Savannah River Nuclear Solutions employees won 11 awards at the 75th annual IdeasAmerica Training Summit in Tempe, Ariz. The awards, presented by IdeasAmerica, recognized different facets of the SRNS incentive-based employee suggestion program, Individuals Developing Effective Alternative Solutions.

“The SRNS IDEAS program is about empowering employees to remove non-value added work while also working safely and securely,” said Norm Powell, Senior Vice President, SRNS Business Services. “Every employee has the opportunity to make suggestions to improve our business processes through IDEAS. Our award winners are truly ambassadors of this integral program, and I want to extend my thanks to them for successfully applying their expertise to make their workplace safer and more efficient.”

SRNS Site Services employee David R. Dixon received the Silver Award in the “Green Idea of the Year Award” category for his idea to install solar battery chargers on portable and emergency portable equipment kept in stand-by mode.

As a result, the battery life of the equipment has been prolonged, and the Site is projected to save
approximately $17,000 annually.  Environmental Stewardship, Safety and Health employee Johnny
Lott received the Gold Award for Advocate of the Year. “Johnny ‘walks the talk’ when it comes to
Continuous Improvement through employee suggestions by encouraging others to be engaged in providing feedback about how to make work life better,” said Brenda Kelly, SRNS Continuous Improvement. “More than $1.9 million in cost savings was validated from ideas he submitted and implemented in 2016.”

Savannah River National Laboratory employee Kenny Franklin received the Silver Award for “Evaluator of the Year” for also encouraging his coworkers to submit their suggestions to improve the workplace.

In addition, Brenda Kelly received the Gold Award for the “Best Administrator of the Year” for her role as IDEAS Program Administrator, and the Savannah River Site received a 65th Anniversary Award for maintaining an employee suggestion program since June 1952.

“The IDEAS program is part of the Savannah River Site’s culture,” added Kelly. “Site employees have reviewed and implemented employee suggestions for 65 years. It began with only safety suggestions and grew into the IDEAS Program we have today, with employees saving millions of dollars
each year.”

The SRNS IDEAS program received three SEER Awards as well, (Savings Per Eligible Employee Ratio) based on annual statistical information: Performance Excellence for Total Dollars Saved (Bronze), Performance Excellence for Savings per Implemented Suggestion (Bronze) and Annual Net Savings per Eligible Employee (Honorable Mention).

Three “KUDO” awards were presented to SRNS IDEAS leads Laura Barsh, SRNL; Donna Demedicis,
Environmental Management Operations; and Veronica Thomas, National Nuclear Security Administration Operations and Programs, for going above and beyond to promote the IDEAS program within their organizations.

Lastly, SRNS was presented with a Gold Sponsor Award for their continued support of the IdeasAmerica Training Summit.

IDEAS has saved over $78 million in cost savings, efficiencies and productivity gains since SRNS became the management and operating contractor in 2008. The IDEAS employee suggestion program is the longest running program of its kind in the United States and has achieved more than $230.5 million in savings and cost avoidances since its founding in 1998. For over 75 years, IdeasAmerica has served managers and administrators of employee ideas all over the world.

This is the fifth consecutive year SRNS was recognized on the world stage by IA.