LEAN DRILLING - INTRODUCING THE APPLICATION OF AUTOMOTIVE LEAN MANUFACTURING TECHNIQUES TO WELL CONSTRUCTION

The automotive industry had advanced from craft production through mass production to lean production, which combines the advantages of craft and mass production while avoiding the high cost of the former and the rigidity of the latter. The application of lean production created the most developed form of customer/supplier relationships and achieved the highest productivity and quality in the industry. Studies have shown that productivity exceeds mass production by as much as 50% and that the associated highest level of quality is free. This outstanding result was not achieved through automation but through development and adoption of new organizational concepts. The drilling industry today most closely resembles the automotive craft production of the past; mass production has not been adopted owing mainly to the nonrepetitive nature of drilling activities. Studies have concluded that lean manufacturing can replace both mass and craft production in all areas of industrial activity. Consequently, lean manufacturing has the potential to be applied to drilling or, more appropriately, well construction. This paper describes the key elements of lean manufacturing and presents an analogy with the well-construction industry that provides the necessary insight for the well-construction industry to adopt them. The results achieved in the automotive industry show that major cost savings and improvements in quality can be achieved in the well-construction industry through this application.