Value Assessments

 

Downstream Oil & Gas Industry

A large petrochemical plant in the Netherlands needed to improve the operational performance of the maintenance function. Through a focused quick scan of the standardized maintenance processes (GAME) and systems, good practices and improvement areas were revealed. A roadmap for improvement was presented to the Site Leadership Team. 

A Saudi Arabian joint venture refinery experienced serious issues with process reliability. In a high level assessment, the current reliability and maintenance (R&M) practices have been reviewed together with the business case for action. A potential value of several hundreds of MUSD per annum was identified if reliability perrformance could be raised to top quartile in the Solomon benchmarks. An implementation roadmap was presented with the required steps to capture this value.

One of the largest refineries in the world, located in India, operates at world class level. They are at the top level in the benchmark in both reliability and cost index. However they lack an adequate risk management process. In 2015, the decision was made to implement an Operations Management System (OMS), with a rigorous risk management process. An assessment of the key processes and systems was performed against OMS standards. A plan for closing the assessment gaps was presented in the implementation roadmap.

A Chinese refinery needed to shutdown operations in April 2016 for a major Turnaround with over 1 million man hours  to perform necessary maintenance and inspections and upgrade facilities to new environmental standards. An assessment of the Turnaround planning, preparation and execution through process analysis, deep interviews, field observations  and performance benchmarking provided key areas for improvement and the potential savings for the next Turnaround cycle.

A Chinese refinery has embarked on a reliability improvement journey. In a value assessment, global relaibility and maintenance (R&M) best practices have been introduced and positioned on the roadmpap for implementation.

 

Mining Industry

An Indian cement producer with 12 integrated production sites wanted to assess mechanical integrity risk exposure after a serious incident at one of the sites. Two representative sites were assessed in a combined reliability and integrity assessment to identify areas at risk and business improvement opportunities leading to significant savings for the group.

A South African Manganese smelter facility had recently changed ownership. The new owner wanted to assess current operations practices to improve business performance and reduce incident rate. The assessment resulted in a roadmap for a plant wide reliability initiative and a PSM risk reduction program.

A South African Coal Mine needed to cut operational cost per ton to maintain profit margin in current low economic conjuncture and to obtain a competitive advantage in a growing market. A Physical Asset Management (PAM) program was launched at the mine site, including a maintenance & reliability excellence journey. To reinforce the objectives of the program, a stepwise operational discipline and risk awareness program was designed to improve the performance culture on the work floor.

A mining group in Kazakhstan was forced to improve operations performance to counter growing international competition. One open pit mining and one metals processing site were assessed to identify improvement opportunities. Significant potential for improvements and reduction of the risk profile have been identified and translated in a performance improvement program.

A former state owned mining group in Kazakhstan wanted an operational excellence assessment to highlight areas for improvement. A site assessment and detailed performance analysis resulted in an improvement program with significant business optimization and risk reduction opportunities.

 

Chemicals Industry

A Pakistan based chemicals group wanted to roll out an Operational Excellence program across their six business units. The polymers business unit was assessed to identify current good practices and improvement opportunities and estimate the total business case for the group. A focused improvement plan to increase safety, reliability and cost performance was designed on top of the running six sigma programs. In the roadmap the implementation and best practice sharing across the sites was presented.

A China based Chemicals production site faced reliability issues in the utilties operations. In an assessment of the power station on site, a plan was presented to ensure supply of power on the short term and improve the overall chemicals site reliability performance on the longer term. The business case for change and the roadmap for implementation were presented to site management. 

 

Transformation Projects

Downstream Oil & Gas Industry

A Middle East Oil company required an integrated Manufacturing Operations Management system to support a greenfield refinery, power station and terminal complex. The solution enables to plan. execute, monitor and control operational activities by enhancing collaboration and information exchange between users. The project included:

  • user requirements collection
  • business process definition
  • information flow mapping
  • technology selection
  • integrated functional architecture
 

Upstream Oil & Gas Industry

A Netherlands based international Oil & Gas company selected Asset Performance Management (APM) tooling to support global operations. The newly defined harmonized asset integrity processes and state of the art APM tool set have been implemented across more than 100 upstream assets across the globe. The project included:

