How D.C. Cook built a culture of excellence and continuous improvement

When the D.C. Cook nuclear power plant received the Utilities Service Alliance (USA) Optimizer Award for the second year in a row at the 2026 USA Executive Summit, it served as validation of a broad transformation that challenged long-standing assumptions, strengthened supplier partnerships, and reshaped how the station views continuous improvement across organizational boundaries.

For Cook, it's a story of how a supply chain team of 61 individuals working with hundreds of suppliers confronted changing industry conditions, recognized that historical methods were no longer producing the desired results, and deliberately created a culture focused on accountability, partnership, learning, and continuous improvement.

The plant's supply chain leadership team often reflects on a simple truth: Winning once demonstrates innovation. Winning twice demonstrates that continuous improvement has become part of who we are.

Why change was necessary

Around 2019, leaders within Cook's Warehouse and Materials organization began discussing cultural improvements. The team recognized opportunities to strengthen accountability, communication, and ownership throughout the organization.

Then COVID-19 disrupted supply chains across the globe.

Like many utilities, Cook experienced challenges related to material availability, supplier responsiveness, manufacturing delays, transportation issues, and changing market conditions. Existing approaches that had worked for years suddenly became less effective.

By 2021, it became increasingly clear that incremental adjustments would not be enough. Cook needed a more systematic approach to supplier engagement and performance management.

Rather than viewing these challenges solely through a purchasing lens, Cook chose to view supplier performance as a station-wide issue. That decision ultimately became one of the most important factors behind the program's success.

Launching the Supplier Performance Program

Cook began a soft launch of its Supplier Performance Program in June 2022 in an effort to better understand the factors affecting supplier performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

In January 2023, the station formally launched the program with key performance indicators, vendor communications, tracking mechanisms, structured engagement processes, and a more deliberate approach to supplier relationship management.

From the beginning, the team adopted a principle that became central to the program's success: Suppliers should be treated as an extension of the Cook team.

This represented a significant shift in thinking. Traditionally, supplier interactions can become transactional, particularly when performance problems occur. Cook intentionally pursued a different approach. The goal was not simply to hold vendors accountable when something went wrong but to build stronger partnerships capable of delivering long-term value to both organizations.

The team also recognized that supplier performance is not solely the responsibility of the supplier. They began asking difficult questions about the plant's processes: Were purchase orders clear? Were expectations well communicated? Were terms and conditions appropriate? Could internal processes be contributing to delays or misunderstandings?

Recognizing that meaningful improvement often requires outside perspectives, Cook benchmarked organizations both inside and outside the nuclear industry, including Ontario Power Generation, Constellation, and Entergy.

These benchmarking efforts provided valuable insight into supplier management practices, performance metrics, engagement strategies, and accountability structures. They also reinforced an important lesson: No single organization has all the answers, and strong performance requires a willingness to learn from others and continuously adapt.

The "1 percent better" philosophy

One of the most important cultural elements supporting Cook's transformation was a simple concept that became a practical framework for approaching continuous improvement: 1 percent better.

Like many organizations, managers at Cook occasionally encountered resistance when providing feedback or coaching. Improvement conversations could sometimes be perceived as criticism rather than opportunities for growth.

The team deliberately worked to reframe those discussions. Instead of focusing on mistakes, the emphasis shifted toward learning. Instead of pursuing perfection, the focus became making small, consistent improvements over time. The message was simple: Every interaction presents an opportunity to improve by 1 percent, and over time, small improvements will accumulate into significant results.

The idea resonated because it made improvement approachable. Feedback became part of a larger commitment to personal and organizational growth. As the philosophy spread throughout the department, it helped build the foundation that later supported broader supply chain initiatives.

Perhaps the most significant change at Cook was the shift from departmental optimization to enterprise optimization. Many organizations within a plant understandably focus on optimizing their own processes and priorities. However, supply chain performance impacts virtually every function within a nuclear power plant. Cook's warehouse and materials organization ensures that other plant employees have everything they need, from safety equipment and bottled water to nuts, bolts, and turbine parts.

