Benefits of Lean Manufacturing in the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

The oil and gas industry currently faces significant problems in terms of costs, wasting time, and productivity. Lean Production implementation is shown to be the most popular process used in all areas of construction, car manufacturing, oilfield services, and others, that companies have applied to give better solutions to a variety of issues. In our work, our objective is to delve into the oilfield services business in Angola and its use of lean manufacturing tools and methods within the petroleum and natural gas industry., to understand/discover how the Lean manufacturing principles/methodology can bring benefits and be effectively applied to petroleum and natural gas field, in exploration, drilling, production, refining and to increase output while decreasing expenses and maximizing efficiency in the distribution and operational operations. On the other hand, to understand its value compared to other methodologies that companies have used to meet customer's needs. We based our study on the previous methodology developed by Toyota company in the automotive industry, focusing on maximizing values while minimizing waste in the process. By applying its principles in the oil and gas industry we found less waste, more operational efficiency, better quality, lower costs, engaged employees, more agility and flexibility, safer operations, and satisfied customers.