Creating value for our customers
by Brian Masterson,
General Manager of Manufacturing,
GE Energy, Oil & Gas
GE Energy is capable of creating solutions for the challenges that face every sector of the worldwide oil and gas industry.

Nothing less than the best is good enough for our customers. GE is not the only manufacturer to express that sentiment, but few can claim they have done as much to make it happen.

The fact is, in a complex manufacturing environment ‘the best’ is not easy to achieve, especially when viewed through the customer’s eyes. A manufacturer may achieve 97% on-time delivery and be proud of it – while the customer finds 3% late deliveries to be unacceptable. That is why GE defines quality only in customer terms: on-time delivery of machinery that performs as promised, reliably, throughout its life cycle, at an acceptable price.

GE Energy’s drive toward this kind of total quality began in the late 1980s with our Work-Out program that opened up our internal culture by reducing bureaucracy and promoting innovative thinking. This paved the way for Six Sigma which, since the mid-90s, has provided data-driven tools for analyzing procedures and processes in order to reduce the possibility of defects. The company’s success with Six Sigma exceeded the most optimistic predictions. It continues to be the main driver of the GE quest for leadership in manufacturing.

Lean Manufacturing joins Six Sigma
At our Florence manufacturing facility, the concept of Lean Manufacturing has joined Six Sigma to develop the solutions necessary to best serve our oil and gas customers. Put simply, Lean Manufacturing aims to reduce waste and thereby add value. Not just wasted materials, but also wasted motion and wasted time. To date, it has helped us reduce inventory and cycle times by 25% across the board.

In the past two years, the “Lean Six Sigma” approach to manufacturing has proved its ability to raise our level of response to customers’ needs. Cycle times are being reduced significantly – from 30 to 50 per cent. On-time deliveries have improved beyond expectation. Customers tell us that they have already begun to feel the improvements.

This is not the place for a complete explanation of all that GE is doing to transform manufacturing in Florence. But the information is always available for anyone who is interested – transparency is part of the GE-customer relationship. For now, here are some snapshots of initiatives that are creating extra value for our customers.

Right-to-left planning
 A standard project timeline starts with ‘now’ on the left side of the page and ends with ‘then’ on the right. We use a slightly different process – our starting point is actually on the right with the date that the customer plans to go live, and it ends with ‘now’ on the left. Right-to-left planning puts us in a position to identify and preplan critical stages as early as the bidding and proposal phase of a project so that, by the time the order is confirmed, we have all the processes in place to ensure on-spec, on-time installation.

Manufacturing Resource Planning and Bill of Material redesign
This is an example of how complex the transformation to the Lean Six Sigma way of thinking and operating can be. The MRP/BoM redesign project is now in its final stages, following two years of intense activity.
The purpose is to integrate existing scheduling, information management, design engineering and manufacturing planning systems, in order to achieve efficient use of time, materials and resources within customer-driven time frames. Over 250 people in the organization have contributed to its successful implementation, led by a cross-discipline team of 35 in-plant staff, 10 Six Sigma Black Belts and 36 Information Management specialists.

 The work involved a complete redesign of the change-order process in order to expand the knowledge base and associated workflows; installation of 200 workstations on the shop floor (where two years ago there were only two); training of 2,400 line workers in the new tools; and the creation of 8,000 templates to ensure the necessary alignment between engineering and manufacturing functions. As a customer, you might ask “What does all this mean for me?”
  1. It enables Lean Manufacturing solutions such as Pulsed Manufacture whereby downtime intervals are minimised between production tasks – so that, as workflow progresses, everything is in the right place at the right time.
    Benefits: reduced cycle time, less waste, consistent quality.



  2. It enables the closest possible integration of Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing resources. Computer modeling enables defects to be identified on screen rather than on machine. Component fit can be verified in advance, avoiding re-machining and bad fits. Custom packaging procedures can be figured out in advance.
    Benefits: reduced manufacturing and assembly errors, reduced cycle time and fewer delivery delays.



  3. It enables full implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies. For example, Electrical Discharge Machining enables GE Energy to standardize one-piece impellers across the centrifugal compressor range, for enhanced reliability and reduced maintenance. Additional 5-axis machines enable fast, accurate production of complex components. And a unique facility now under construction, is specially designed for high-speed balancing of large centrifugal compressors and turbines under full load conditions.
    Benefits: higher quality geometrics and reliable performance.

There a lot more to be said about the changes under way at GE Energy’s manufacturing and testing facilities. Changes that will create new value, new quality and new responsiveness for our customers.

 

For more information on our manufacturing processes or ongoing plans for improvement, please contact:

Brian Masterson
General Manager of Manufacturing,
GE Energy, Oil & Gas