Application of Systems Engineering Into an Ongoing Operation

Abstract

This paper presents an approach to introducing the Systems Engineering Paradigm into a culture that was previously oriented to production. The Westinghouse Hanford Company, the Operations and Management Contractor for the Hanford Site of the Department of Energy (DOE), was directed by the Department to change from a mission of supporting the nuclear weapons production program to one that would eliminate the threats to the environment and hazards to the public that have resulted from this production. Because of the requirement for continuing management of stored wastes, a strong Stakeholder involvement, and the objective to use the cleanup of the Hanford site as a model for the cleanup of other hazardous and toxic waste sites, the DOE strongly emphasized that systems engineering should be used to develop the cleanup program. This paper will also make recommendations based upon the Hanford experience that may be applied to other instances where changing the organizational culture is necessary to support a change in the mission.

2 Systems Engineering Applied to Integrated Safety Management for High Consequence Facilities

“…The systems engineering analysis for an integrated safety management system paralleled the functions for the ISMS. The ISMS had the functional flow of: • Develop the answer that will perform the functions and satisfy the requirements • Test and iterate on the design to further enhance functionality and performance This engineering analysis used the FRAT methodology of Mar and Morais (Mar, 1994, Morais and Grygiel, 1994, Mar and Morais, 1997 to develop a definition for an integrated system. The methodology defined the top level function (F), Do Work Safely, the requirements (R), Meet The Orders and Regulations and Meet The Work Task Needs), the answer (A), Facility Integrated Management System, and the test (T), Approval by Management.…”