hunting review 190 summer 2016

190 SUMMER 2016

Hunting Review the external house magazine of Hunting PLC 5 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HQ, UK | [email protected]

Edited by Georgia Pickering, CMS Strategic [email protected]

Design: www.plaindesign.co.uk Print: www.healeys-printers.co.uk

Detail from Suzanne Kelley Clark ‘LBS Pond Reflection/Fall’

PERMIAN BASIN CO-LOCATION

All appropriate business lines are represented in a single, purpose designed regional distribution centre in Odessa, Texas.

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SAFETY STANDARD

Meeting the highest safety standards, the company’s new AmeriPort facility, Baytown, Texas is now fully commissioned.

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CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Sterling work is being undertaken to embed the culture of Continuous Improvement in our manufacturing facilities worldwide.

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STATE OF THE ART

Meet the artist who has been awarded the 36th Hunting Art Prize: Padaric Kolander.

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ADVANCING FRYEBURG

The Advanced Manufacturing Group’s development of the Dearborn facility in Fryeburg, Maine, has now been completed, critically reducing production lead times.

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OUR HUNTING COMMUNITY

News from our community around the world.

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SAUDI ARABIAN UPDATE

Hunting’s new facility in Dammam is well placed to become a direct local supplier to Saudi Aramco.

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SUBSEA SAVINGS

The team at Hunting Subsea demonstrate efficiency and imagination to deliver three separate work-optimisation projects.

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2 HUNTING REVIEW 190

Chief Executive Officer

Challenging conditions in international markets are being met with a resolve to improve on what can be done better and to take the opportunity to reinforce our leadership positions during these tough times. Indeed, while sentiment is cautiously improving as markets start to rebalance, we are committed to the development of progressive technologies that meet our customers' requirements and future needs.

We are optimising our infrastructure for greater efficiency, a process that has seen the replacement of historically disparate businesses into a single, custom designed distribution centre in Midland-Odessa. To better serve our customers in the prolific Permian Basin, this facility stocks a full range of Hunting technologies as well as showcasing those in development. The commissioning of our Baytown manufacturing plant is also complete which sets new standards in operational safety. This strengthens our proprietary threading capacity and brings the benefits of a world class test capability in-house for the first time. Both of these are reported in the following pages.

We also focus in this issue on creativity. While commending the undoubted talents of the finalists and winner of the 36th Hunting Art Prize, we particularly highlight the dedication and success of our own staff in achieving important advances in our worldwide Continuous Improvement programme. Such creativity and efficiency is to be fostered and strongly encouraged.

As the market begins to show tentative signs of recovery, we continue to underpin the company with the solid foundations on which our return to growth will be built.

Creative strength

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With the vision of showcasing Hunting’s capability in a new retail distribution centre, a 40-acre site in Odessa, Texas was identified in 2015. The project began with two unprepossessing bunkers to store and sell explosives, before the main building works commenced. Just one year on, the doors were officially opened at a customer event in April 2016.

Permian Basin co-location The new Hunting distribution centre in Midland-Odessa at the heart of the Permian Basin, brings the different business divisions together on one site


100 YEAR OIL CENTRE Odessa lies at the heart of the West Texas oil industry, the home of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) which has gained worldwide recognition as the benchmark for crude oil pricing on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Despite recent attempts at commercial diversification, oil remains the core regional industry. Originally a water stop and cattle boarding station for the Texas and Pacific Railway, oil production began in the 1920s becoming the single most prolific petroleum producing basin in the US. What the Marcellus did for US natural gas production, the Permian did for crude oil. With Midland-Odessa at the epicentre, sometimes dubbed the Petroplex, the basin

extends 250 by 300 miles into the semi-arid grasslands and sub-tropical steppe of Texas, south towards Lubbock in the South Plains region and West into New Mexico. Until recently vertical drilling was the norm and the landscape is characterised by tens of thousands of square pockets of cleared Mesquite and scrub, marking the sites of previous drilling operations. More recently, and rather later than in the other shale plays, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking have caused a renaissance in Permian production.

CONCEPT TO REALITY The retail concept was developed from the Titan Division’s successful distribution model, which calls for stock points for

perforating equipment and associated products in close proximity to wireline customer operations. Since Hunting’s acquisition of Titan, it has been the company’s strategy to supply and deliver its product using Titan’s existing US domestic distribution footprint, while leveraging Titan internationally using Hunting Energy’s global presence. The new Odessa unit takes this concept a logical step further with the custom design of a facility to distribute a full range of Hunting products from the outset, in one of the most active operational plays in the market. This sees the grouping together of a number of diverse business lines with dedicated personnel working as one team under the Hunting banner.

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PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHERThe building is designed to warehouse a broad range of Hunting technologies. At one end of the facility the connections, pup joints, drilling tools such as mud motors and drill collars are stored, with a dedicated loading bay and future capacity for a service and repair function. This is currently carried out in Conroe, Texas. At the other end there is a second covered loading bay which gives direct access to the perforating systems inventory, stocking all expendable items needed in the field – some 2000 in total. A range of pressure control equipment is available, along with well intervention tools. In the current market the operating cycle demands instant availability of product on a stage by stage basis, rather than volume packages over multiple cycles. This reduces cost and helps the customer manage cash flow but the service has to be available to meet the demand. The administrative area houses the technical sales teams for each product group as well as common service facilities.

