, and up-to-date references and hyperlinks within our business rules. (10000)

The Property Inventory Team developed a Three-Year Inventory Cycle (1997-1999), with DOE concurrence, combining traditional methods of inventory with statistical sampling. In 1999, Sandia located 99.56 percent of the value of the assets and scored an "Outstanding" for the FY99 Business Management Oversight Report. This success maintained the confidence of DOE so that we can continue to use statistical sampling (instead of inventorying all property) that has resulted in annual savings of $400,000. (10200)

Over the past four years, Procurement has reduced cycle time and cost of procurement and increased customer satisfaction from 58 percent in FY95 to 97 percent in FY99. DOE has recognized Procurement with three years of "Outstanding" performance ratings for the DOE/SNL Appraisal System (Business Management Oversight Review). Supplier Relations has been commended for successfully reaching out to the supplier community through a Sandia Business Partners Program and active participation at business development organizations. (10200)

In FY99, sizing of Sandia's Indirect functions (General and Administrative [G&A], Site Support, Center Support, and Indirect Service Centers) was addressed. The process establishes a five-year sizing plan (FY00-04) that allows for sizing and resource allocation decisions. G&A and Site Support have been categorized into 13 functional areas as well as the California site. Sandia's Executive VP reviewed the plan and the recommendations from the Capabilities and Capacities Council and the Labs Leadership Team and established five-year targets for all functional areas. (10000)

The Financial, Manufacturing, and Integrated Information Systems changed business processes and practices in the first step to becoming more commercial-like by implementing an Enterprise Resource Planning System -- Oracle. In November 1998 we implemented a new manufacturing system. This system includes Bill of Material, Master Scheduling/MRP, Quality, Engineering, Cost Management, and Work in Process. In October 1999, we implemented a new Project Accounting, Purchasing, Fixed Assets (property), Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Management Reporting, General Ledger, Tax Reporting, DOE Reporting System. We also modified six interfaces and added a third party product. More than 60,000 hours were spent in training line and operational customers. (10000)

The Electric Power Research Institute and Sandia are long-time partners in providing solutions for generation, delivery, and use of energy. Legacy models for intellectual property (IP), however, became a barrier to collaboration as the partners awakened to the potential of IP. After a year of negotiation, EPRI and Sandia achieved a breakthrough agreement to allocate IP by field-of-use. The first deal under the new model was signed in February. Business Development (8700) and California Legal (11600) provided a sound business foundation for the technical work now under way. (8700, 11600)

Last modified: February 28, 2000

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