Cohesive delivers majorIBM Maximo upgrades for offshore specialist MODEC

The Challenge

MODEC provides competitive floating solutions for the offshore oil and gas industry and is recognized as a leading specialist for Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels, Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) vessels, Floating LNGs (FLNGs), Tension Leg Platforms (TLPs), and Production Semi-submersibles.

Although MODEC was already using IBM Maximo, including the Oil and Gas Industry add-on, its configuration did not allow the full potential of this powerful Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) platform to be reached.

MODEC’s Maximo system was running legacy versions and was highly customized. The integration of the system upgrades, overall support and data synchronization were the main issues that the client faced. Keeping the data current within MODEC’s global environment was also proving very onerous, as issues with information flow were impacting purchasing and stock levels, causing costly over-stocking.

Our Solution

Cohesive, which is an IBM Platinum Business Partner with unique Marine Industry expertise, was chosen by MODEC to audit and redevelop the existing Maximo system.

Cohesive has executed several projects that took more than 1,300 hours to implement and saw it delivering staff training on the new solution. The transformed system workflows included service requests, work orders, purchase requisitions, requests for quotations, purchase orders and deferrals. It is also equipped with a built-in feature to record shipping manifests to track outbound and inbound deliveries and a label printing function so that all items received are automatically given a barcode.

Fafa Buama, the computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) administrator for MODEC states:

“The recent ‘Inventory Reorder and Expediting’ project has helped improve upon the core Maximo purchasing and inventory functionality to better suit our business which should lead to direct savings in inventory costs.”

After improving problematic areas using IBM’s Maximo, Cohesive implemented some additional features and functionalities to help with the inventory movements between the vessels and onshore storerooms feeding offshore storerooms, resulting in increased speed and accurate inventory usage and volumes. As an example, before implementing these changes in Maximo, if MODEC needed ten of a particular item and there were five in stock, the old system would just reorder ten and the five would remain in stock instead of being used. The new system just orders the five items needed.

Fafa Buama, who has worked closely with Cohesive over the past two years, adds:

“Cohesive has assisted MODEC in developing our Maximo system for best use throughout the business. Their expertise, both in the product and our industry, has allowed them to help us define our Maximo strategy, and refine the system to meet our exact business needs, whether this is through extensive planning and workshopping for projects with our key stakeholders, or the ongoing flexible implementation of required changes and fixes.”

Fafa and the MODEC team were further impressed with Cohesive’s Agile Framework:

“Rather than just delivering to our requirements during projects, they scrutinized and challenged them to ensure that our business processes were always best practice, due to their agile approach. With such practices in place, focus on business value and stakeholder engagement is key, and the project results to date have been promising.”

The business processes MODEC was working under were not fit for purpose, with various records being work-flowed to the wrong people for approval and then having to be moved around, which resulted in delays.

Another part of Cohesive’s work has involved training MODEC’s workforce in the software and helping to change behaviors. A document was created that MODEC could share with employees to enable them to get buy-in for the improved system, which provided several hints and tips for rolling out new functionality to the users, such as ensuring they were involved as early as possible in the project during the requirements gathering phase and user acceptance testing.

For MODEC, the Maximo system needed to be available to all users across the remote locations and their FPSOs so the chosen solution to tackle the connectivity issue was the proprietary Cohesive Data Replication (CDR) software. It synchronizes data across the business and empowers the organization by enriching applications through the use of real-time information, capturing data that is only pertinent. It automatically compresses, recovers and encrypts data down to a more manageable size making it easier to handle.

The Client Benefits

The project has resulted in a more efficient Maximo
Oil & Gas Industry solution for MODEC. It offers an accurate inventory for MODEC in Ghana, specifically streamlining its onshore headquarters in Accra with its vessels; the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah (KNK) in the Jubilee Oil Field, and FPSO Professor John Evans Atta Mills (JAM) in the Tano Ennyera Ntomme (TEN) Oil Field.

Further benefits include:

• Upgraded Maximo and add-ons are fully supported
• The system provides enhanced functionality
• Access to Maximo Anywhere
• CDR (Cohesive Data Replication) enables Cohesive to support MODEC’s Maximo and an end-to-end replication
• CDR ensures MODEC can work with up-to-date data daily

The project has been seen to be transformational for the business in saving time and money and improving accuracy in an industry that demands the highest standards.