为了缩短其偏远的库帕鲁克前哨基地关键部件的大量交货时间，这家能源巨头转向了 3D 打印，再加上数据和人工智能，可能会对该行业产生深远的影响。
阿拉斯加北坡严酷、偏远的景观并没有唤起人们对数字化转型的思考。然而，当它是您公司许多资产的所在地时，就像康菲石油公司的情况一样，有时最好的 IT 策略是使技术更接近边缘。
“除了极度寒冷之外，在斜坡上工作还带来了重大的供应链挑战，”能源勘探和生产中坚力量的首席数字和信息官Pragati Mathur说。“Carlo有一种暗示，3D打印真的可以改变游戏规则。
Mathur在2021年加入康菲石油公司之前曾在史泰博和渤健担任技术主管职务，他指的是康菲石油公司的首席工程师Carlo De Bernardi，负责扩大公司对3D打印的采用。De Bernardi说，要了解3D打印在该地区的价值主张，首先必须了解极端的操作条件。 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
在阿拉斯加的北坡，距离费尔班克斯约250英里，坐落着库帕鲁克（上图）。该地区距离北冰洋仅一箭之遥，只要严酷，冬天就会受到影响。气温经常降至零下 40 华氏度，极夜使该地区一次陷入黑暗数周。
然而，该工厂是康菲石油公司在该州的三大开发项目之一的所在地，其运营的核心是该公司的燃气轮机。通过燃烧过程，这些涡轮机压缩大多数伴生气，然后将其重新注入储层以提高石油采收率 （EOR），从而产生电力，为生产设施、支持基础设施和一些钻井设备提供动力，例如抽水厂和泥浆泵。
使涡轮机能够压缩伴生气并发电的燃烧过程本身是由一个称为燃烧器塞的关键部件实现的，该部件允许燃料与压缩空气混合。随着使用，这些插头会磨损，并且由于许多原始插头不再生产，因此只能由仍然采用传统制造工艺的当地机械车间更换。
这样的过程是费力的。它们涉及手动的前期设计阶段，然后是整个供应链的交接和运输里程，这一系列事件可能需要 30 周甚至更长时间。对于其他关键部件，例如节流阀，此过程确实需要更长的时间，有时甚至需要一年。这样的交货时间需要大量的更换零件实物库存，这伴随着仓储成本和从价税的存储。
“必须有更好的方法，”De Bernardi说。因此，Mathur 和 De Bernardi 组建了一个跨职能团队，以制定一项严重依赖整个公司合作伙伴关系的战略。 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
一、控制崎岖和偏远
通过快速的发现和实验周期，Mathur和De Bernardi的跨职能团队设计了一种严重依赖增材制造的解决方案，通常称为“3D打印”。使用这项技术，康菲石油公司现在可以模拟各种零件的许多设计，进而在制造零件之前找到最佳配置。然后，这些配置由该公司的增材制造合作伙伴之一转换为打印文件，然后又“打印”成由金属或塑料组成的三维物体。
通过增材制造，该公司现在可以在 2-3 周内更换燃烧器塞，而不是 30 周。“[通过3D打印生产]的新插头性能同样好，甚至更好，”De Bernardi说。“使用传统的制造方法，铸造和锻件需要很长时间。这种解决方案可以消除等式中的许多步骤和里程。
在阿拉斯加的另一次早期胜利中，跨职能团队将节流阀的生产时间从 45 周缩短到 5 周，有时甚至更短。新阀门（用于注水井）的制造速度比传统方法制造的阀门快 10 倍，使用寿命更长。使用相同的技术，康菲石油公司的加拿大业务部门将制造旋启式止回阀的交货时间从 32 周缩短到仅几天。
这些早期的胜利是乐观的理由。Mathur表示，该解决方案的数据驱动特性将及时增强其能力。“每次我们设计零件时，我们都会创造一个机会来了解数字设计的表现，”她解释道。“如果我们使用这些数据在我们的设计算法中创建反馈回路，那么可能性就非常引人注目。 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
二、对未来持乐观态度
展望未来，该公司将人工智能和3D打印的结合视为不断提高效率的秘诀。例如，随着越来越多的零件以数字方式设计，存储它们所需的物理空间将越来越少。“我们越来越希望通过在更靠近需要的地方打印零件来按需提供零件，”De Bernardi 说。随着时间的推移，我们将用数字库存取代一些实体库存，这将提高效率，推进ESG指标，并使像Kuparuk这样的网站感觉更接近家。
他解释说，通过使用增材制造来打印这些零件，公司可以实现传统“减法”制造工艺中无法实现的运营效率。“我们现在可以打印具有复杂几何形状的节流阀，从而减少我们为运营资产而燃烧的燃料量。”根据 De Bernardi 的说法，这样的改进可以减少运营排放，并使公司更接近到 2050 年实现净零排放的雄心。
“我们还可以避免物流挑战，”阿拉斯加资产卓越供应链总监 Mayra Martinez Nikken 解释道。她解释说，由于3D打印发生在更接近使用点的地方，该公司可以减少与这些部件相关的运输。
此外，由于该公司认识到，整个行业的努力将比孤立地工作更有效地加速3D打印的采用，因此De Bernardi代表康菲石油公司（ConocoPhillips）领导了定义和倡导美国石油协会（API）标准20S的努力，这是第一个用于鉴定和认证整个石油和天然气行业的增材制造工艺的技术标准。该公司还与其他几家运营商合作，创建了一个平台，为整个行业托管数字库存。
同时，随着每个零件的全新设计和打印，对于居住在那里的团队来说，这个崎岖而偏远的地区变得更加易于管理。 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
“如果你能开始绕过身体上的限制，”马图尔说，“你将获得远远超出你底线的好处。您将开始推动环境和整个经济的变革。你会开始意识到，你曾经认为的遥远的东西实际上是你工作的核心。
英文原文：
