A workstation at an oil & gas manufacturer before the company began its lean transformation with the help of De Wardt and Co.


proach using detailed measurements and analysis,” he said. He has seen it tried with little actual progress made. For him, the key to such a practical audience is a visual


approach. He is also a big believer in kaikaku, or “radical change” in the lean lexicon. One of his favorite techniques, when applicable, is to completely empty a workspace of its equipment and rebuild it with shop-floor personnel, along with company leadership. Sometimes it is the only way to ef- fect meaningful change. “Too oſten people want to come in and perform kaizens


or apply 5S on highly inefficient processes,” he explained. “Tey are wasting their time. You cannot clean up a workflow process that is chaotic or nonfunctional.” What he experiences at the end of such a process is a “trash bin filled with stuff not needed,” essentially performing kaizens, and 5S in the pursuit of a higher goal.


Exploration and Drilling: Lean is Compatible While lean is undoubtedly useful for manufacturing oil &


gas components, the concept also extends itself to explora- tion and drilling (E&D). Tis is where de Wardt got his start. “We invented and trademarked the concept of Lean Drill- ing,” he said. Starting with one-off wells, the concept has since been


applied to wells drilled with highly repetitive processes. Tese are typically highly repetitive wells that oſten employ hydrau- lic fracturing (fracking). Te next step he sees is automating well drilling and completion. While increasing productivity, and making the process more consistent, using automation is safer, taking people out of harm’s way. “If you look at the entire front end of an oil & gas company,


it is just like an assembly line,” said Alex Buehler, a senior project manager with Te Marshall-Teichert Group (MTG), Houston. He explained that there are four basic processes that operate in this assembly line: Find the oil and lease the surface and mineral rights; move a drilling rig into location and drill; complete the drilled well and frack as necessary; and, finally, install the surface equipment to start extracting the oil and gas


After working with De Wardt and Co. the oil & gas manufacturer’s workstation benefited from a lean-based workcell design and a 5S process.


out of the ground. It can cost thousands of dollars per hour to drill and complete wells. Te equipment is expensive and usu- ally locked in by long-term leases—idle time represents loss of real dollars, not just opportunity cost. Ideally, drilling and completing fleets should have a backlog of future locations to keep them busy. “Each of these discrete steps [in the assembly line] typically


contains hidden waste,” he explained. “For example, it can take up to 90 days from selecting an ideal location to securing title and land usage rights to drill. How you mobilize the rig and minimizing the number of times the drill string is pulled and put back in the hole [tripped] also reduces cycle time.” To help E&D operators, he points to the complete list of lean tool and concepts, from kaizens to SMED (single minute exchange of dye). “For example, we find that the SMED concept works quite well,” he remarked. “Instead of having the end-to-end sequential steps in a process laid out, we find many times that some steps in a process can be completed simultaneously.” Aggressive preventive and predictive maintenance are other concepts borrowed from lean that he believes contribute, on average, 5–10% in increased production capability. Safety is another major concern for E&D operators, and


not just for individual workers or the crews. A major blowout or other accident represents untold damage to the environ- ment and liability to the companies involved. “Tere is a natu- ral reaction from clients who have not worked with us before to say that they simply cannot work faster,” Buehler explained. “Tey are concerned that working faster will compromise safety. What we typically do is show our clients that what we are aſter is working more efficiently.” Eliminating downtime, rework, and unnecessary steps are simply eliminating waste— not forcing workers into doing the same inefficient work faster at greater risk to themselves. “Te value stream process becomes compressed and the cycle time is faster and they are now paying much closer attention to individual steps along that process,” he said. When all is said and done, efficiency curbs rather than ac-


centuates hazards. Energy Manufacturing 2013 39


Photos courtesy of De Wardt and Co.


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