Background on Palm Beach County and Their Commitment to Employee Growth
Palm Beach County Water Utilities has specified and used various McWane products for decades in the water and sewer systems they design, construct, and manage.
Late in 2017, Gary Gula (MD Utility Sales, FL), Roy Mundy (MD Senior Regional Engineer), and Ken Rickvalsky (MD National Product Engineer) met with Nancy Miller (Training Coordinator for Palm Beach County Water Utilities) to present her with our Training Topics Listing in the interest of Building upon McWane’s already solid working relationship with one of Florida’s major utility operations.
Ms. Miller oversees all professional development and product knowledge training programs for Palm Beach County Water Utilities, a position she has proudly and enthusiastically held for over 15 years with the utility. She was very receptive to the idea, as she indicated the utility has a wide range of personnel from millennials eager to learn and long-timers still willing to continue their professional growth.
Simply put, it was clear that employee training on everything from safety, products, systems, human resource issues, and more is a strong initiative within the Palm Beach County Water Utilities.
How the training day came together:
Early in 2018 Gary Gula and Roy Mundy met again with Nancy Miller where she selected four topics from our published list to create a ½-Day of Water Seminar to be presented in the summer of 2018, when attendance could be maximized.
Following Ms. Miller’s lead, we submitted to her a comprehensive submittal package containing the course outline with presentation abstracts, bio and qualification forms for each presenter, an attendance roster form, completion exam, course evaluation form, and PDF printouts of the presentations for greater reference.
On July 24, 2018 the ½ Day of Water event took place at the state-of-the-art training facility in West Palm Beach Florida. The utility’s sprawling and beautiful center has significant space for hands-on training, large dual-screen high-resolution digital presentations, individual and group computer skills and software training, and so much more.
Nearly 40 Palm Beach County utility workers, ranging from field personnel to design engineers, plant operators, and department managers were in attendance.
What was covered in the training
Gary Gula and Nancy Miller began the event with an introduction to the group covering the contents and goals of the day. John Simpson followed with his presentation of Ductile 101: An Overview of All Things Ductile, including manufacturing, design, troubleshooting, and the environmental stewardship through all, a core tenant of the modern McWane.
Next up was Ken Rickvalsky who presented on External Corrosion Basics & Preventions, which has been a growing focus and point of service by McWane Ductile in recent years across the United States. Ken followed with a presentation addressing Internal Corrosion Types and Preventions, with content specifically geared to both the water and sewer personnel in attendance, including an emphasis of special linings and where they are needed.
Roy Mundy then stole-the-show with his presentation on Managing Generational Differences in a Utility’s Workforce. From millennial to near-retirees in the room, this presentation was an absolute interactive captivating topic and discussion. So much so that a number of attendees asked for copies of several slides that Roy presented so they could use them to educate their own children, and Ms. Miller continued with a request for Roy to come back and engage this topic again with various other groups of the Palm Beach County utilities group as part of their human resources programs and training.
A Well Executed Plan
All in all, this Half Day of Water was properly planned and perfectly executed by all. Considerable thanks and appreciation to Nancy Miller and all the Palm Beach County Water Utilities organization for their assistance and hosting of this event.
Days like this take McWane Ductile past BUILDING IRON STRONG UTILITIES FOR GENERATIONS into BUILDING EQUALLY STRONG PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS.
If interested in similar programs like this, please contact McWane Ductile Sales Operations or your local McWane Ductile Sales Representative for more details.
