ESS’ Product and Services Delivery System

ESS is dedicated to both Excellent Customer Service and Outstanding Quality Assurance.

We have deeply embedded both of the principles (e.g., Excellent Customer Service and Outstanding Quality Assurance) in the following ESS Product and Services Delivery System. This is a comprehensive system for reliably delivering the highest quality spiking materials and highest demonstrably accurate spiking rate results available in the industry on a schedule which meets our clients’ test schedule:

1. Clear, Concise Project Definition: Successful spiking projects begin with a clear definition of the testing programs spiking requirements and those site-specific conditions which may affect their safe and efficient satisfaction.
   As part of our customer service and as a means of ensuring a successful outcome (i.e., QA), ESS offers technical and regulatory information and advice to our clients at no charge. We frequently offer suggestions which result in lower project costs while achieving prompt regulatory agencies acceptance of the resulting spiking data and the desired operating limits. We would be pleased to assist you in a similar manner by providing information and/or answering any questions you may have on the technical, regulatory, cost, and practical “How To” aspects your test plan development and spiking requirements definition.
2. Detailed & Explicit Proposals with Rational and Transparent Costing: ESS personnel managed HWC Test Projects for more than 12 years before we entered the spiking business8. For that reason we:
   1. Understand spiking from the Owner/Operator’s & Test Manager’s prospective,
   2. ESS prepares proposals with your needs in mind ,i.e., Our proposals contain the information you need to manage your project, presented in a detailed, organized, explicit, and understandable manner.
   3. ESS proposals include:
      1. A detailed description of your test & spiking needs, as we understand them,
      2. Exactly what equipment, spiking materials, and services we will provide, and
      3. A rational and transparent presentation of costs.
   4. With this information, you can:
      1. Confirm that we have considered and included all materials, equipment, and services required for the successful completion of your project,
      2. What they will cost, and
      3. How the project costs would change:
         1. If you were to make a scope revision in the plan preparation phase, and/or
         2. If the test were to change during the test week.
3. Comprehensive Project Implementation Infra-Structure Including:
   1. Client’s Spiking Orders to ESS,
   2. A complete set of written SOPs,
   3. A comprehensive QA Program,
   4. A comprehensive Staff Training, Testing, and Certification Program, and
   5. Detailed Equipment Selection Purchasing and Maintenance Programs.
4. Pre-Test Preparation: As part of ESS’ efforts to avoid costly test delays, ESS believes that detailed pre-mobilization preparation is essential. In addition to the equipment selection, maintenance, and redundancy precautions discussed above, ESS’ technician will have completed the following additional preparations prior to mobilizing to the test site:
   1. Monitored & expedited spiking material deliveries, as needed, to meet the set test schedule,
   2. Completed OSHA safety training in accordance with 29 CFR 1910.120 requirements and any additional site-specific, off-site safety training identified to ESS,
   3. Completed all aspects of ESS Related Operations, Maintenance, Safety, and QA Training needed for that test,
   4. Received & reviewed complete spiking plan details including:
      1. The number of Test Conditions (TC), and the Spiking Objectives of each TC;
      2. Spiking materials, target spiking rates, equipment assignments, & spiking durations by Test Condition;
      3. Complete inventory of spiking materials; and
      4. Test schedule.
   5. Completed ESS shop testing of all equipment to be used during the test for operability and accuracy including spare pumps and weigh scales which ESS provides to enhance operating reliability, and
   6. Assembled and packed for transport all equipment, materials, supplies, and tools needed to complete the test,
   7. Received Instructions that while he is at the test site:
      1. He works for the client’s Test Manager (TM),
      2. His job is to complete the spiking assignment to the total satisfaction of the TM, and
      3. That all other ESS staff members are on call to assist him in achieving this goal.
5. Team Organization: For optimum communications, responsiveness, and efficiency, ESS has adopted two project organizational structures which correspond to the two major phases of ever spiking project.
   Off-Site: During the off-site project planning; materials, equipment, & technician preparation (pre-mobilization) period and the demobilization and report preparation period, ESS utilizes the following project organization structure.
   
   
   We have found this organization structure to be efficiency, cost effective, and responsive to client needs for the off-site phases of spiking projects.
   
   During the critical on-site testing/spiking phase of project implementation, we employ the organization structure provided on the following page as a means to focus all ESS resources on meeting our spiking responsibilities. As discussed above, while ESS has on-site spiking activities in progress, we instruct the assigned ESS technician that he works for the client’s Test Manager and he is to do whatever is necessary to satisfy the client’s test program goals as defined by the Test Manager. During this period, the entire ESS organization is prepared to drop whatever other activities we have in progress to support the ESS technician and the on-going spiking program.
   
   
6. Spiking Report Preparation & Issue: ESS Spiking Reports are prepared by a Professional Engineer (Texas Registration) following careful QA/QC precautions which have been developed over a period of more than 10 years. These reports are prepared, independently reviewed, and issued to the client as soon as possible, typically in less than four (4) weeks of demobilization from the test site.

8. The precursor organization to ESS was formed in the early 1990s by several highly experienced HWC consulting engineers because we could not procure outside spiking services that were responsive and attentive to our client’s needs, at a reasonable, and rationally structured price.
9. As a means of minimizing the possibility of miscommunications between the Test Manager and ESS while placing minimum demands on the Test Manager time, we have adopted the use of a Spiking Orders format in which we define at the time we submit our proposal, our understanding of the specific spiking intentions for the first phase of the project (i.e., the spiking materials & species for a miniburn, the spiking rates & durations, the total quantities of spiking materials to be provided, and the number, size, & type of spiking equipment to be provided by ESS. We only ask that the test manager review the spiking specifics provided our draft Spiking Orders well in advance of the test and confirm (or revise) the Orders, as appropriate, and signed of the Orders to ESS via Email or Fax. The following sheet is a recent example of Spiking Orders to illustrate the idea and procedure. The footnotes on the form provide a clear description of the purpose of each section of the Spiking Orders form.