Tuesday, 07. April 2009

Materials Technology-Workshops in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait

Two Materials Technology workshops focussing on asset management and operational excellence attracted more than 100 participants from the oil & gas, petrochemical and fertilizer industries in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Besides significant investments in new facilities those companies have to deal with aging facilities, maintenance challenges and corrosion problems in daily business. Hence asset management is a hot topic for these customers to significantly increase the Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE) as part of BayOpX^®, the operational excellence program made by Bayer Technology Services (BTS).

Terrence Pillay, Head of Maintenance Support from Qatar Fertilizer Company (QAFCO), traveled from Qatar to Abu Dhabi and summed up: "It is an interesting subject and everyone is very curious about the deliverables or new technology in this area." Bernd Nowack, Head of Business Management Middle-East in BTS added: “With both workshops BTS shows for the first time its presence in two important Middle East markets. The number of representatives from various leading companies indicates a strong interest in Operational Excellence and Sustainable Improvements. In the next few weeks we will be working with our clients on materializing significant cost savings optimzing their asset management.”

The workshop series New Developments in Risk Based Inspection and Corrosion Technology demonstrated how specific expertise, methods, strategies, and tools support customers in achieving high operational performance while reducing maintainance and inspection costs. In addition, most clients in the Middle-East seek to extend the remaining lifetime of their aging assets in a most reliable, safe, and cost-effective manner. For new investments the focus of interest was on quality assurance and on defining maintenance strategies which incorporate the design phase and stretch out into future operation.

Materials Technology solutions focusing on asset integrity and performance management are essential parts of BTS’ BayOpX^® approach.

The events have been organized in close cooperation with BTS’ local agents in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait as well as with the assistance of Bayer Middle East FZE.