Centerpoint energy improved quality and reduced costs of utility inspection with KYRO

32% Cost Reduction and 41% Quality Improvement with KYRO – How Did CenterPoint Energy Achieve This?

September 12, 2025
4 min read

With KYRO, CenterPoint Energy turned QA/QC from a pain point into a competitive edge. Costs dropped, quality soared, and every project gained real-time visibility. What followed wasn’t just better numbers. It was stronger teams and smarter decisions.

Impact in Numbers

  • 41% increase in panel quality score
  • 32% reduction in per-unit panel cost
  • 100% real-time visibility across all projects via live dashboards
  • Priceless trust gained between engineering and construction

About the Client

CenterPoint Energy is a leading U.S. utility delivering electricity and natural gas to millions of customers. In 2016, the company was managing a rapidly growing pipeline of transmission and substation projects.  

However, a retiring workforce and an increasingly complex design standards exposed significant gaps in their quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) processes, threatening project timelines, costs, and consistency.

They needed a unified, data-driven QA/QC system that could deliver real-time visibility, enforce standardized inspections, and bridge the gap between field crews, engineering teams, and various other project stakeholders.

The Challenge

CenterPoint’s QA/QC process was breaking down. The cracks weren’t always visible at first, but the costs of delay and inefficiency were beginning to mount.

  • Engineering and construction teams operated in silos. Without instant access to issue logs or inspection results, project managers could not intervene early to prevent rework. Problems often went unnoticed until they had escalated into expensive, time-consuming fixes.
  • Design reviews often took weeks to complete, with feedback based on individual interpretation rather than standardized criteria. This led to prolonged decision-making, repeated revisions, and costly delays in the construction schedule.
  • Field inspection reports varied widely in detail and format, making it difficult for project leaders to accurately assess quality. Missing photos, vague descriptions, and unstructured notes left gaps in documentation that could not be reliably used for audits, vendor evaluations, or dispute resolution.
  • Critical QA/QC data, inspection notes, and design feedback were often buried in long email threads or discussed informally over phone calls. This made it nearly impossible to maintain a single source of truth, track issue resolution, or ensure that the right stakeholders had access to the latest information.
  • Without measurable QA/QC benchmarks, performance assessments were subjective and inconsistent. This made it nearly impossible to compare vendor quality, identify recurring defects, or hold teams accountable for meeting engineering standards.
  • Disagreements over design changes frequently became opinion-based disputes, with no hard data to guide decisions. This friction slowed down the approval process, strained relationships between teams, and increased the risk of design flaws being built into critical infrastructure.

The Solution

With KYRO’s support, CNP routed daily reports directly to project engineers and introduced quarterly review meetings between construction and engineering. This process improved transparency, strengthened collaboration, and built trust through candid discussions that drove continuous improvement.

  1. Standardized, Data-Driven Design Reviews  

KYRO created a unified QA/QC process that covered both design reviews and on-site inspections. Engineers and field inspectors used structured digital forms with predefined criteria, mandatory photo evidence, and annotation tools to document findings. This ensured that all feedback was captured in a consistent, audit-ready format while shortening the review cycle.  

  1. Centralized Single Source of Truth  
Centerpoint energy improved quality and reduced costs of utility inspection with KYRO

All QA/QC data, inspection records, and design comments were centralized in KYRO’s cloud platform. Instead of chasing email threads or call notes, stakeholders accessed the same up-to-date records in real time, improving accountability and eliminating the risk of critical information being overlooked.

  1. Real-Time Visibility Across Projects  

Centerpoint energy improved quality and reduced costs of utility inspection with KYRO

The dynamic dashboards displayed issue status, quality scores, and resolution progress across all projects. Engineering, construction, and management teams could spot and address problems the moment they arose, preventing small defects from snowballing into major delays or cost overruns.

  1. Offline Capability for Uninterrupted QA/QC

In remote substations and rural project sites with poor network coverage, KYRO’s offline mode allowed crews to record inspections and attach media without connectivity. Data automatically synced once they reconnected, ensuring no detail was lost and eliminating delays caused by glitchy networks.

  1. Objective Performance Metrics & Benchmarking  

KYRO’s analytics tools introduced clear, objective scoring for drawing accuracy, fabrication consistency, and materials handling. Historical performance data was tracked for vendors and project teams, enabling fair comparisons, targeted improvements, and accountability at every stage.

  1. Data-Backed Design Change Decisions  

KYRO’s root cause analysis and structured polling tools gave engineering and field teams hard data on defect trends and constructability constraints. This replaced opinion-driven debates with fact-based decisions, reduced friction between teams, and ensured that design changes addressed real-world challenges.

With KYRO, CenterPoint Energy established a scalable, data-driven QA/QC program that improved quality scores, reduced costs, and strengthened collaboration between field and engineering teams.  

What started as a pilot for protective relay and SCADA designs expanded across the company’s infrastructure portfolio, becoming the foundation for vendor evaluation, training programs, and a culture of continuous improvement.

KYRO helped CenterPoint Energy not only enhance QA/QC but also redefined it for the modern utility landscape.

