Benefit Mapping of Model-Based Maintenance and Test Concept at Handover Phase: A Case Study

Abstract

The oil and gas industry has been vital to the development of modern Norwegian society. However, with fluctuating oil prices, the industry is forced to seek innovation and enhance efficiency to reduce cost and gain revenue. Transitioning towards low-manned installations during the onset of Industry 4.0 requires significant digitalisation efforts from all involved parties. Although extensive research and technology are available to collect, store and analyse big data from intelligent equipment, there is a functional shortage in effectively communicating the complex system to all involved stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

This thesis has mapped the values and benefits of digitalising the maintenance and test concepts while utilising the Model-Based Systems Engineering methodology to enable more efficient, reliable, and updated information sharing between stakeholders during the project design and operation phase. The research found a considerable value in the digitalisation during the handover phase. Continuously updating and evolving the design basis while keeping all stakeholders updated through several revisions has proven difficult with the current document-based method. This approach consistently creates mismatches between the original communicated design basis and the revised design requirements at the handover phase. Thus, incurring otherwise productive and profitable time from all parties being diverted to fault searching and corrective rework hours of mismatches. Furthermore, the approach would increase requirement quality and maintenance activities, which would achieve high-level value drivers of reducing man-hours, Increased revenue, reducing external costs and Improved Health, Safety, Security, Environment & Quality.

The methodology developed in this thesis can be utilised to analyse other digitalisation processes inside and outside the case company.

The oil and gas industry has been vital to the development of modern Norwegian society. However, with fluctuating oil prices, the industry is forced to seek innovation and enhance efficiency to reduce cost and gain revenue. Transitioning towards low-manned installations during the onset of Industry 4.0 requires significant digitalisation efforts from all involved parties. Although extensive research and technology are available to collect, store and analyse big data from intelligent equipment, there is a functional shortage in effectively communicating the complex system to all involved stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

This thesis has mapped the values and benefits of digitalising the maintenance and test concepts while utilising the Model-Based Systems Engineering methodology to enable more efficient, reliable, and updated information sharing between stakeholders during the project design and operation phase. The research found a considerable value in the digitalisation during the handover phase. Continuously updating and evolving the design basis while keeping all stakeholders updated through several revisions has proven difficult with the current document-based method. This approach consistently creates mismatches between the original communicated design basis and the revised design requirements at the handover phase. Thus, incurring otherwise productive and profitable time from all parties being diverted to fault searching and corrective rework hours of mismatches. Furthermore, the approach would increase requirement quality and maintenance activities, which would achieve high-level value drivers of reducing man-hours, Increased revenue, reducing external costs and Improved Health, Safety, Security, Environment & Quality.

The methodology developed in this thesis can be utilised to analyse other digitalisation processes inside and outside the case company.