NOT JUST AN OUTLETAt front of house, the shop provides a true retail environment with a full range of company products and also non-proprietary goods, meaning that customers are not obliged to make additional calls for associated merchandise. The portfolio includes everything from basic hand tools to personal safety equipment and consumables. About half of customers choose to pick up their own purchases from the distribution centre rather than have them delivered to the field, which appears to validate the retail experience. Whichever means are used by customers to procure the equipment, the tracking and integrity of all the data that is associated with the handling of explosives is fully maintained at the centre. The retail space also acts as a showroom for Hunting’s products, including those that are not commonly stocked on site or are in development, such as the H-1 Perforating System which is receiving considerable interest for its simplicity and potential.

Total shuttered warehousing (to keep the wind and dust to a minimum), along with the shop and administration areas amounts to some 30,000 sq ft of space. A further 6,000 sq ft of outdoor canopy provides shelter during the 316 days – which is the annual average – of unrelenting Texan sun.

The customer open house event welcomed 150 guests, introducing them to the full range of Hunting’s capability as appropriate to the Permian Basin, along with an enthusiastic and integrated team from across the business. An auspicious start to what we believe is a promising future for a very productive basin.

The customer open house event welcomed 150 guests, introducing them to the full range of Hunting’s capability


Hunting Energy’s world leading large diameter threading facility on the AmeriPort business park, occupies a 40 acre site in the Chambers County area of Baytown, Texas. On Galveston Bay at the mouth of the San Jacinto River, it is southeast of the main Houston conurbation in an industrial area with a rich heritage in the steel and petrochemicals industries. The site

currently employs 33 members of staff with the intention to grow as the facility is fully commissioned. All operations under roof, including waste handling, amount to 81,000 sq ft, augmented by a stand alone test lab of 20,000 sq ft. With the endemic hazards of handling outsized and heavy loads, the safety of these staff members and visitors has been fundamental to the design of this new facility.

Safety standard Newly developed proprietary technology, matched to a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, positions Hunting at the leading edge of the threaded pipe market and sets new standards in design safety

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GROUNDWORKThe plant is highly automated and designed for many autonomous applications with hydraulic, electric and gravitational pipe handling systems. This removes direct human interface from much of the process, reducing risk and promoting safety. The site is set up so that product flows in a circular pattern between manufacturing phases, with open space, clear sight lines and no crossings, to handle OCTG and large OD pipe at the various staging points. This involves the yard being paved with more than one million sq ft of hard surface, and a further third put to GS-200, a fly ash stabilised base material. Smooth surfaces lead to smoother and safer work flow. Approximately 30 acres have been developed to date.

DELIVERY BAYThe pipe is delivered by truck to concrete sills adjacent to the ‘prep’ building where the process starts. Saws are capable of cutting 32in (although typically 20in) with swaging machines handling the equivalent of 750 tons of pressure. The induced stress is relieved by heat treatment using a new method of magnetic induction coils, raising temperatures to a working range of 800 - 1110° Fahrenheit, depending on the connection to be threaded. Overhead walkways for access and guard rails around work stations separate operators from the conveyor system.

THE CUTTING EDGEThe main building has three manufacturing lines with state-of-the-art machinery designed for high volume throughput. Lines one and two have brand new Mori Seiki horizontal machine centres with tooling packages to handle 14-20in and 9 5/8-14in respectively. These are pictured cutting proprietary WEDGE-LOCK™ Semi Flush thread for a major energy company in the Gulf of Mexico, and SEAL-LOCK™ Semi Flush for another offshore operator. Numbers for each batch, threaded on each line, vary to suit truck loads of a maximum 45,000lb weight. The third line

The plant is highly automated and designed for many autonomous applications with hydraulic, electric and gravitational pipe handling systems

The AmeriPort site in Baytown, Texas


comprises Okuma CNC machine centres which have been re-located from other facilities to AmeriPort, to maximise resource utilisation. Key safety features are designed to isolate man and machine, so significant areas of the shop floor are fenced off to prevent people walking through operational hotspots. Raised walkways provide access at key points while an overhead crane can be used for maintenance work and to move machinery or pipe in a reconfigured flow line. Customers and visitors have oversight of the entire factory floor from a catwalk gantry. At machine level, the chucking systems are self-centering, eliminating the need to handle shimming inserts and minimising the risk of hand injury.

READY TO SHIPAlongside the equipment that one would expect to find in the ‘post’ building, a phosphating line is also being finalised to remove much of the human interaction associated with the process, minimising environmental and health risks. The

post manufacturing system includes final checks: drifting of pipe, tally and stencilling, compound and thread protector applications. This brings the circular workflow to its conclusion, with the finished pipe on dedicated concrete sills ready for shipping. Waste is actively managed in its own segregated building to minimise the risk of cross-contamination and run off.

The site has capacity for further development and upgrade, as market conditions allow, including a fourth machine line and access to the national rail network by spur being run alongside the existing storage sills and prep building.

IN THE FRAMEHaving been previously dependent on third parties for test and certification of new thread forms, the company now has the capability to undertake these tasks in-house in a custom test lab. This hugely advances the technological capability, reduces cost significantly and speeds up

the development cycle. This is crucial for the development of proprietary technology in an environment that helps safeguard the company’s intellectual property.

With the capacity for two test beds, the first has been completed to leading industry standards. This is designed to accommodate a 5.5 million ton test frame, well beyond current design parameters. Additional microscopy will be added as the need arises. A 24 x 17ft test hole is designed to replicate a wellbore for make and break operations on Hunting’s proprietary connections. The test frame is enclosed in a 53 x 15ft cement walled pit which can be completely enclosed with a hydraulically operated steel lid during operations. From that point everything is performed, monitored and recorded remotely. Designed to simulate the extreme conditions found in a well bore at up to 600° Fahrenheit, the 5.5 million ton thrust capability tests for tensile and compression strength.

