Mississippi Power & Light: “Quality Action Teams”

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Background

Entergy, a major energy utility based in New Orleans, was working with the American Productivity & Quality Center (APQC) in an effort to streamline its construction and repair operations.

One of Entergy’s teams at a subsidiary firm, Mississippi Power & Light (MP&L; Jackson, MS), made dramatic improvements in its efforts to accomplish this goal.  Entergy decided to have a video produced about the MP&L team, to distribute among its other subsidiaries.


I wrote the script for, then designed and directed the production of this documentary, on-site in Jackson, MS

When Entergy asked the APQC for a recommendation to a video production firm, it was directed to Rainbow Multimedia Group, at which I worked as Creative Director. The reason for this recommendation was my strong performance in another video I’d written and directed the production of, in conjunction with the APQC: “Wallace: The Road To The Baldrige.”

Over the course of several trips from Phoenix, AZ to Jackson, MS, I led the team that:

  • Interviewed MP&L executives and supervisors
  • Conduct video re-enactments of how an MP&L team worked to analyze the problems it was having with getting its repair trucks loaded and out of a dock area each morning
  • Document the tools the team used, including a force-field analysis, a pareto diagram, and others
  • Present the results of the team’s work

The MP&L executive with whom I worked, and who was the point person for Entergy’s efforts in this regard, Steve Lee, was thrilled with this resulting 17:45 video (see letter here):

“Thank you and your crew for a wonderful product, and for the manner in which you went about creating that product.

“It has been extremely refreshing to work with a vendor who is able to meet schedule, stay within budget, and remain responsive to our requests. I realize it was difficult for you and your crew to capture the footage you needed at our construction headquarters due to the activity there.

“I am especially appreciative of the way you were able to accomplish this without interfering with our employees as they went about their important daily tasks.”

– Steve Lee, Senior Facilitator, Total Quality Improvement Coordinator, Mississippi Power & Light.


The documentary


Result

This video was:

  • Distributed throughout MP&L and Entergy’s other subsidiaries
  • Shown at the APQC in its training seminars

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