The purpose of this gathering, held at Vår Energi, was to bring operator companies together with the supplier industry to discuss how tomorrow’s supply chains can be configured and what is required to establish good delivery networks.
Four operators – Equinor, TotalEnergies, Vår Energi and ConocoPhillips – and suppliers Norsea, Siemens Energy, Aibel and DNV presented how they are working with 3D printing and digital inventories.
“We’ve come a lot further with [this technology] than people appreciate,” says Brede Lærum. “Together with a supplier, for example, we’ve printed a component weighing more than three tonnes in both steel and Inconel nickel alloy. There are few limits to what’s achievable – the constraints lie in our ability to adapt to exploit this innovation.”
Lærum, manager of Equinor’s AM Centre of Excellence, heads a project team which is working through Offshore Norge to identify how the industry can develop and expand the use of 3D printing and offshore warehouses.
Absolutely essential
Kristian Stapnes, vice president for services and development at base operator Norsea, views 3D printing as absolutely essential for constructing more robust value chains and gradually building up digital warehouses – which will contribute to the green shift.
He points out that spare parts worth an estimated NOK 30 billion are currently held in physical storage. A large proportion of this total lies at bases run by Norsea.
“Such stocks are set to be reduced,” Stapnes says. “We regard this as an opportunity because we’re turning our gaze to new types of industry involving offshore wind power and aquaculture, where freed-up capacity will be important for galvanising activity across industries.”
Video: Brede Lærum from Equinor and Kristian Stapnes see big opportunities for 3D printing and digital inventories.
The vision of the project headed by Lærum is that “digital inventories and on-demand manufacturing are established as a standard operational and sustainable solution on the Norwegian continental shelf”.
Øystein Håland, who is Offshore Norge’s manager for collaboration projects, says the team working on 3D printing and digital inventories will be completing a guideline for the area this summer.
Reaching the vision will provide at least three major benefits for the industry.
- It will contribute to local value creation by returning production to Norway and putting delivery locations closer to hand.
- It will enhance sustainability by reducing big spare-part stocks and through manufacturing on demand.
- A robust and scalable network for delivering this will have been built up.
Further information: Dialogue meeting - summary (PDF)