The board of Hunting PLC on a field visit to the test lab

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The Advanced Manufacturing Group’s Hunting Dearborn, based in Fryeburg, Maine, has been addressing the imperative to reduce long production lead times as a result of constrained manufacturing capacity. In response, the facility was expanded during 2015 by 44 per cent to give a total manufacturing footprint of 213,600 sq ft.

This business is a specialist in high-end deep hole drilling, trepanning, boring and precision machining of complex MWD/LWD housings and components for formation evaluation tools. It has a unique capability

to manufacture highly complex tubular and rotating metal components for customers that require products with exacting tolerances and exceptional configurations. This has lead to a specialism in the precision machining of exotic alloys to include non magnetic drill collars, sometime up to 30ft long. Multiple off-centre angled and bottle shaped bores are often the type of complex task undertaken, leading to many hundreds of manufacturing hours being invested in one piece. It is no surprise that this capability is transferrable across industry with the company also producing critical parts for the aerospace and power generation sectors.

Following its purchase by Hunting in 2012, the division had been struggling with its original 140,000 sq ft facility on its 80 acre wooded site. To fulfil the expectations of an increasingly sophisticated customer and with the land available to expand, the obvious solution was to add further specialist manufacturing capacity to the existing structure. Located on the outskirts of Fryeburg and with a half century of history in that local community, it is also made sense to strengthen the presence in Maine, away from the more traditionally competitive energy clusters in the south.

Advancing FryeburgThe recent development programme for Hunting Dearborn division is now complete which ensures the business is better able to meet the exacting needs of clients in not just energy but other technically demanding component markets


When Jim Cox joined the division in Stafford, Texas as HSE Manager in February 2015, Hunting was on the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality’s (TCEQ) list of high quantity generators of hazardous chemicals. Jim, with Subsea’s Management Team, employed a multi-phased approach to both reduce waste streams, including inherent risks in the disposal process, and to become an even more environmentally accountable organisation.

CASE STUDY ONE: WASTE NOT, WANT NOT First, Jim established a new procedure for the control of incoming chemicals and worked with the Engineering, Sales and Operations teams to fully understand the necessity of each chemical in the facility and to reduce volumes where possible. This led to the removal of Hunting from the TCEQ high quantity generator list. Next, all other waste streams were reviewed with simple goals in mind - to

reduce the risk and costs associated with the responsibilities of waste disposal. In some cases, Hunting’s waste crossed as many as four state lines bound for various disposal sites utilised by its waste transport contractors, increasing costs and liability risk. As an alternative, Jim began to look into onsite wastewater evaporator systems to minimise these undesired outcomes.

This research led to the industry leader in evaporator technology, US based Samsco. In addition to Samsco providing the company with local references for evaluation, it was imperative that Hunting’s waste stream management was safe and compatible with the selected evaporator. Waste samples were then sent to Samsco for analysis; and within a week a report verified compatibility with the Samsco Water Evaporator II system. This model also provides necessary capacity to accommodate future growth in production and the subsequent increase in waste streams. Once the unit was installed

and operational, the air quality was independently tested to EPA Method TO-15. The results were extremely positive and significantly below permissible volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions levels. As a result, there was no requirement for a permit from the TCEQ.

Liquid waste streams at the Stafford facility have been reduced to a small fraction of previous volumes, reducing the risks associated with transportation and disposal while decreasing disposal costs by more than 90 per cent. The evaporator unit will have a payback of much less than one year. The solution is simple to operate, reduces the environmental impact and provides a significant annualised cost saving.

Subsea savingsBusiness at the Subsea division has increased markedly in recent years, necessitating a new approach to managing waste streams

The evaporator unit will have a payback of much less than one year

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By encouraging leaders on the shop floor to come up with solutions to daily constraints, many challenges to work can be overcome by making simple, cost effective adjustments. Employees that are involved in day-to-day activities often have a unique perspective on common issues since they deal with the inefficiencies that exist within. This perspective often leads to simple improvements that have an enormous impact. Two great examples of floor-led initiatives were recently completed at the Subsea division in Stafford, Texas. The first addressed an inventory management issue while the second improved a capacity constraint.

CASE STUDY TWO: INVENTORY MANAGEMENTIn 2014 a new programme was initiated to stock finished parts based on quarterly agreements with the top customers. While the programme has been a big success, it also created some internal challenges. Up to this point the Subsea division was a make-to-order and engineer-to-order

company with no inventory of finished goods. Now a system to stock and pull inventory from finished goods was required to include ten-foot-long welded coupling assemblies. These presented unique challenges with their overall length, serial tracking and protection requirements. Initially, the assemblies were packaged in shipping crates in batches of 12. As the number of crates increased, they were stacked and still took up valuable floor space (over 720 sq ft). When it came time to ship the parts, it would take a two-man team over half an hour to sort through the crates to find the individual serial numbers that were required for the shipment. As the number of crates quickly rose above 50, it became clear this was not a practical long-term system.

