The Background.

The client procurement teams required Instrument Engineering assistance to help evaluate and resolve technical issues and conflicts in their Master data that was blocking procurement of replacement Instrument hardware.

The client provided us with MIRP (Material Issue Resolution Process) packs and raised MIRP actions whenever there was an issue in their systems that barred procurement of new/replacement Instrument devices across a range of their Assets/Site facilities.  Our task was to evaluate all technical & functional aspects of any new replacements offered. This included interaction with relevant supply chain vendors and reporting all comparison findings against any obsolete hardware they were intended to replace.

The Client

Our end-client is one of the Largest natural gas producers in the world.

They are Australian based, have a global portfolio of onshore production facilities & offshore platforms and are recognised as a pioneer in LNG industry.

The Solution.

For this engagement we worked remotely from the UK, in close collaboration with our parent company Clough in Perth Australia, using SharePoint and other shared access platforms.

As a precursor to commencing scope, Booth Welsh Engineers had to undergo a series of Vetting,  Onboarding,  Training & Assessments before being granted access to the client’s document control and other systems that included SAP, DRIMS & ALIS. Each MIRP pack was assessed and relevant reference documents and messages were downloaded from the client systems. After review of all source documentation our Engineers completed an evaluation & comparison between existing and any suggested replacement and/or any alternative devices identified. We examined device specifications from functionality, operability, certification and installation perspectives  before determining and reporting whether any new instrument was a suitable replacement or not. Suitable new replacement new devices were catalogued with manufacturer, model and descriptions provided, along with references to any datasheets or quotes from vendors and cross refences to affected Functional Location tags. In some cases, the MIRP pack did not involve a replacement device e.g. where manufacturers part number had changed or been realigned. In these simpler cases an Engineer could quickly assess and instruct the client’s master data team to update the existing information onto their systems to reflect the new part number and/or descriptions. In instances where non compatibilities, or any significant technical  issues were identified, these were reported for Management of Change (MoC) processing. When MIRP packs were approved, via line manager review, the pack was uploaded back to the client’s systems with any comments included.  Clough summary reports were also completed and dashboard views then allowed end client full visibility of scope covered by Clough-Perth and Booth Welsh (UK) as one single source.

The Benefits.

Remote Engineering Support and Workshare Collaboration - across the World

Use of UK based Engineering personnel with access to vendors in UK & Australia

Reductions to client’s Engineering Overhead - for Procurement Evaluations

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Future expansion - to cover other Engineering Discipline support.