Standing out

By Jeff Nagel
General Manager, Global Services

The OEM expertise available through GE's Oil & Gas Global Services team allows our customers to optimize maintenance, extend equipment life, and increase unit availability and reliability.

We began in 1997 with one service shop in Florence, Italy, and have grown to 11 dedicated Global Services centers around the world – all drawing on the resources of more than 80 manufacturing, sales and service facilities across the Oil & Gas organization. The past decade has seen significant changes in our capabilities. So where do we go now?

As we build out a truly global infrastructure to provide full service to all regions, we also need to focus on continuously improving every part of our 'machine' to deliver higher levels of service as we look forward to the next ten years and beyond.

Speed & quality

In this industry, you can't have one without the other. Our customers operate every hour of every day in incredibly challenging environments around the world. Unplanned downtime can result in millions of dollars of lost productivity per day. So when customers need a response from us, they need it to be right – and right away.

At the heart of it all is Lean Processes. Already proven at our plants in Florence, Oshkosh and Houston, now we're rolling it out into service centers in every region. We take key processes that touch our customers and work significant lean initiatives into them.

So far, we've reduced Inquiry-to-Order time for half of all our spare parts quotes by 70%. In 2008, we expect that more than 75% of all spare part quotes will be delivered within one day. We’re working on overall on-time delivery and particularly on-time delivery of spare parts. A third area, Lean Installation is where all our processes really come together to make a success on site.

It's no secret that most surprises happen on-site. So we've been working with customers to define more proactive processes to anticipate quality gaps and make them easier to overcome. Our lean installation program covers all critical areas: site management, material planning, shipping, TA mobilization, installation and commissioning. Challenges will always arise during installation, so we're working to improve our responsiveness in order to have our equipment up and running as fast and efficiently as possible. Customer work-out sessions have just been completed and major program components will be in place by year-end.

Expertise

Expertise not only allows us to make and deliver our products – at Global Services, it is one of our products. When a GE Technical Advisor goes into the field, the customer is not only buying the technologies and processes that go into the solution, they are literally buying the expertise of that individual to direct the solution. So we view these people as differentiating factors of our service quality – because they are truly outstanding experts.

As regional activities expand, so too does the demand for highly skilled and experienced Technical Advisors. So we're bringing in more TAs and developing them in more regions around the world. And we're developing more highly structured training and certification programs – so that all our customers can depend on consistently high levels of service no matter where they operate.

We’re investing a lot in our people. Regardless of where they come from or where they will work, they will all benefit from the same formal programs, structured progressions and advanced training techniques such as plant simulators and monitoring technologies. We already have some of the best domain experts in the business – now we're taking this capability worldwide.

Technology

On the technology front, there are currently approximately 25,000 pieces of major GE equipment installed around the world in all sectors of the oil and gas industry – and many customers still need more capacity. So we're increasing our technology investment tenfold over the next four years.

Our formal approach to investing in technology is now producing new product upgrades at regular intervals – aimed at specific customer requirements with effective 'injection procedures' so that existing plants can be upgraded during regularly planned maintenance intervals.

A key benefit of our research and development initiatives is the unique ability to draw on the advanced capabilities of all GE's other high-tech businesses, and adapt them to increase the productivity of oil and gas applications.

One recent example is our single crystal material for turbines. The technology was developed by GE Aviation scientists and has been proven in that industry. Now we're using it in oil and gas applications to enable turbine operation at significantly higher temperatures – delivering an average 4% performance increase.

We don't view technologies as isolated product launches. For GE’s Oil & Gas business, the development process is continuous and forward-reaching.

Regionalization

Florence remains our central headquarters but, as we've invested in more and better-equipped regional service centers, so too are we investing in their resources and capabilities to deliver quality and speed as defined by our customers.

We haven't just regionalized bricks and mortar, we've regionalized grey matter – decentralizing empowerment and decision-making authority. The next three years, will see a significant shift of our resources into new regions so that our customers will have immediate access to highly qualified, fully-supplied service teams – in their time zone and language – to quickly address challenges.

While I'm discussing regionalization, it's hard not to mention the Middle East. The region is a driving force in today's oil and gas industry. The amount of production and commerce going on in that area is simply staggering. So I've been particularly interested in our regionalization efforts there this past year. The local talent pool is tremendous and we're working hard to transfer knowledge, experience and decision-making authority out of headquarters and into our regional offices such as Dubai and Qatar.

One reason why Global Services personnel are so in tune with customer needs is because they are well-rounded professionals, with an appreciation for the big picture and an understanding of how their work for one customer affects the entire industry. That perspective comes from ongoing training and development programs that see GE’s Oil & Gas technical advisors travelling the world to gain further experience with other types of operations and processes.

Conclusion

We are proud of the work our teams have done through the first 10 years of Global Services operations. We also recognize that there are significant challenges ahead. The future of our business and that of our customers depends on insight and foresight – and relentless efforts built on the four pillars discussed above.

Our goal is outstanding service, since we believe it is the best way to stand out.