A small team from the shop floor, led by Jared Kiser, the CIS/Valve Supervisor, was formed to analyse the problem and come up with an efficient storage solution for these long assemblies. Several options were considered including

specialised racking, long drawers, and fully customised solutions, but all of these were capital intensive with long lead times. After several brainstorming sessions the team devised an inventory management system that is capable of storing 670 welded assemblies vertically. It is constructed of economical and commercially available components. The new solution was designed, fabricated and assembled in-house using extruded aluminium profiles and a standard pallet rack. By hanging parts vertically side by side from the top of the rack, the team virtually eliminated the possibility of damaging the part or the attached tubing. This solution not only reduced the floor space required by over 300 per cent, but it also created a first-in-first-out system in which parts are loaded from the rear and consumed at the front. Now, a single employee is able to pull parts for an order in only seven minutes – a cumulative savings of 53 minutes per packing slip and approximately 1,961 man-hours per year.

Floor-led solutions are key to success at Subsea

This solution not only reduced the floor space required by over 300 per cent, but it also created a first-in-first-out system in which parts are loaded from the rear and consumed at the front


CASE STUDY THREE: CAPACITY CONSTRAINTAnother floor-led improvement came from the Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) department. All pressure containing parts produced at the Stafford facility are required to undergo FAT testing and some parts require complex fixtures for testing. The FAT department was designed with the ability to test multiple parts simultaneously through manifolds installed on test stands. Due to increased pressures, product designs and larger diameter testing fixtures, the original port spacing on the manifolds was no longer capable of testing the same number of parts per cycle, limiting capacity to 50 per cent for certain designs. In 2015, one of Subsea’s largest customers

began ordering an increased quantity of these parts which put an extra load on the testing department and significantly challenged on-time-deliveries.

After struggling with the issue for some time, Jacob Rutt (a key leader in the FAT department) designed a simple solution to utilise a long adapter on every other port to stagger the parts during testing. The solution was submitted to the Engineering group for full design calculations and creation of manufacturing drawings. Once the design was approved, the adapters were manufactured in-house. With this new design, the capacity to test large diameter designs immediately doubled without any major capital investment. Based on actual production levels from

2014 and 2015, this floor-led solution is projected to save over 682 man hours per year and has already made a significant improvement to on-time delivery.

Employees engaged in the everyday processes throughout our facilities have a unique perspective and great ideas to resolve day-to-day challenges to productivity and throughput. When provided with the opportunity to solve these problems, they continuously prove to be our most valuable assets. As demonstrated by both Jared Kiser and Jacob Rutt, such solutions do not need to be complex or costly, but they can make dramatic impacts to effectiveness and efficiency which directly impacts the bottom line.

With this new design, the capacity to test large diameter designs immediately doubled without any major capital investment

Pictured left: Jared KiserPictured right: Jacob Rutt

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State of the art The 11th occasion of the Hunting Art Prize in Texas draws together a talented community of artists from across the state


Now one of the most prestigious art competitions in the USA, the Hunting Art Prize has been based in Texas for eleven years. Prior to that, the exhibition was hosted in London, England, where it started in 1981. Clive Hunting, the former Chairman, realised the company’s potential to make a really significant contribution to British cultural life and took the decision to sponsor contemporary artists through the competition. Following its 25th anniversary, the Hunting Art Prize moved to Houston, Texas, where the blend of contemporary figurative and abstract art continues to thrive, and the reputation continues to grow.The prize of $50,000 to the winning artist

is the most generous in the painting and drawing category within the USA, ensuring a genuine boost to both nascent and more established artists within the state. Last year’s winner, Kevin Peterson, has been able to convert his garage into a studio using the prize money, so that he can now work at home with his baby son, who was born just before his win was announced. He has also been able to put on a sell-out exhibition of his works in Miami, with another exhibition lined up in Los Angeles this summer.

CREATIVE COMMUNITY However, it is not just the monetary lift that the Hunting Art Prize offers artists. The standing of the Prize grows every year, increasing publicity for the winner’s work across the country. Leading individuals in the art community are keen to engage with the Prize and artists, with three jurors picked each year from a variety of art backgrounds and locations in the USA. The event provides an excellent opportunity for the finalists to meet with fellow members of the art community and build beneficial contacts, potentially selling their works during the exhibition.

The competition is open to Texan artists over the age of eighteen and they must apply several months in advance with artwork completed in the last three years. First, digital versions of their work are submitted for judging. In 2016 there were nearly 1600 entries to select from – a difficult task as the jurors are required to select just seven per cent of the works for the second and final stage. The jurors then meet in the week leading up to the gala to see the art on display at a more personal level and to agree on just one winner.

Pictured: Left: James Humphrey ‘Experienced Hatter’Top: Duke Horn ‘The Eggs of My Inheritance’

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A WIN WORTH THE WAITOn Saturday 30th April 2016, the 36th winner of the Hunting Art Prize was announced to the guests at the Friedkin Corporate Campus in Houston.

Padaric Kolander, a finalist from the last three years, had submitted his graphite, charcoal and acrylic piece, ‘You Step In’, knowing the competition would be strong, so when Dennis Proctor, the Chief Executive of Hunting PLC, called out his name, Kolander was staggered.Accepting the award, Kolander commented that “words cannot express how honoured and humbled I am to be chosen as the winner of the 2016 Hunting Art Prize. Having been a finalist for the last few years makes this moment all the more rewarding. It’s a true privilege to be selected from such a remarkably talented group of artists”.

His black and white drawings portray anonymous people in a range of situations, with juxtaposing text written on the work, designed to open the viewers’ mind to varying interpretations. Kolander remarked that these associations helped reveal open-ended themes of ignorance, contradiction and cynicism, which are the real subjects of his work.

Mr Proctor was delighted to announce that a long-time finalist and a remarkably talented individual like Padaric had won this year’s competition, feeling that Kolander’s “creative contributions spoke for themselves”.

