|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Standards
Change Management Critical for Leading Flow Equipment Provider |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
Come join us at these upcoming events: Apr. 1-4 |
|
 |
|
|
|
Standards Change Management Critical for Leading Flow Equipment Provider
Alexander says that one key to staying on top of changing requirements is the company's active participation in the organizations that develop the standards used by Cameron. "We participate in most of the committees that control the major specifications, such as ASME, ISO and API. By doing so, we gain a lot of insight into what's coming down the pipeline," he says. Another practice that helps is the company's internal quality control process. Every quarter, a member of Alexander's group screens the specifications in use to determine if there have been any changes. If any are discovered, the division quality engineers send out notifications informing the engineering managers at Cameron's worldwide facilities. But it's not just up to Alexander's group to look for changes. Engineers at all facilities are constantly reviewing specifications used in products to assure adequacy. "Everybody is keeping an eye out," says Alexander. "My group doesn't have the head count to do it alone, so it's up to all of us" It's a critical job. Alexander says one of his biggest nightmares is the possibility that his company might manufacture millions of parts, only to later discover that they were made to the wrong specification version. "We may buy container loads of finished parts from our approved offshore suppliers, which can represent millions of dollars of investment. If something changes and we have not made a proper technical evaluation, then we may have a lot of what the oil patch calls boat anchors. We can't use them... That's my nightmare—that we'll have all these parts ready to go and I can't sell them," he says. Providing engineers with the most current versions of standards is only one challenge Alexander faces. He also has to ensure that all technical employees use the standards consistently. This can be difficult for a company like Cameron, which has facilities in a number of countries in which English is not the first language. To facilitate consistent understanding of technical terms, the company relies in part on managers responsible for leading its engineers at the different facilities. "We hire and rigorously train our own people and put them in key technical management slots. Part of the hiring process is to send them through a corporate training course at our home office so that they can become fully indoctrinated in our business," Alexander says. This also helps with another concern: interpretation of the standards. "A big challenge for us has to do with the interpretation of specifications by different schools of engineering thought," says Alexander. "Our Western interpretation can result in a different understanding of what a specification says and what it means in various cultures." Despite these challenges, Alexander believes his company is already world class when it comes to ensuring full compliance with global specifications compliance. He credits much of his group's success to its electronic standards system, which is provided by IHS. "I get nothing but positive reviews from my management teams when I travel," he says. "I ask if things are working okay, and everybody gives me a thumbs-up that it's working fine. It's really been a great tool for our company."
|
15
Inverness Way East • Englewood, CO 80112-5776 • USA |
As
division director for quality assurance and reliability for Cameron, a
leading provider of flow equipment products and services to worldwide
oil, gas and process industries, Jeff Alexander is responsible for ensuring
that all of the company's engineers and technical personnel around the
world are using the right standards and specifications as they design
and manufacture products. This means Alexander must make sure that all
available documents are always current— a daunting task given the
number of specifications the company uses.