STARS shares the 3 focus areas that help us, and our member stations, excel.

STARS Alliance, or the idea of forming a company to put STARS member’s stations on par with fleet stations has been in the back of Steve Coppock’s mind for years.

In the far-left corner of his office, above his computer, is a series of black books that hold the beginnings of STARS.

“I’m pretty sure these were made before most people had computers,” he says, laughing.

Though the company has been around in one form or the other for close to 2 decades, STARS Alliance LLC was officially formed in 2012 with these 3 focus areas in mind:

• Improving station performance
• Saving money through supply chain
• Managing projects of common interest

“We are fortunate to have great leaders at the STARS stations and the processes we have put in place to help the plants achieve and maintain higher levels of performance have worked tremendously well,” he continued.

In 2012, STARS member stations had an average score right below an 83 on the INPO Index, whereas in the final quarter of 2016, we were the top performing group of reactors in the US with an average of 97.7.

STARS continues to help member stations use their funds more efficiently every year. In 2013, the yearly contract savings sat right below $8 million, while in 2017 the yearly contract savings is expected to exceed $21 million.

Additionally, in 2013, member dues totaled $5.6 million. This year, those dues are reduced to $1.72 million.

Ryan Gilchrist, the supply chain manager at STARS says, “Operating STARS and our nuclear stations efficiently is more important now than ever and I am impressed by the teamwork displayed by our members to work together to save money. We have a great group of 40 suppliers that are working well with us to help provide great products and services.”

As for managing projects of common interest, Coppock says there are nearly endless possibilities for working together to reduce cost and improve performance across the STARS sites.

Joe Fortman, the business operations manager at STARS, says, “The current projects are just the beginning. I am really looking forward to helping the Alliance to develop currently untouched opportunities.”

The types of projects we work on are those where we can reduce the duplication of work across the STARS stations and improve efficiency. Teamwork, he says, is the only way we can accomplish these types of projects.

STARS plays a key role in pulling teams together when a beneficial project idea comes along. Historically, we worked together on the license renewal application process, and today we are working on a project to implement the new licenses.

We are also working on forming a nuclear fuel procurement group and helping the sites address parts obsolesce, which Coppock is especially excited about.