JURY’S VERDICT The jurors admitted that Kolander’s work grabbed their attention from the outset. Alex Gregory, the Curator of Art at the Amarillo Museum of Art and the only Texan judge, felt that Kolander’s art was both dramatic and memorable. Meanwhile for Alexander Rich, the Assistant Professor of Art History at Florida Southern College and Director of the Melvin and Burks Art Galleries, the piece struck a chord as a figurative, psychological and thought-provoking picture. Catherine Behrend, Former Deputy of the New York City Public Art Program, and current Adjunct Assistant

“words cannot express how honoured and humbled I am to be chosen as the winner of the 2016 Hunting Art Prize”


Professor at NYU School of Professional Studies, New York, praised both the subject and media of the work, commenting that it was a “testament to human relationships” and that “the drawing (and touches of white paint) has exquisite lines...the content exemplifies complexity and ambiguity”.

Rich commented that he is eager to see how Kolander’s narrative and career will develop from this point. If the previous winners, who Mr Proctor recalled on the night, can provide some indication, then Kolander’s future will be one to watch. Other recipients have gone on to win further awards, exhibit across the country and overseas. This includes the likes of the 2012 winner Michael Bise; Marshall Harris from 2013 and Winston Mascarenhas from 2014.

MAN’S BEST FRIEND Perhaps a little more oblivious to the outstanding works around them were the dogs of Patriot PAWS. These amazing canines have been sponsored by Hunting to be trained by Patriot PAWS, a Texas-based charity which the company has supported for the last three years. Each year Hunting supports a single, well-deserving not-for-profit group through a donation made on behalf of the Hunting Art Prize.

Most of the Patriot PAWS dogs were accompanying veterans who had been invited to the event. The dogs are trained from a very young age to be companions for both physically and emotionally disabled veterans, helping them to regain independence after leaving the military and to rehabilitate them into daily civilian life. Georgia, one of the charity’s newest pups, has yet to commence training but helped represent the charity in front of the gala guests.

The presence of invited clients, Patriot PAWS and Kolander’s delight at his successful evening, act as a reflection of Hunting’s focus on the responsibility to the community in which it serves. The Hunting Art Prize helps to draw together this community and celebrates some of the best of Texas.

“The event itself provides an excellent opportunity for the finalists to meet with fellow members of the art community and build beneficial contacts, potentially selling their works during the exhibition”

Pictured (page 16): Top: The 2016 winner Padaric Kolander with his work ‘You Step In’Bottom: Mr Dennis Proctor

Pictured (page 17): Top left: James W. Johnson ‘Fragmented Fall’Top Right: John Swanger ‘Bouquet of Roses in Sunlight’Middle: 2013 winner Marshall Harris and guests Bottom: Georgia, one of Patriot PAWS’s newest pups

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Saudi Arabian update Saudi Aramco’s IKTVA programme requires approved suppliers to achieve 70 per cent local content by 2021. Coupled with pioneering machining capability and staffed with fully trained professionals, Hunting is well on the way to achieving that goal

Following installation and commissioning of new manufacturing machines at the beginning of 2016, Hunting Energy Services’ facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, began manufacturing proprietary Hunting products in April. This 22,000 sq ft custom built manufacturing and servicing facility is designed to support Hunting proprietary products as well as a broad range of local customer machining, testing and equipment re-certification needs.


Hunting’s registration with Saudi Aramco’s “In Kingdom Total Value Add (IKTVA)” programme is in process. Saudi Aramco’s IKTVA programme requires approved suppliers to achieve 70 per cent local content by 2021. The company’s in-country capability to provide world class technology and training, while empowering local talent directly complies with IKTVA requirements. This positions Hunting very favourably as a direct local supplier to Saudi Aramco as well as to major International Service Companies active in the Kingdom.

In keeping with Hunting’s global reputation for manufacturing and quality excellence, the manufacturing facility is staffed with a

team of fully trained professionals, many of whom are local Saudi employees. The machine shop is fully equipped with state-of-the-art machines, including CNC and conventional lathes, CNC Turn and Mill and Vertical Machining Centre (VMC) machines. Initial machining capability covers an extensive range of product sizes, from turning up to 30” diameter x 10ft long, 12.5” diameter components up to 20ft long and milling capability up to 84” x 33” x 29” or 4000kg. With the opening of this facility in Dammam, we are confident of offering quick delivery and local content compliant proprietary products, customer print products and general manufacturing and after sales services to our most valued customers.

The service facility is designed to support in-country wireline pressure control equipment re-certification requirements in accordance with stringent Hunting OEM and API 6A standards. The services work-shop is fully equipped with experienced Hunting technicians and equipment for stripping down, water blasting, NDT, QAQC Inspection, assembly and pressure testing (22,500 psi) of our own rental assets or customer owned wireline PCE.

Hunting Energy Saudi Arabia also supports our Thru Tubing product sales, rental and field service expertise in country. This highly specialised manufacturing and services portfolio is unique to Hunting within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The facility is fully equipped with state-of-the-art machines, including CNC and conventional lathes, CNC Turn and Mill and Vertical Machining Centre (VMC) machines

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Hunting Continuous Improvement Maturity Model

In order for the company to constantly increase value it must continuously improve its operations via systematic reduction of Non Value Add (NVA) or elimination of waste. NVA can take many forms such as excess inventory, unnecessary operations or redundant front office processes. The programme is a permanent approach to work that often realises gains from small, incremental change. All members of staff are responsible, participate, and are accountable.

