Tore Markeset

Product support strategy: conventional versus functional products

Purpose – Most advanced durable industrial products need some kind of support to compensate for weaknesses in design or in product exploitation. Aims to examine different scenarios for product support and discusses approaches for development of product support strategy for conventional and functional products.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a case study of a manufacturer of advanced durable industrial production systems.Findings – Traditionally, the customer buys, operates, and maintains equipment used in production systems. Alternatively, the customer can buy the performance, instead of the physical product. In such cases, the manufacturer is responsible for operating, maintaining, and supporting the product in addition to designing and making it. Thus, the long‐term profit for both user and manufacturer will depend on the products designed‐in life cycle costs, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and supportability) characteristics, as well as on the effectiveness and ef...

Maintenance of machinery: Negotiating service contracts in business‐to‐business marketing

As industrial products are becoming more advanced and complex, the role of supporting services needed to exploit a products function to an agreeable performance is becoming increasingly important. To achieve the best performance, industrial customers are entering into service contracts with the original equipment manufacturers (OEM) or independent service providers. This, in turn essentially involves service contract negotiation between OEM/service provider and the client. If such contracts are not negotiated carefully, it may lead to conflict and poor system performance. To achieve a win‐win situation for both parties, aspects such as what services to deliver, who is to deliver them, how they are to be delivered and received, and at which performance level, need to be considered in the negotiation process and agreed upon by both the provider and the client. A conceptual framework has been developed for service delivery negotiation process based on review of literature and analysis of results from a survey conducted to study the existing approaches being practiced by the industrial organizations to negotiate a service contract.

Development of performance‐based service strategies for the oil and gas industry: a case study

Purpose – The main purpose of the paper is to present a framework for the development of performance‐based service strategies for the oil and gas industry in Norway. The framework considers various influencing factors and their attributes, as well as performance factors categorized as critical success factors, performance killers and cost drivers.Design/methodology/approach – A case study has been conducted to map current practices, to validate the influencing factor attributes, and to suggest performance factors. Data have been collected through an e‐mail questionnaire, face‐to‐face interviews, available documents from the industry and a literature survey.Findings – Operators of complex oil and gas production facilities are becoming increasingly dependent on service providers to support their efforts to perform according to demands. When developing a performance‐based service strategy one needs to consider influencing factors and attributes. Furthermore, one needs to measure the service delivery process ...

Maintainability analysis considering time-dependent and time-independent covariates

Traditional parametric methods for assessing maintainability most often only consider time to repair (TTR) as a single explanatory variable. However, to predict availability more precisely for high availability systems, a better model is needed to quantify the effect of operational environment on maintainability. The proportional repair model (PRM), which is developed based on proportional hazard model (PHM), may be used to analyze maintainability in the present of covariates. In the PRM, the effect of covariates is considered to be time independent. However this assumption may not be valid for some situations. The aim of this paper is to develop the Cox regression model and its extension in the presence of time-dependent covariates for determining maintainability. A simple case study is used to demonstrate how the model can be applied in a real case.

Development of a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to identify different service innovation drivers, innovation process activities and to understand industrial services innovation management and coordination, as well as to develop a framework for industrial service innovation management and coordination.Design/methodology/approach – The study involved collection of information and data from the literature and the Norwegian oil and gas (O&G) industry. A survey was conducted to get an overview of existing practices and guided interviews were conducted to confirm the findings of the survey.Findings – The study indicates that the market needs are considered the most important innovation process driver, feedback from the customers is the most important activity to encourage service innovations, whilst return on investments is the most important decision‐making factor in evaluating innovation feasibility. Employees are the most important source of innovation ideas. Furthermore, interactions between different companies, as ...

An approach for prediction of petroleum production facility performance considering Arctic influence factors

Abstract As the oil and gas (O&G) industry is increasing the focus on petroleum exploration and development in the Arctic region, it is becoming increasingly important to design exploration and production facilities to suit the local operating conditions. The cold and harsh climate, the long distance from customer and suppliers’ markets, and the sensitive environment may have considerable influence on the choice of design solutions and production performance characteristics such as throughput capacity, reliability, availability, maintainability, and supportability (RAMS) as well as operational and maintenance activities. Due to this, data and information collected for similar systems used in a normal climate may not be suitable. Hence, it is important to study and develop methods for prediction of the production performance characteristics during the design and operation phases. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for prediction of the production performance for oil and gas production facilities considering influencing factors in Arctic conditions. The proportional repair model (PRM) is developed in order to predict repair rate in Arctic conditions. The model is based on the proportional hazard model (PHM). A simple case study is used to demonstrate how the proposed approach can be applied.

Application of reliability models with covariates in spare part prediction and optimization – A case study

The number of spare parts required for an item can be effectively estimated based on its reliability performance. The reliability characteristics of an item are influenced by different factors such as the operational environment, maintenance policy, operator skill, etc. However, in the majority of reliability based spare part provision studies, the effect of these influence factors has not been considered, and the only variable of interest is the operating time. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the application of the available reliability models with covariates in the field of spare part predictions by means of a case study.

Technical Integrity Management: Measuring HSE Awareness Using AHP in Selecting a Maintenance Strategy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of technical integrity management (TIM) and propose a methodology for assessing to which extent the technical integrity (TI) performance is balanced in terms of goal awareness among the personnel responsible for TIM, and the degree to which high level goals are implemented in maintenance strategies.Design/methodology/approach – The study involved a comprehensive literature survey as well as information and data collected in the Norwegian oil and gas (O&G) industry. Several discussion rounds were carried out with the industrial maintenance management experts to recognize the existing practices and to confirm the suggested model.Findings – The literature review indicated that there is a need for a methodology for assessing to which extent the technical integrity (TI) performance is balanced in terms of goal awareness among the personnel responsible for TIM, and the degree to which high‐level goals are implemented in maintenance strat...

Dimensioning of product support: issues, challenges, and opportunities

Dimensioning of product support is influenced by the products designed-in characteristics, especially those related to RAMS. Based on a case study conducted in a manufacturing company that produces advanced automated production systems, this paper examines issues related to dimensioning of product support for advanced industrial products. The focus is mainly on the investigating engineering factors/parameters that influence product support strategy. In the case study, we examine various approaches and methods to integrate RAMS in combination with LCC in design work processes to arrive at the most cost effective product support strategy for industrial systems and components. Various aspects of product support strategies for functional products where the customer buys only the performance, not the physical product is studied and analyzed. In the conventional product scenario, the manufacturer benefits from selling support services, whilst this profit generating process becomes a cost and liability in the functional product scenario. It is concluded that the product support strategy for functional products will differ considerably compared to that for conventional products.

Industrial service innovation through improved contractual relationship

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to discuss various contractual issues that could encourage industrial service innovations with special reference to improving operation and maintenance process effectiveness of complex and advanced production facilities in the capital‐intensive industries.Design/methodology/approach – A case study was performed to study the influence of contractual relationships on industrial service innovations. The study focused on contractual relationships between service companies that sell operation and maintenance services to production facility operators in the Norwegian oil and gas industry.Findings – The case study shows that service innovations are desired in most of the operation and maintenance contracts, but existing contractual relationships most often do not support innovations. Moreover, contract duration, contract type and control mechanisms can influence cooperation and collaboration during contract execution.Research limitations/implications – The findings are based...