CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
20 June 2007
Implementation Investments
IFS Applications Enhance Wellstream's Supply Management and Manufacturing Capabilities
IFS announced a significant deal with Wellstream International Limited, one of the world's leading suppliers of flexible pipelines to the oil and gas industry. Wellstream has chosen IFS Applications to help manage its entire project lifecycle. IFS Applications will enable Wellstream to ensure that products are manufactured to the highest standards of quality, health and safety.
Wellstream manufactures flexible pipelines for offshore and onshore oil and gas production. Working on a project by project basis, Wellstream engineers bespoke pipeline solutions tailored to address specific constraints of each application and project such as pressure, water depth, temperature and fluid characteristics.
Because of this, it was essential for the company to choose a software system that could manage the critical path of all project activities in order to deliver products to its customers within a specified critical timeline and support oil field operations, often offshore. IFS Applications will replace a number of legacy systems from multiple vendors.
Wellstream, which currently has operations in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada and Australia, is in the process of expanding its South American operations by building a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Brazil.
"Being an international company, we needed to make sure our final choice would not only meet our current needs, but would also be able to cope with our future expansion plans," said Chris Braithwaite, Chief Operating Officer for Wellstream. "IFS' experience, expertise and reputation in the manufacturing and oil and gas industry made it the perfect choice for us."
Wellstream brought in expertise from a consulting group from The University of Teesside, Teesside Manufacturing Centre (TMC), School of Science and Technology, to help advise the company on its business systems. TMC invited 12 vendors to tender for the contract, with IFS being chosen at the end of the process.
Wellstream and TMC discovered that, unlike its competitors which offered a mixture of third party products, IFS was the only vendor able to deliver all key modules Wellstream required from a single solution. IFS Applications' compatibility with Primavera P3 and P5 software, was also a crucial factor in Wellstream's final decision.
"After rigorous evaluation, we found the IFS solution to be best suited for Wellstream, as it is very much orientated towards dealing with customers who deliver ETO (Engineer to Order) contracts on a project managed basis," said Dr. Ahmed Abbas, Head of TMC. "It was also critical for us to find a system that was able to match Wellstream's demanding supply chain requirements, and one that could handle the manufacturing, planning and scheduling requirements - IFS was able to deliver this and more."
IFS will also provide Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Product Data Management (PDM) and Design, and Document Management, as well as Quality, Plant Maintenance, HR and Payroll functionality to 240 users in the UK, USA, Canada, and Australia during the first phase of the implementation. A planned second phase will include the new plant being constructed in Brazil. Collaboration portals will permit interaction with key customers, subcontractors and suppliers.
The project is expected to go live in October/November 2007, to be followed by the second phase in 2008.
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