DIVISIONAL LEADERSHIP AND GLOBAL STANDARDSTo reduce NVA while preserving Hunting’s decentralised business model, an enterprise-wide Continuous Improvement (CI) programme has been deployed globally. To ensure continued success, divisional managers from the business units are empowered to provide ongoing direction and communication of goals and objectives to locally appointed CI champions and line managers as they execute projects and oversee daily CI activities. In the background the enterprise team comprises: Brad Gould, the

international Director of Manufacturing Technology, John Blattel Manager of Operational Excellence for the Titan division, and Hunting’s former Manager of Operational Excellence for the Americas; John Morris. Between them they provide CI structure, support, education and training. This reinforces the permanent embedding of CI culture globally.

Hunting’s CI brings together the long practised but disparate elements of traditional improvement techniques with Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma methodologies under one umbrella.

Continuous Improvement “Creativity before capital” is the mantra at the root of the company’s Continuous Improvement programme where better value is sought, not just for the customer but for all of Hunting’s stakeholders


In seeking new ways to raise quality and operate more productively, the areas for improvement are nearly always identified from the underlying data, typically presented as inefficiencies or pinch points. Once these projects and problems are articulated, the solutions are often to be found by those staff members most closely acquainted with the task; the Subject Matter Expert. Savings can be costed and modelled against the investment case which is validated to achieve the expected gain. In this way CI interventions can be prioritised for maximum impact.

SKYLINE COPPER PLATING KAIZEN EVENTIn the middle of 2015, Hunting Energy’s key manufacturing plant in Calgary, Canada, known as Skyline was experiencing difficulties with a ramp up in orders from a new customer, but a decrease in productivity. Clearly something was wrong and the evidence pointed to quality and reproducibility issues which came at a cost.

Initial discussions between CI facilitator Jason MacVevin and Project Lead Jonathan Hambrook established that the whole Copper Plating cell needed

urgent attention and a Kaizen intervention event was called to address the situation. Team members Carl Spiegl, Hugh Griffrin and Tom Ko were co-opted to represent copper plating operations, accessories, shipping and maintenance. Additional supporting resources were assembled from Houston. For the intervention to succeed it would also need the tacit support of other key individuals. Without this direct assistance the project might have failed.

TARGET SETTING“Give me six hours to cut down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe” said Abraham Lincoln about preparation and that reflects the approach to planning at Skyline. The project opportunities were scoped and aims confined to three key areas: to streamline the copper plating process, and sustain the increased business volume; to use the latest and greatest products to improve consistency of plating thickness and eliminate rework; finally, to apply Lean Manufacturing and 5S principles to the work area, resulting in a clean and organised place to be proud of. Associated goals were then established and formalised with metrics: to reduce the cycle for each part by 35 per cent; to cut the cost from outsourcing by 45 per cent and to make the area safe and an enjoyable place to work. The finances were modelled and payback was forecast in four months. Just one week in September was set aside to achieve these ambitions.

BEFORE

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THE JOURNEYMaterials were pre-ordered, tools prepared and the team assembled. A focused Kaizen refresher training and team briefing session was held on the specific techniques that were going to be used. These included team rules such mobile telephone use only in relation to the project or an emergency.

The first of a twice daily huddle with all participants kicked off the programme. What followed was an intense and sustained effort by all involved. Reviewing

schedules and working late became the new norm with regular refreshment and food ordered in to keep the team energised into the late hours. 5S techniques were put into action, the workshop was Red Tagged and cleared out then cleaned and surfaces coated in heavy duty paint. Over the following few days, outside contractors for electrical and fabrication work were kept on call as the tasks to reassemble or replace equipment were performed on the newly flow-optimised layout. The project drew to a close as the floors were marked out

and workstations were clearly labelled to help with sustainment of the new process.

ACHIEVERSThe team building benefits derived from the exercise were palpable. The various feedback loops from huddles to flip charts gave visual commentary to all members and a stake in the project execution. Ultimately it placed the responsibility for the project delivery with the team. A completion celebration was certainly in order for a challenge accepted and goals determinedly achieved.

AFTER


Our Hunting CommunityAPPOINTMENTS AND PROMOTIONS NORTH AMERICASteve Harvey has joined the company’s Connection Technology Division as its Chief Engineer. With a strong background in connection technology, Steve holds a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Houston Magna Cum Laude. Beginning his career at Tenaris Hydril, Steve progressed quickly from working on the manufacturing floor into management roles where he was responsible for supporting, designing, sustaining, testing and qualifying premium connections.

In his new role, Steve will lead the design and development of all new connection technologies and methodologies to complement and enhance the existing product line.

EMEARoss Mackay has been promoted to the position of Managing Director for Hunting Africa. Ross joined Hunting in November 2014 as General

Manager for Operations in Africa and was instrumental in the successful development and completion of the two new Hunting facilities in South Africa and Kenya.

With over 17 years’ experience of working in Africa across 15 different countries, Ross’ career has progressed from offshore installation roles in tubular running services and cementation to senior positions including various management posts in both operations and support. Prior to joining Hunting, Ross worked for Schlumberger and Weatherford as Country Manager – Southern Africa, overseeing the Well Construction and

Slickline product lines maintaining and developing relations with both National and Independent Oil Companies.

Ross will be responsible for all of Hunting’s business interests in Africa, including the Cape Town facility and the Hunting Joint Venture in Kenya.

Stewart Barrie will be returning from his role in charge of Well Intervention for Asia Pacific to take the role of Global Business Development Manager headquartered in Aberdeen. He will be replaced by Adrian Terry who will take over the Asia Pacific Well Intervention responsibilities.

