Simply Joined Consulting Limited – Supply Chain Health-check

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Submitted by Simply Joined Consulting Limited

Impact

Previous clients have seen Improvements to their cost base for bought in goods and services, efficiencies in lead time and customer satisfaction performance, as well as the benefits of a united workforce once they have seen and understood the activities and challenges faced by their co-workers.

Due to client confidentiality, we are unable to quote exact figures, but cost savings and improvements are generally in double digit proportions

Description of Best Practice

Our Supply Chain Health-check model guides clients through a simple process to identify and implement cost efficiency and value creation opportunities using the following steps. It is suitable for both internal and external supply chain activity from a technical, commercial, safety, people management and behavioural perspective.

Firstly, we obtain confidential feedback from all stakeholders (The good, the bad and the ugly) via a mix of questions and one to one discussions as appropriate. This is generally followed by workshops where appropriate to fully engage stakeholders and map out internal and external supply chains to identify opportunities. As an independent resource, we mitigate the potential for any conflict or discomfort between customers and suppliers or internally between employees and their peer group or line management.

The health-check activities are focussed on Customer expectations, organisational and corporate beliefs and objectives, and takes into consideration the commercial arrangements that the organisation has with its customers and suppliers.

The outcome is a realistic strategy to survive, develop or grow. The final report is submitted to the client in a format that allows the organisation to prioritise the opportunities and ensure senior level support and action where required to deal with any ‘blockers’ to implementation.

Contact: Steve Johnson
steve@simplyjoined.com

BP – Improving offshore efficiency through continuous improvement workshops with key offshore contractors

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Submitted by BP

Impact

The actions taken as a result of these workshops have made a real impact on our offshore efficiency.

For example, in January 2015 we began working with Cape, BP’s main scaffolding, insulation and painting provider, to identify opportunities to increase efficiency of painting operations.

Research showed it was taking 10.4 hours to paint each square metre of pipework on our platforms, two hours more than the KPI target. The team found that due to the small number of paint and equipment stores on the platform, painting teams were walking up to 10.5km on a typical job.

Additional equipment storage stations were therefore positioned around the platform for easier access, with time savings per job estimated to be 40%.

Changes were also made to the spray pumps being used, which has reduced the time taken to effectively apply the paint.

Description of Best Practice

BP is working with its key offshore contractors to identify opportunities for continuously improving offshore efficiency. One project focused on reducing the time taken to paint pipework led to time savings of 40% per job.

Improving levels of productivity offshore is one of our key focus areas to enable us to increase our competitiveness. We have been working collaboratively with a number of our key offshore contractors to understand the barriers preventing higher levels of productivity on maintenance activities across our platforms.

Through continuous improvement workshops with our contractors we have been able to identify specific actions we can take to utilise technicians’ time more efficiently.

Such actions include:

  • Better control of materials offshore – locating the materials required for a specific job close to the work site, thereby reducing the time spent walking to and from material stores.
  • Increased focus on planning of work scopes – ensuring the right permits, materials and people are in the right place at the right time.
  • Increased time for supervisor site visits – leading to better supervision of work and faster resolution of issues.

Contact: Sarah Hodgkinson, BP

Centrica – Unlocking the Portfolio: Hackathon

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Submitted by Centrica

Impact

The Hackathon has been the catalyst for a culture change in how we do business. Centrica’s relationships with its supply chain partners are now closer and more collaborative, with regular, positive meetings with the likes of ADIL, Oceaneering, Ramboll and Cortez coming directly on the back of the event.

Through work with Ramboll, capital expenditure projections on the development of two gas fields was cut by nearly 50%, with the introduction of new equipment already in use outside the UKCS and the associated change in contracting strategy. This positive result stimulated further investigation into this equipment, and the investigation has now been widened to embrace the broader Centrica portfolio.

The Hackathon has also broken down barriers along the supply chain and created a wider spirit of collaboration with and between our contractors.  The culture shift has gone wider than just those involved in the Hackathon directly, however, and the positive results we have seen thanks to our improved relationships with these contractors has changed the way we do business with all of our supply chain partners.

Post-Hackathon, closer working with the companies such as Wood Group and Hydrawell has added value to our business and theirs.

The Hackathon has proved that by breaking down the barriers between operators and contracting companies and having honest conversations about what can be done better, projects and investment in the UK can be unlocked to the benefit of the supply chain, the wider industry and lead to a more sustainable, lower cost, efficient North Sea region.

Description of Best Practice

As 80% of Centrica’s annual spend is with our supply chain partners, we understand that working closely with these contracting companies is crucial to our success and the success of the basin.  At the Oil & Gas UK Share Fair 2014, we resolved to bring a more collaborative approach to our relationships with all our suppliers; the aim was to break the trend on steadily rising capital expenditure costs, whether that be with improved ways of working new technologies or standardising processes or equipment.

The Unlocking the Portfolio event was designed to find ways for the business and its partners to collaborate more closely on technology to make projects more competitive in the current low oil price climate. The event took place in March 2015 with around 70 new and existing contractors meeting us and each other to discuss projects stuck in the pipeline and the challenges we faced.  It was an opportunity for everyone to share knowledge, experience, and capabilities – as well as highlight areas where Centrica could improve its own processes and increase the viability of our projects.

During the day-long event, contractors were challenged to work together and find solutions for stalled projects.  Each session was facilitated by Centrica’s ‘Pioneering Practitioners’.  During each session ideas were generated, and these ideas and their cost savings potential were collated throughout the day, to give us a final estimate of the savings which could be made.  Hundreds of ideas were submitted across the day.  The business aims to develop these ideas in the months and years ahead to push ahead with projects, which are currently uneconomic.

Within our own organisation, several ideas have already been implemented on decommissioning projects as well as on a new project in Morecambe Bay – the use of a multi-skilled workforce on the North Morecambe Project which has provided efficiency without excessive strain on cost, as well as improving scheduling during a busy shutdown period.  The savings identified for individual projects range from 6% to more than 50%, and some of the ideas are applicable beyond the specific projects which were the focus of the Hackathon.

Since holding the Hackathon, we have shared our experiences with Oil & Gas UK, fellow operators and industry organisations.  Given the challenges everyone in the industry is facing, we also recognised that the learnings and ideas we collected during the day and in follow-up sessions would be beneficial to others. To that end, we have shared information with Oil & Gas UK and groups like the Small Pools Technology Development group.

Contact:  Ross Davidson, Centrica