GE ENErGy - Frank Farnel

SUCCESS STOry
one of the boosting stations of China's
West-to-east natural gas pipeline.
Quicker time to operation
Improving the way solutions are delivered does not
stop at the supplier’s gate. The second major program
GE Oil & Gas has launched is lean installation,
which seeks to reduce the time from shipment
to commercial operation. Extensive customer feedback
and investigation was conducted to understand
how solutions are installed and commissioned
and what can be done to improve quality
and drastically reduce cycle time.
by leveraging product structuring, a number of
innovative improvements are possible, including
enhanced installation instructions via videos, preassembly
at the sub-vendor’s site, and improved
and pre-defined maintenance information. The
lean installation program goes further to also
include organizational changes to improve responsiveness,
checks on completeness, and enhanced
plans and deployment of materials and manpower
on site.
The power of this approach was best illustrated
during the expansion of PetroChina’s massive Westto-East
natural gas pipeline, one of the world’s largest
gas-transmission projects.
Work was completed two months ahead of schedule
for two of the final four compression stations
being built for the extension of the first West-to-
East pipeline. The total project was finished in just
over three months, 46% faster than previous installations,
setting a new record for GE Oil & Gas.
“Among the key factors that enabled us to achieve
this record were a close relationship with our customer,
as well as lean installation initiatives at the
site, pre-assembly of the auxiliary equipment at
the supplier’s workshop, the availability of skilled
field service engineers and implementation of lessons
learned from previous projects,” explains Joe
Mastrangelo. Overall the combined programs allow
the teams to exploit the learning curve inherent in
repeatability. When combined with rigorous subvendor
quality this is a winning combination to
deliver projects faster, with improved quality, and
reduced total cost of ownership.
CUstOMER’s voice
aShley bateS
enterprise Category Manager,
rotating equipment, Shell
In 2007 shell conducted a market
study aimed at identifying ways to
reduce project cost and improve
schedule delivery performance.
Amongst the numerous findings, we identified equipment
standardization as one means of improving performance.
Our company then began implementing standardization for
rotating equipment and other technologies with a number of
companies, including GE.
Shell expects material financial, project risk reduction and
timeline improvement benefits to be gained by all key stakeholders:
EPC Contractors, Equipment suppliers and Shell and
its Joint venture partners. Given this, we also expect limited
resistance to change as we seek to implement the standards
when the first standards become ready for implementation
during q4 2009.
Shell appreciates the focused effort that GE is applying to
our standardization program through the GE Product Structuring
initiative. The job is certainly not complete. However,
by continuing the focus and effort applied to date, Shell
expects successful benefits realization as we move from
building the standards to joint implementation with EPC
contractors and equipment suppliers like GE.
alex Straver
program lead rotating
equipment Standardization,
Shell
shell recognizes that Equipment standardization
requires very close collaboration
between buyer and manufacturer,
and later in the process, similarly close collaboration
with EpCs. Shell started its Standardization program with GE
among the initial suppliers, not only because of GE’s Product
Structuring program, but also because of the good technical
relationship between respective engineering teams at both
companies.
Shell’s Standardization Program covers Gas Turbines, Compressors,
Pumps and Seals. The rollout with GE has begun to
develop standardized packages for selected gas turbines and
centrifugal compressors. Together we have learned how to
successfully create standards that benefit both parties. EPC
contractors will also receive benefits coming from improved
resource utilization and risk reduction.
08 l CONNEXION GE Energy EPC Associates Magazine