Gavin Brannan will now be based at the MENA offices in Dubai as Operations Manager supporting the PCE, Slickline and Titan Division product lines within the MENA markets.

Grant Forsyth has assumed the role of Regional Manager for Thru Tubing and PCE rentals supporting the Africa and European markets.

Les Murison has joined us as Regional Manager, Titan Division based in Aberdeen supporting the European markets.

Erwin Visser has been promoted to Regional Manager for Well Testing and is based at the Holland offices supporting the European markets.

LONG SERVICE CELEBRATIONPaul Roye from Hunting Titan in Pampa has been commended for 35 years of dedicated service to the company at a celebration held for him this Spring.

Paul Roye

SINGAPORE 1000 AWARDHunting Energy Services Asia Pacific has once again been featured in the 2016 Singapore 1000 & Singapore SME 1000 rankings for the top one per cent of Singapore’s Corporations and SMEs. Daniel

Tan, Managing Director for Asia Pacific received the award at the 29th S1000 Gala Awards Dinner held earlier this year, at Resorts World Sentosa.Supported by ACRA (Accounting, and Corporate

Regulatory Authority), IE Singapore (International Enterprise Singapore), SPRING Singapore (formerly Standards, Productivity and Innovations Board), Singapore Business Federation and IDA Singapore

(Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore), the award recognised companies that have attained the highest achievements in the quantitative management of their companies.

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HUNTING AND EXXONMOBIL PARTNER ON AUTONOMOUS TECHNOLOGIESHunting’s Titan division has formed a partnership with ExxonMobil Upstream Research to develop autonomous tools technology to focus on maximising efficiencies in well construction and intervention.

The first commercial autonomous tools are

expected to be delivered to the market in the coming few years and initial development will begin on perforating and pipe cutting devices.

This new partnership brings together Hunting’s equipment manufacturing capabilities and energetics, tool development and safety systems skills with

ExxonMobil’s autonomous tools technology and expertise in on-board navigation systems. Both companies are based in Houston.

The implementation of autonomous tools eliminates the need for communication or the physical connection of tools back to the surface by using a

proprietary on-board navigation system. Designed to reduce the amount of time spent on performing multiple operations during drilling, completion, workover and abandonment activities, the autonomous technology also reduces the costs, improves production and simplifies logistics for operations in remote locations.

DEAN GOODSON AWARD WINNERSThe latest winners of the Hunting Energy Services International Pte Ltd’s Dean Goodson Award were recognised for their collective achievements in a customer-partnership project to improve On-Time Delivery (OTD) at the Lunar

New Year celebrations in Singapore earlier this year.

The project has seen significant changes in process improvements since it was launched in late 2013. This continuous effort and commitment was reflected

in a recent acknowledgment from a major customer praising the consistently high OTD, including 100 per cent OTD recorded in January 2016.

The project team is led by Manufacturing Manager Kwek Wee Liang and

includes Chew Yuen Onn (Customer Service), Ong Zhen Chian (Planning), S. Maha (Engineering), Tan Chew Hin (Production), Kelvin Tai (Quality), and Prathap (Supply Chain). The project sponsor was Matthias Sapuan, Operations Director.

UK OCTG THREADING SUCCESSFULLY CONSOLIDATED AT FORDOUN Hunting has been providing OCTG threading services and support to the UKCS for nearly 50 years, with its main office relocating to Badentoy, Aberdeen in 1994. Volume of business prompted an expansion of capacity in 2011, with the creation of a new threading facility at the 55 acre OCTG Operations Centre

in Fordoun, Aberdeenshire. Following its construction, OCTG threading was divided such that Badentoy provided OCTG accessory threading and some full length threading, while Fordoun utilised its high volume threading line for full length material, undertook coupling manufacture and threaded large OD.

As a result of a recent reduction in UKCS operator activity, Hunting has taken the decision to consolidate all OCTG threading at Fordoun. The relocation of equipment and some key production personnel was successfully completed in May and Fordoun now has separate OCTG manufacturing cells for high

volume threading, accessory manufacture, couplings and large OD line. Badentoy will remain fully operational as the European headquarters, providing OCTG customer sales support, shared services such as Finance and the main European production site for Hunting’s well intervention product lines.


SA Kinderhuis children pictured with Jay Leighton, Hunting’s GM BD – Africa, (left), one of the ‘house mothers’ (centre) and Janelle Dyers, Hunting Energy Services South Africa HR Coordinator, (right).

ACCIDENT FREE MILESTONESHunting Energy Completion Equipment, based in Wuxi, has maintained an accident free record since its incorporation two years ago,

while in May, PT Hunting Energy Asia also reached an impressive milestone – four years without any operational accidents.

SAFETY RECOGNITION AWARDSIn March of this year, Hunting Energy Services International successfully applied for recognition as a BizSAFE Star Enterprise by Singapore’s Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) Council. To qualify for the accreditation, companies must obtain OHSAS 18001 or other equivalent certification and be successfully audited by WSH Auditor approved by Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower.

Building on this recognition, the facility also received recognition from the Workplace Health & Safety

secretariat of the National Trade Union Congress which awarded it the ‘U Safe Sparks Award 2016’. It was among eight companies selected for achieving excellence in workplace safety and health. The award was received by Matthias Sapuan, Operations Director at a ceremony held in May at the Devan Nair Institute.

These awards are testament to the achievement of the facility in maintaining its high safety standards and practices through its HSE Steering Framework.

