Welding is one of the core manufacturing processes in fabrication of oil & gas offshore modules. It is critical to look for ways and means which will help improve overall product quality & productivity, reduce cycle time & cut down an overall cost.

On an approximate scale, deposited weld metal contributes 2.2-2.7% of total weight of offshore module. The percentage of weld metal deposited directly affects the welding cost. Selecting the right automation process, effective monitoring, optimized joint design of weldments can decrease required amount of welding consumables & welders, resulting cut down of overall welding cost & overall cycle time.

By digitalizing existent system, we can get accurate data and real time productivity monitoring, which helps to improve overall process efficiency.

Keeping this in mind, L&T Hydrocarbon engineering-modular fabrication facility in oil & gas upstream business, has developed innovative methods to measure productivity & improve productivity with help of digitalization and automation.

The special measures taken for cost reduction includes proactive planning of automation process, optimizing groove designs, use of robotic welding, skill enhancement training to welders & developing welding real time productivity measurement dashboard.

Effective adaptation of above-mentioned methods resulted in increase in overall welding deposition using automated methods from 35% to 85% in recent years for top sides & jackets. Also, marked improvement noted for deposition rates in all processes due to improved welder skills & support accessories.

This article is shared by Hitesh Bhanushali, Alap Trivedi, Hemal Patel, Rinkin Vaghani, Aryan Kumar, Ketan Kamani, and Ajay Kumar