ConocoPhillips enlists 3D printing for supply efficiencies on Alaska’s North Slope
Seeking to shortcut extensive lead times for critical parts at its remote Kuparuk outpost, the energy giant turned to 3D printing, which, coupled with data and AI, could have far-reaching impact on the industry.
The harsh, remote landscape of Alaska’s North Slope does not evoke thoughts of digital transformation. At yet when it is home to many of your company’s assets, as is the case for ConocoPhillips, sometimes the best IT strategy is to bring technologies closer to the edge.
“Aside from being extremely cold, working on the Slope presents major supply chain challenges,” says Pragati Mathur, chief digital and information officer for the energy exploration and production stalwart. “Carlo had an inkling that 3D printing could really change the game.”
Mathur, who held tech chief roles at Staples and Biogen before coming to ConocoPhillips in 2021, is referring to Carlo De Bernardi, a principal engineer at ConocoPhillips responsible for scaling the company’s adoption of 3D printing. To understand 3D printing’s value proposition in this region, says De Bernardi, you must first appreciate the extreme operating conditions.
On Alaska’s North Slope, about 250 miles from Fairbanks, lies Kuparuk (pictured above). A stone’s throw from the Arctic Ocean, the region is subject to winters as long as they are harsh. Temperatures frequently drop to negative 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and polar nights plunge the area into darkness for weeks at a time. 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
Yet this site is home to one of ConocoPhillips’s three major development programs in the state, and central to its operations are the company’s gas turbines. Through a process of combustion, these turbines compress most associated natural gas, which is then re-injected into the reservoir for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), which in turn generates the electricity that powers production facilities, support infrastructure, and some drilling equipment, such as draw works and mud pumps.
The process of combustion that enables the turbines to compress associated natural gas and produce electricity is itself enabled by a key component known as a burner plug, which allows fuel to be mixed with compressed air. With use, these plugs wear out, and since many of the original plugs are no longer manufactured, they can be replaced only by local machine shops that still employ traditional manufacturing processes.
