Operations Efficiency Analytics themes are generally focused around asset utilisation.
In Energy asset availability and reliability are key metrics but there is always the requirement to improve utilisation and reduce costs and there are a number of functions in play here.
Some of the challenges to achieving ‘Operations Excellence’ are:
- Driving the number of Unplanned / Unscheduled activities to zero.
- With better planning and scheduling ‘backlogs’ are managed and there are fewer ‘break-in’ jobs.
- Completing activities / jobs ‘on-time’.
- Changing behaviors from a reactive culture to a proactive and predictive mindset.
- Shutdown management effectiveness
- Are we taking advantage of planned shutdowns or extended unplanned shutdowns or slowdowns? Is our degree of readiness for shutdown work inadequate?
- Improving the reliability and availability of critical plant / equipment.
- Understanding multivariate process conditions, outcomes and envelopes
AND
- Targeting the 8 big losses affecting asset utilization and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE)
Why change and use analytics to drive continuous improvement in operations? Â Ask yourself the following:
- Do all levels of the organization proactively manage the system (Reservoir, Wells, Plant, Export) to avoid or minimize future losses?
- Is there a solid track record for growing the IPC (Installed Production Capacity) or for decreasing the base decline rate?
- Is there a consistent understanding of where the chokes are in the system?
- Are cause-and-effect owners assigned to the asset’s top causes of losses?
- Are the root causes of losses identified and eradicated or do the same defects keep recurring?
- Continuous Improvement in Operations
- Do the activities listed on each year’s schedule consistently bring you one year closer to your business strategy?
- How robust are your cost forecasts? Are they underpinned with a base foundation of integrity management?
- Do your functional team leaders understand the big picture?
- Do they align their teams to optimize activity value for the business, or narrowly focus on optimizing only their own function?
Why only now are Energy operators using analytics to step change towards Operations Excellence when they are faced with so many pressures?
- Balancing people, time, funding and equipment available to meet requirements to deliver the annual plan and production target.
- Struggling to meet the highest priority work activities within the constraints of beds offshore / field resources. Struggle with too few resources to support work plans.
- Having solid contingency plans that manage risks to meeting production and cost targets.
- Data quality, assurance and control of management of change.
- Validation that we are meeting performance standards for our safety critical equipment to support ‘the safety case’ and ‘license to operate’.
- Knowledge of assets, processes and best practices is fading. Retirements and outsourcing can increase risk.
- Collaboration between upstream workers and across supply chains can be inefficient.