The Innovation Launchpad is looking for ideas around a specific industry topic: digital transformation. The goal of digital transformation is to improve performance, gain efficiencies, and produce new products and services through the use of technology, thereby increasing competitiveness and the value we bring to customers. Submit your idea today on a process or operation that you perform that can be improved using technology.
Supplemental Information on Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is a key initiative within the nuclear industry, but what exactly is digital transformation? At a high level, it is improving performance, gaining efficiencies, and producing new products and services through the use of technology to increase competitiveness and the value we bring to customers. This initiative contains three critical components:
- Decreasing cost
- Developing and launching new products and services that will reduce our customers’ costs
- Enhancing our workplace
Decreasing Cost
Digital transformation can decrease recurring costs for operations and maintenance by using both process optimization and technology. We are open to reviewing any technology that can be applied to reduce our costs and/or burden. The key to this component is remembering it’s about the “application of these technologies” to reduce cost.
Developing and Launching New Products to Reduce Customers’ Costs
By applying technology, how can we help our customers become more efficient or eliminate the need to do something? Such technological products and services can come through development or partnering with others to bring the technology to our industry. The key here is remembering it’s about products and services that reduce customers’ costs.
Enhancing our Workplace
This component of the initiative also has a cost reduction aspect; however, it is largely focused on modernizing the digital work environment to enhance productivity and make the workplace attractive to retain and attract employees. This includes items like intelligent search capabilities, upgraded mobile smart phones, enhanced connectivity, and paperless solutions, to name a few. The key here is long-term sustainability as the workforce transitions over time.
Why Does Nuclear Need a Digital Transformation?
The primary answer is so that the industry can stay competitive. Market forces are driving nuclear power plants to reduce their costs. Natural gas is at a sustained low price and not projected to increase significantly in the near future. Wind and solar are subsidized, and their dispatch is frequently mandated, suppressing the price of electricity. These forces are causing utilities to take action to reduce their operating and maintenance costs to be competitive. The industry kicked-off the “Delivering the Nuclear Promise” initiative a few years ago and has been working to reduce cost. We have made progress, but still have a ways to go. The industry as a whole is now looking to technology to boost their cost-reduction efforts.