Such processes are laborious. They involve a manual up-front design phase followed by handoffs across the supply chain and miles of transportation, a sequence of events that can take 30 weeks if not longer. For other critical parts, such as choke valves, this process doestake longer, sometimes a year. Such lead times call for a large physical inventory of replacement parts, which comes with warehousing costs and the ad valorem tax of storage. 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
“There had to be a better way,” says De Bernardi. So Mathur and De Bernardi put together a cross-functional team to develop a strategy that would rely heavily on partnerships across the company.
1. Reining in the rugged and remote
Through rapid cycles of discovery and experimentation, Mathur and De Bernardi’s cross-functional team devised a solution that leaned heavily on additive manufacturing, more commonly known as “3D printing.” Using this technology, ConocoPhillips can now simulate many designs for various parts and, by extension, find the best configuration before manufacturing the part. These configurations are then converted by one of the company’s additive manufacturing partners into a print file, which is then in turn “printed” into three-dimensional objects consisting of metals or plastics.
With additive manufacturing, the company can now replace burner plugs in 2-3 weeks instead of 30. “And the new plugs [produced via 3D printing] perform just as well, if not better,” says De Bernardi. “With traditional methods of manufacturing, everything with casting and forgings takes a very long time. This solution can eliminate many steps and miles from the equation.”
In another early victory in Alaska, the cross-functional team cut the time to produce choke valves from 45 weeks to 5, sometimes fewer. The new valves (used in water injection wells) are created 10 times faster and have a longer use-life than those manufactured by traditional means. Using the same technology, ConocoPhillips’ Canada business unit reduced the lead time to create swing-check valves from 32 weeks to mere days. 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
These early wins are reason for optimism. Mathur says the data-driven nature of the solution will in time strengthen the capability. “Each time we design a part, we create an opportunity to see how that digital design performed,” she explains. “And if we use that data to create a feedback loop in our design algorithm, the possibilities are very compelling.”
2. Optimism for the future
Looking to the future, the company sees a combination of AI and 3D printing as a recipe that will repeatedly drive efficiency. For example, as more parts are designed digitally, less physical space will be needed to store them. “More and more, we want to make parts available on demand by printing them closer to where they’re needed,” De Bernardi says. Over time, we’ll replace some of our physical inventory with a digital one, and that will improve efficiency, advance ESG metrics, and make sites like Kuparuk feel closer to home.” 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
He explains that by using additive manufacturing to print these parts the company can achieve operational efficiencies not feasible in traditional “subtractive” manufacturing processes. “We can now print choke valves with complex geometries that reduce the amount of fuel we burn to operate an asset.” According to De Bernardi, enhancements like these can reduce operational emissions and put the company closer to its ambition of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
“We can also avoid logistical challenges,” explains Mayra Martinez Nikken, director of supply chain excellence for assets in Alaska. She explains that since 3D printing happens closer to the point of use, the company can reduce the transportation associated with those parts.
Also, because the company recognizes that an industry-wide effort will accelerate 3D printing adoption more effectively than working in isolation, De Bernardi, on behalf of ConocoPhillips, is leading the effort to define and advocate for the American Petroleum Institute’s (API) Standard 20S, a first-of-its-kind technical standard to qualify and certify additive manufacturing processes across the oil and gas industry. The company has also partnered with several other operators to create a platform to host a digital inventory for the entire industry. 数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）
Meanwhile, with every part newly designed and printed, this rugged and remote area becomes a little more manageable for the teams who live there.
“If you can start bypassing the physical limitations,” says Mathur, “you’ll reap benefits that go way beyond your bottom line. You’ll start driving change in the environment and in the economy at large. And you’ll start to realize that what you once thought of as remote is actually central to what you do.”
本文由数字化转型网（www.szhzxw.cn）转载而成，来源于CIO.COM，作者老杨；编辑/翻译：数字化转型网宁檬树。
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