IADC to open Supply Chain Committee to wider industry participation
The IADC Supply Chain Committee, established in 2013 as a drillers-only group, is now inviting non-drilling contractors to participate in upcoming meetings and bring new ideas for projects, said Ensco’s Jorge Lebrija, who serves as Chairman of the committee. The purpose of the Supply Chain Committee is to facilitate the exchange of ideas, knowledge sharing and interaction amongst drilling contractors, suppliers and other IADC groups, with the aim of implementing best practices for the betterment of the drilling industry. “It’s about the implementation of best practices and standardization,” Mr Lebrija said at the 2017 IADC Annual General Meeting in Austin, Texas, on 9 November. “We’re not here to reinvent the wheel.”
After setting up its first two subcommittees – the Supplier Performance Subcommittee and the Logistics and Trade Compliance Subcommittee – in 2013, the group then set up the Manufacturing Record Book Subcommittee in 2015 and the Inventory Subcommittee in 2016. “Very recently we just established a new Supply Chain Committee based in Dubai under the IADC Southern Arabian Peninsula Chapter, and this committee is now open for drillers and non-drillers’ participation, as well,” Mr Lebrija said.
The Supplier Performance Subcommittee, which is led by Jean-Paul Buisine of Transocean and Stephen Elliott of Patterson-UTI, published the IADC Supplier Performance – Metrics and Scorecard in 2014. “The key goal is to make sure that the suppliers and the customers and the internal customers of the organizations are on the same page when it comes to quality, delivery and many other metrics that we consider important,” said Nabors’ Abhishek Vyas, who serves as Vice Chairman of the Supply Chain Committee. The metrics and guidelines, which were designed to be generic so they could be used across different organizations, have been implemented within 90% of participating drilling contractors, Mr Vyas added. Ongoing projects are under way to add more metrics related to performance and reliability.
The Logistics and Trade Compliance Committee published three guidance documents before being put on hold due to a lack of resources, Mr Vyas said. These are the Trade Compliance Guidelines, the Rig Entry/Exit Process for US, and the Import/Export Guidance for Nigeria.
Under the Manufacturing Record Book Subcommittee, major collaboration was achieved among drilling contractors, original equipment manufacturers and classification societies, according to Mr Vyas. The group, which is led by Ensco’s Brad Green, has been working to standardize Manufacturing Record Books across the industry. An initial version of the IADC Manufacturing Record Book Guidance was published this year, and work is ongoing to expand its content.
The Inventory Subcommittee, led by Transocean’s Andy Rennie, is working to identify materials management best practices for:
- Preservation of stored equipment;
- Management of rubber goods;
- Excess inventory sharing program; and
- Digital tagging of equipment.
“We are very proud of the participation that we’ve had in the committee and of what we have accomplished in this short period of time,” Mr Lebrija said. However, looking to 2018, he noted that the committee hopes to see more participation from service providers and equipment manufacturers, as well as from onshore drilling contractors. “Hopefully we’ll get a good influx of people coming in so that we can reestablish the Logistics and Trade Compliance Subcommittee and continue developing country-specific import and export guidelines.” The committee also will continue to explore additional supply chain-related standardization initiatives, including bar codes and RFID tags.
Click here for more information about the IADC Supply Chain Committee.
