The Company

Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electrical power to Seattle, Washington, and its metropolitan area. In operation since 1910, it is the 10th largest public utility in the United States and was the first municipal utility in the nation to own and operate a hydroelectric facility.

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Customers Served
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Power Plants
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Major Substations
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Years of Assets
Distance is irrelevant with Meridian. Whether you’re an engineer at a power plant or a maintenance technician out in the field, you have reliable access to a single source of information. Meridian has significantly improved our team collaboration at all levels.”
— Janet Hart, Technical Services Manager, Generation Operations & Engineering

The Challenge

Without a single source of truth, searching the company’s 300,000 documents and drawings and tracking revisions was a difficult endeavor. Before using Meridian, the organization faced key challenges:

  • Inconsistent drawing properties made for inaccurate search results
  • Lack of clear workflow processes created inefficiencies
  • Relatively loose change control led to costly delays
Seattle City Light’s mission is to deliver customers affordable, reliable and environmentally responsible electricity services. Meridian helps us accomplish this daily by providing all key stakeholders with access to relevant engineering data to ensure proper maintenance and reliability of our generation assets.”
— Janet Hart, Technical Services Manager, Generation Operations & Engineering

The Solution

Seattle City Light has 45 engineers and designers using Meridian to make controlled changes to engineering information. Meridian also provides viewing access to the latest versions of these documents to 85 users in Operations, Project Management, Dam Safety, and Construction.

  • Automatic bi-directional title block syncing between AutoCAD and Meridian
  • Configurable file attribute assignment with consistent metadata for accurate searches
  • Web-based access for field crews to view current drawings or construction plan sets
  • Easy file revision comparisons for pinpointing changes quickly
“By enabling users to easily compare drawing revisions and highlight what has changed, Meridian has improved the efficiency and quality of our engineering projects.”
— Janet Hart, Technical Services Manager, Generation Operations & Engineering

The Results

Having used Meridian for almost 20 years, Seattle City Light has been able to implement controls and workflow processes that allow all parties to search and find up-to-date asset information. These controls streamline annual audits and ensure compliance with state archival laws, as well as FERC, NERC, and CEII regulations. Maintenance and other non-AutoCAD users can also find what they need quickly and focus on their work instead of wasting time searching for information.

  • Expedited project delivery due to streamlined workflows
  • Increased employee productivity through faster search and retrieval
  • Streamlined collaboration between Engineering and Operations
  • Ensured compliance with FERC, NERC, and CEII regulations