Petrotechnics: Operational Excellence delivering ROI but workplace culture obstructs success

For 16%, OE initiatives are already delivering a return on investment (ROI) and, for 10%, it is embedded in the way they work.

This is the second year Petrotechnics has surveyed oil, gas and petrochemical industry professionals to gauge attitudes around OE and measure progress towards its adoption. Nearly all (95%) respondents agree that OE requires everyone “from the boardroom to the frontline, to consistently make the most effective operational decisions.” However, some 60% of respondents said OE has become more important in the last 12 months compared to 80% in the previous year.

Scott Lehmann, VP Product Management at Petrotechnics said: “The last year was a significant phase in OE’s evolution as it proved its worth in volatile times. The turbulent oil price put operations to the test and many companies, to their own surprise, weathered the storm and managed to maintain a margin. Now the price has stabilised, firms can focus on applying the same OE measures more widely and to even greater effect. As a result, OE has emerged from the confines of OE departments to become the new enterprise-wide norm.”

While industry leaders are delivering ROI, there remains a huge opportunity for many more firms to follow suit. Nearly half of respondents (44%) say OE is a priority and should be the way they run their business while 20% remain even further behind, stating that “much more needs to be done to achieve OE.”

When implementing OE initiatives, work place culture is the single biggest challenge according to 60% of respondents, followed by leadership and management (40%). Scott added: “OE initiatives require major change across the entire enterprise, affecting numerous roles and the way many individuals work. Inevitably, there will be resistance to change so management has a vital part to play in leading teams through the transition.” Encouragingly, nearly half of respondents say their senior leadership team is the most engaged with OE initiatives in their organisation.

Last year, 92% agreed that “technology is an enabler for delivering sustainable OE in the hazardous industries.” That sentiment continues this year, with 73% agreeing that, more specifically, “digitisation is helping accelerate our ability to deliver sustainable operational excellence.”

Scott said: “The digital leaders have paved the way for the rest of the industry to follow. They have proved OE’s value and shown the power of technology is achieving ROI. As technology becomes more readily available, many more firms can now adopt it to enhance their OE frameworks and deliver similar and long-term rewards.”

View the full report and results from the Operational Excellence Index here.

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/special-reports/21112017/petrotechnics-operational-excellence-delivering-roi-but-workplace-culture-obstructs-success/