PRINCE WILLIAM VISITS PHYSIONETAccompanied by Michael Rutland, the Hon. British Consul to Bhutan, His Royal Highness Prince William of Wales visited the beneficiaries of Physionet equipment during a Royal visit in the Spring. The charity

provides physiotherapy equipment, mobility items and some hospital hardware to disabled children and adults in developing countries. It is supported by Hunting from London.

HUNTING SUPPORTS CHILDREN OF CAPE TOWNHunting’s South Africa based employees recently embarked on a challenge to raise funds for a children’s home in Cape Town. The organisation that was selected is named SA Kinderhuis, one of the oldest child and youth care centres in Cape Town. The establishment, which was founded in 1808, hosts approximately 40

children between the ages of 6 -18. Children are placed at the children’s home by the state for a minimum period of two years.

A wide range of sports equipment, bed sheets, and stationary were bought with the money raised by the dedicated Hunting team and delivered to SA Kinderhuis.

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HAPPINESS THROUGH HEALTHLaunched at the end of last year, Hunting’s Workplace Health Promotion team has continued to organise a series of activities for its Singapore-based employees. The programme is aimed at promoting physical, mental and social wellbeing and includes outdoor activities such as Zumba workout sessions, sushi making classes, mental-health talks, employee health screening, and other sporting events.

More than 80 per cent of the workforce has participated in three or more activities and with a few more months left to run, the team is hopeful that the participation rate will exceed 90 per cent.

The programme is made possible with funding from the WHP grant offered by the Singapore Health Promotion Board. The grant provides financial support to help organisations start and sustain these admirable initiatives.

HTA CUSTOMER CARE PROGRAMMEA customer training workshop was held at Hunting Energy’s Batam facility in April focused on ‘Hunting Connections Tubular Running Services’. Delivered by the regional QHSE department and led by the

Technical Support Engineer, Sivasankaran Sattanathan, the course was attended by eight participants from Kangean Energy Indonesia and its field running crew from PT Tridaya, TESCO and RSA Singapore.

NURTURING THE CI SPIRITA project team has been set up to source and test an alternative coating material for its pipe refurbishment and maintenance programme managed by PT Hunting Energy Asia in Batam. The team, led by engineer Muhammad Yahya, was commissioned to reduce the cost of its chemical coats by 30 per cent without compromising its protective quality.Muhammad was joined

by Logistics Supervisor, Reza Aldo R, Purchasing Officer, Dilda Virgianty, and QHSE Superintendent Iwan Hernandi, to test various alternative, cost-effective coatings over three months. The initial results were encouraging and the team continued its analysis of the materials from shortlisted suppliers. The final report showed that the project yielded 36 per cent in cost savings.

SUBSEA FOOD DRIVEThe team at Hunting’s Subsea Technologies division at Stafford, Texas recently held a campaign to support the local Fort Bend Human Needs

food bank. The team’s efforts saw an impressive donation of more than 2,100 consumable items, including pumpkins, green beans and sweet potatoes.


FOOD FOR THOUGHTAn initiative led by Philip Li from the HES International Engineering Department has focused on educating employees about reducing food wastage and recognising those that do not have enough. Held in collaboration with Food Bank Singapore, the project also encouraged the collection of food items that could be

donated to those in need. A team of Hunting volunteers organised weekly collections over a month with focused themes like cup-of-rice donation or noodles collection. All the food was presented to the Food Bank, while the team also helped pack the items for onwards delivery to beneficiary organisations.

Encouraged by the work of the Food Drive, a second team of employee volunteers helped to raise funds to purchase food bundles for those in need. The team, led by Jude Abraham and Png Yingjie from the Business Development and Customer Service Departments, established novel ideas to

support this worthy cause. Activities included ‘Fast-for-Feed’, which saw employees donate their lunch money and consume just fruit over four lunchtimes; a ‘Fund Auction’; and a charity bake sale.These efforts were presented in the form of a cheque to the Food Bank in April 2016 for purchase of food bundles.

LONDON CALLINGStaff in the London office in Hanover Square got into the seasonal spirit by donning festive jumpers and raising funds for Macmillan cancer support, Make-A-Wish and Save the Children. Theses charities do vital work both in the UK and overseas.

CHILDREN IN NEEDMore than 200 of Singapore’s children in need were supported by Hunting last Christmas, with employees purchasing and donating souvenir tumblers to the city’s Children’s Society, Canossaville Children’s Home and Chen Su Lan Methodist Children’s Home.

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Hunting PLC (UK)5 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HQ, UKTel +44 (0) 20 7321 0123www.huntingplc.com

Hunting PLC (USA)24 Waterway Avenue, Suite 700, The WoodlandsHouston, Texas 77380, USATel +1 713 595 2950

Hunting Energy (North America)2 Northpoint Drive, Suite 400, HoustonTexas 77060-3236, USATel +1 281 442 7382

Hunting Energy (Europe)Badentoy Avenue, Badentoy Park, PortlethenAberdeen AB12 4YB, UKTel +44 (0) 1224 787000

Hunting Energy (Middle East)Building B23, Oilfield Supply CenterJebal Ali Freezone, Dubai, UAETel +971 4 887 6850

Hunting Energy (Asia Pacific)2 International Business Park#04 - 13/14, The Strategy Tower 1Singapore 609930Tel +65 693 31777

Hunting Energy (Africa)18 London Wall, Brackengate Business ParkBrackenfell, Cape Town 7560South AfricaTel +27 21 003 6000

hunting review 190 summer 2016

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