Everything's Up To Date In Kansas City
Kansas City, Mossouri -- Kansas City has cut over to an ultra-modern Technical Control Center, and to celebrate, Kansas City employees invited their families and friends to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house. More than 150 people attended the gathering, applauded the presentation of awards, and got a first-hand look at the new computerized TCC.
Sporting "Focus on Quality Operations" buttons, Regional Vice President -- Network Operations
Michael Montemurno and District Manager -- Network Operations Dave Brown held the ribbon as
City Supervisor -- Network Operations, Ben Seagraves manned the scissors. Once the ribbon
was cut, Technicians, installers and visitors explored the new office. They found no
switchboards or jacks; KQ is a total matrix office.
Mr. Montemurno presented Ben with a special recognition award from Bernard Weitzer, Vice President -- Operations. "Ben has been the driving force in this Herculean task from Day One," Mr. Montemurno said. The magnitude of this task required technical assistance from Engineering and close coordination with the Transmission Systems Operations Group. The move required a split operation, as it was necessary to feed our radio system from two diferent locations simultaneously.
"Ben was also instrumental in the close, careful coordination needed to implement the new emergency power system in the new KQ," Mr. Montemurno added. "He worked with all levels of Engineering and the layout and operation of the new WUIS matrix and helped develop a revolutionary new record-keeping system for a matrix office."
"Ben has upgraded an existing old office to a showplace in the communications industry," Dave Brown added. "And -- of utmost importance -- the change was made with an absolute minimum of customer disturbance.
"The staff and technicians, along with the support from Headquarters, established a benchmark for all other TCCS to try to achieve. Now our technicians are committed to making the Kansas City office the best in Operations."
Ben Seagraves pointed out that the technicians worked very hard for the successful completion of the cutover. The December MUX cutover, the culmination of two years' work, involved 1,200 MUX channels, 2,000 local pairs, 30 Digital Exchange System concentrators and more than 70 cabinets of central office equipment. When all the cabling was tested prior to cutover, not one turnover was found out of the thousands of circuits.
"With the precise, accurate job they did in terminating the hundreds of circuits and trunks into the associated equipment, the technicians are really the unsung heroes," Mr. Seagraves said.
Mr. Montemurno and Mr. Brown also presented awards to other super achievers involved in the cutover. Installation Supervisors Al Preissler and Mike Sweeney received special recognition for the outstanding mechanical installation done by their force. Tom Zielinski, Staff Supervisor -- Installation, was praised for his support in submitting and securing timely approval on all segments associated with various project.
Above photo caption: CUTTING UP -- After two years of preparation, technicians and installers who worked on the cutover to the new Technical Control Center at Kansas City gather to enjoy the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Regional Vice President--Network Operations, Mike Montemurno, left and District Manager--Network Operations Dave Brown, right hold the satin strip as City Supervisor--Network Operations Ben Seagraves cuts the ribbon to officially open the state-of-the-art TCC.