In an increasingly competitive environment, streamlining operations has become more and more important and requires innovative methods and solutions.
The implementation of lean thinking methods can allow companies to achieve higher performance levels that outpace the competition. These methods can also eliminate behind-the-scenes nuisances that do not add value to one’s work, according to Jorge Mastellari, senior VP and partner of ARGO-EFESO during a recent webinar, “Lean Thinking in Downstream for Breakthrough Performance in Asset Management.”
“We call it the hidden factory: the things happening behind the scenes; everything that does not add value to your everyday work to the product that you need,” explained Mastellari. “One of our approaches is to make that hidden factory visual, so people can see what’s happening and they can fix it with specific techniques and methodologies.”
The first pillar of lean thinking begins with focusing on the elimination of pain points in workflow. According to CJ Renegar, VP of ARGO-EFESO, this process begins by removing barriers that may be preventing worker engagement.
“We go into many places and people are just doing the minimum to get through the day,” said Renegar. “When we engage the workforce, we start removing barriers for people. As a result, we start to see an improvement, or lift in their discretionary energy.”
In this lean thinking application, the focus is centered on people in the workplace to better serve the organization’s goals. The second pillar of lean thinking can be attributed to leaders taking initiative to transform an outcome.
“What we find many times is that supervisors are not even aware of what their team needs to be more successful,” explained Renegar. “We start with the leaders on the frontline by first making sure they’re aligned around purpose and communicating what they want to achieve. Second, we focus on the two or three goals that would move the needle and start to show progress. What are the key high-impact moments that the leaders need to demonstrate?”
Invariably, higher priority work will interrupt current workflow which causes delays within a company’s schedule, according to Brook Vickery, VP and manufacturing manager for Flint Hills Resources. This is a major problem for industry tasks, which is why the third pillar focuses on homing in on workflow prioritization.
“The problem with a lot of work in processes is, work that has started but not finished yet creates more work in process, and a longer cycle time, on average, to go until completion,” said Vickery. “A different way to go is the pull system, which is essentially saying that the work orders can be written, and the team leader can prioritize and reprioritize all at once. But the focus is on flowing that work all the way to completion and keeping the work in process very low.”
The final pillar focuses on team-based asset management. Team approaches to large tasks can reduce overall cycle time and cut down on delays, according to Vickery.
“When you have a team approach, the whole team sees the work order from the very beginning,” said Vickery. “The operations person on the team says ‘hey, we’ve got this problem we must get addressed,’ and they’re talking about it with their team before it has even been planned or any of the work has been done.”
New adaptation and understanding of these practices are making daily breakthrough improvements in the oil and gas industry.