32% Cost Reduction and 41% Quality Improvement with KYRO – How Did CenterPoint Energy Achieve This?

September 12, 2025
4 min read

With KYRO, CenterPoint Energy turned QA/QC from a pain point into a competitive edge. Costs dropped, quality soared, and every project gained real-time visibility. What followed wasn’t just better numbers. It was stronger teams and smarter decisions.

Impact in Numbers

  • 41% increase in panel quality score
  • 32% reduction in per-unit panel cost
  • 100% real-time visibility across all projects via live dashboards
  • Priceless trust gained between engineering and construction

About the Client

CenterPoint Energy is a leading U.S. utility delivering electricity and natural gas to millions of customers. In 2016, the company was managing a rapidly growing pipeline of transmission and substation projects.  

However, a retiring workforce and an increasingly complex design standards exposed significant gaps in their quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) processes, threatening project timelines, costs, and consistency.

They needed a unified, data-driven QA/QC system that could deliver real-time visibility, enforce standardized inspections, and bridge the gap between field crews, engineering teams, and various other project stakeholders.

The Challenge

CenterPoint’s QA/QC process was breaking down. The cracks weren’t always visible at first, but the costs of delay and inefficiency were beginning to mount.

  • Engineering and construction teams operated in silos. Without instant access to issue logs or inspection results, project managers could not intervene early to prevent rework. Problems often went unnoticed until they had escalated into expensive, time-consuming fixes.
  • Design reviews often took weeks to complete, with feedback based on individual interpretation rather than standardized criteria. This led to prolonged decision-making, repeated revisions, and costly delays in the construction schedule.
  • Field inspection reports varied widely in detail and format, making it difficult for project leaders to accurately assess quality. Missing photos, vague descriptions, and unstructured notes left gaps in documentation that could not be reliably used for audits, vendor evaluations, or dispute resolution.
  • Critical QA/QC data, inspection notes, and design feedback were often buried in long email threads or discussed informally over phone calls. This made it nearly impossible to maintain a single source of truth, track issue resolution, or ensure that the right stakeholders had access to the latest information.
  • Without measurable QA/QC benchmarks, performance assessments were subjective and inconsistent. This made it nearly impossible to compare vendor quality, identify recurring defects, or hold teams accountable for meeting engineering standards.
  • Disagreements over design changes frequently became opinion-based disputes, with no hard data to guide decisions. This friction slowed down the approval process, strained relationships between teams, and increased the risk of design flaws being built into critical infrastructure.

The Solution

With KYRO’s support, CNP routed daily reports directly to project engineers and introduced quarterly review meetings between construction and engineering. This process improved transparency, strengthened collaboration, and built trust through candid discussions that drove continuous improvement.

  1. Standardized, Data-Driven Design Reviews  

KYRO created a unified QA/QC process that covered both design reviews and on-site inspections. Engineers and field inspectors used structured digital forms with predefined criteria, mandatory photo evidence, and annotation tools to document findings. This ensured that all feedback was captured in a consistent, audit-ready format while shortening the review cycle.  

  1. Centralized Single Source of Truth  
Centerpoint energy improved quality and reduced costs of utility inspection with KYRO

All QA/QC data, inspection records, and design comments were centralized in KYRO’s cloud platform. Instead of chasing email threads or call notes, stakeholders accessed the same up-to-date records in real time, improving accountability and eliminating the risk of critical information being overlooked.

  1. Real-Time Visibility Across Projects  

Centerpoint energy improved quality and reduced costs of utility inspection with KYRO

The dynamic dashboards displayed issue status, quality scores, and resolution progress across all projects. Engineering, construction, and management teams could spot and address problems the moment they arose, preventing small defects from snowballing into major delays or cost overruns.

  1. Offline Capability for Uninterrupted QA/QC

In remote substations and rural project sites with poor network coverage, KYRO’s offline mode allowed crews to record inspections and attach media without connectivity. Data automatically synced once they reconnected, ensuring no detail was lost and eliminating delays caused by glitchy networks.

  1. Objective Performance Metrics & Benchmarking  

KYRO’s analytics tools introduced clear, objective scoring for drawing accuracy, fabrication consistency, and materials handling. Historical performance data was tracked for vendors and project teams, enabling fair comparisons, targeted improvements, and accountability at every stage.

  1. Data-Backed Design Change Decisions  

KYRO’s root cause analysis and structured polling tools gave engineering and field teams hard data on defect trends and constructability constraints. This replaced opinion-driven debates with fact-based decisions, reduced friction between teams, and ensured that design changes addressed real-world challenges.

With KYRO, CenterPoint Energy established a scalable, data-driven QA/QC program that improved quality scores, reduced costs, and strengthened collaboration between field and engineering teams.  

What started as a pilot for protective relay and SCADA designs expanded across the company’s infrastructure portfolio, becoming the foundation for vendor evaluation, training programs, and a culture of continuous improvement.

KYRO helped CenterPoint Energy not only enhance QA/QC but also redefined it for the modern utility landscape.