Operations and maintenance depend on timely delivery of critical materials, and no single organization within the plant could achieve success independently. As discussions broadened, employees across multiple departments helped the team identify practical solutions that leadership alone may not have recognized.

Changing the conversation with suppliers

As Cook's approach evolved, supplier conversations changed as well. Rather than simply raising concerns when performance issues occurred, discussions became more collaborative, reinforcing the idea that successful partnerships are built on trust, transparency, and shared accountability.

Suppliers were invited to share feedback regarding purchase orders, communication processes, expectations, and contracting practices. One of the most impactful outcomes of this mutual accountability has been developing stronger partnerships with our suppliers. By sitting down together to review purchase order language, specifications, and terms and conditions, we have been able to clarify expectations and reduce the potential for misunderstandings.

We also have partnered with suppliers to strengthen their internal processes by adding verification steps and controls that help ensure our requirements are consistently met. These efforts have improved communication, enhanced performance, and fostered a culture of shared accountability for success.

Measuring success

The USA Optimizer Award recognizes a journey rather than a single metric, but measurable results remain an important part of the story. The 2026 Optimizer Award recognized Cook for achieving $12.6 million in net savings and cost avoidance through the aggressive use of USA programs and contracts, while the 2025 award was for achieving $8.7 million.

Additionally, Cook's supply chain leadership developed supplier performance metrics for the top 15 critical suppliers to allow for trending and identification of at-risk suppliers. As a result of implementing supplier performance improvement plans, a critical supplier was able to reduce receipt inspection issues by more than 70 percent from 2024 to 2025.

Cook is always looking at ways to increase its utilization of USA agreements, and currently the plant uses approximately 80 percent of the available agreements, including supplier showcases and lunch-and-learns with vendors and buyers.

The supply chain team also uses internal metrics to drive inventory optimization, with minimum and maximum key performance indicators helping keep a balanced inventory. Inventory health key performance indicators provide insights into critical spare stocking, minimum and maximum levels, parts quality testing, inventory cycle count variances, and obsolescence. Looking toward the future, an additional goal for the team is lead-time improvements.

While those metrics help demonstrate value, Cook leaders believe the most significant achievement is the cultural transformation that is enabling sustained improvement.

What comes next

Receiving the USA Optimizer Award for a second time provides an opportunity to celebrate accomplishments, but the work is far from complete.

Going forward, one of the primary areas of focus for the supply chain team will be the continued strengthening of supplier relationships by moving beyond a transactional customer-vendor model. Over the past several years, we've seen the value of sitting down with suppliers, and we plan to expand on this with more frequent business reviews, early involvement in procurement planning, and increased opportunities for suppliers to provide feedback on our processes. Our goal is to create an environment where both parties are continuously looking for ways to improve performance, quality, and efficiency.

We also intend to expand the use of performance data to drive proactive decision-making and better understand lead-time performance, quality trends, delivery reliability, and supplier responsiveness. By reviewing performance information collaboratively with suppliers, we can identify emerging issues earlier, celebrate successes, and focus our improvement efforts where they will have the greatest impact.

Ultimately, the objective is not simply to measure supplier performance but to use data and partnerships together to improve outcomes for both organizations and ensure the reliable delivery of quality materials that support safe and efficient plant operation.

The same "1 percent better" philosophy that helped Cook earn the USA Optimizer Award will guide our future efforts. By combining strong supplier partnerships with better performance insights, we believe there are still significant opportunities to improve reliability, efficiency, and long-term value.

Meaningful improvement often starts with a willingness to listen, learn, collaborate, and improve 1 percent at a time. As Cook looks toward the future, that philosophy will continue to guide the organization.

Twila Sine is director of materials management and Jenni Hayes is nuclear materials and document manager at D.C. Cook. They gratefully acknowledge the contributions of their colleagues to this article.