  • design of new processes with asset proponents
  • selection of the decision support systems for Risk Based Inspection (RBI) methodology
  • technical and business requirements definition for new Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) system
  • global implementation support to local implementation teams

A UK based offshore services company needed to improve occupational safety performance to improve current and future client relations. The company provides asset integrity, maintenance and asset management services to key clients in oil & gas production. A cultural change program was defined and implemented across key client assets. The program included:

  • assessment of current safety practices through interviews and field observations
  • quick wins action plan for immediate self implementation in each of the assessed areas
  • strategic objectives and implementation concept for a workplace and process safety improvement plan

A Netherlands based, but globally operating, heavy lift company selected an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system to support asset management processes for the 3 key lifting vessels and support fleet. The implementation project included:

  • definition of core asset management processes and user roles
  • implementation of role based user interfaces, dashboards and reports
  • training and site implementation support
 

Chemicals Industry

A Saudi Arabia based petrochemical company started a reliability and maintenance (R&M) improvement project to increase asset utilization and cost efficiency. After the value assessment, the action plan and roadmap had been developed to start implementation. Key elements of the implementation program were:

  • setup of a reliability department
  • MRO stock policy and supply chain optimization
  • planning and scheduling process and system use improvement
 

Metals Processing Industry

An anglo-dutch steel producer needed to improve asset performance to reduce lost production hours. The overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) was lagging behind first quartile European steel producers. A Journey to Reliability (J2R) program was initiated to reduce unplanned downtime and reduce asset risk level, while increasing cost efficiency. All European facilities are assessed against bronze-silver-gold standards.  A roadmap to close the performance gaps has been developed based on World Steel Association (WSA) benchmarks and internal and external best practices.
  • Set required realistic and challenging asset performance target levels
  • assess current performance level per unit and set priority for implementation
  • develop a pilot-based implementation plan to create a proactive mindset and increase asset performance
  • monitor and sustain asset performance level

    • Russia's largest steel producer wanted to implement a company wide operational excellence program. A structured approach was chosen to roll out the program across 19 production sites in 9 months waves. In each wave the pull forwards were trained to be the leaders on their site in the next wave. Key activities were:

    • define key plant performance indicators
    • assess current performance level and operational practices 
    • benchmark performance and determine gap to world class level
    • select industry best practices to close the performance gaps
    • setup roadmap for implementation and training of staff
    • initiate cultural change to create self-sustaining high performing teams
     

    Power Generation Utilities

    A dutch Multi-utility company operates 5 power plants, including a nuclear plant in the Netherlands. With fast changing economical landscape and environmental pressure, the profitability of each asset was highly variable. A long term asset focused approach was required to optimise utilization of existing generation capacity and new investments.  A long term planning model was developed, in combination with real time performance monitoring dashboard, to obtain a 360 degrees view on the asset base. Key elements of the project were:

    • asset management capability building
    • asset management process design
    • KPI definition and dashboard design
    • long term asset planning and financial modeling
     

    Water Distribution Utilities

    Two regional water distribution companies in the western part of the Netherlands required to setup an asset management capability. A long term strategy, including replacement and investment planning was developed. The long term business objectives were translated to asset policies and maintenance plans to optimise availability and minimise drinkwater quality and environmental risks. The planning and execution processes were optimised to minimise operating & maintenance costs. This approach resulted in first PAS55 and later ISO55000 accreditation. The project included:
    • development of a long term asset life cycle model
    • development of asset based maintenance strategies
    • asset based budgeting process and model definition
    • work process definition and implementation
    • performance monitoring and reporting definitions
    • training and coaching
     

    High Tech Manufacturing Industry

    A Netherlands based chip manufacturing machine producer and service provider required a more approach for servicing field equipment. The service department deployed 2500 field engineers to support reliable production at client locations around the world. A project was started to introduce a more proactive maintenance approach to improve internal planning processes and external client service levels. The project included:

    • build predictive analytical models to predict failure behaviour from more than 3000 continous sensor signals
    • perform proof of concept pilots at service hubs around the world
    • process redesign to ensure optimum predicivtity and improve service planning and minimize cost and client downtime