Reliability Radio EP 330: SMALL TEAM. BIG RELIABILITY. John Fortin & Billy Appleton

ReliabilityRadio

Join Jonathan Guiney and Brendon Russ on Reliability Radio as they welcome John Fortin and Billy Appleton from the Beverly Salem Water Board. This episode tells the inspiring story of a small utility (18 employees, 4 in maintenance) serving 100,000 residents, and their incredible journey from outdated, verbal maintenance practices to winning an Uptime Award for sustainability.

John and Billy detail their strategic adoption of the Uptime Elements framework, transforming operations that once relied on 1990s paper records into a structured system. A key focus is their proactive approach to succession planning and onboarding new talent, integrating the "language of reliability" (Uptime Elements, CRL) into job descriptions and training. Billy shares his first-time experience at the conference, highlighting the invaluable power of the Reliabilityweb community for learning and peer-to-peer sharing from diverse organizations. The discussion underscores how strategic alignment, cross-collaboration, and continuous learning are vital for even the smallest teams to achieve significant impact, including preparing for an upcoming $8.5 million plant upgrade.