Introduction
After this refinery project was put on hold for approximately six years due to environmental concerns, Chevron (the owner) contracted Worley to complete modernizations to the Chevron Refinery in Richmond, California. The upgrades significantly increased the facility’s safety and replaced some of the refinery’s oldest processing equipment with modern technology. Chevron stated, “Modernization will enable the refinery to continue to competitively produce gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, and lubricating base oils that meet California’s strict environmental regulations. The upgrades will improve the reliability of the refinery and allow us to operate successfully well into the future.”
Loop Material Readiness scope
Worley chose to deploy Octave’s Loop Material Readiness to help overcome two main hurdles that the project’s materials team faced when jumping on a partially completed project that had been dormant for years. First, the material inventory for the project had been abandoned by the previous contractor, and no records were transferred to Worley. This resulted in a laydown yard of approximately 5,000 engineered pipe spools, valves and steel that were unidentified and largely unaccounted for. Secondly, these materials were in varying conditions of neglect due to the amount of time passed and proximity to the salty air of the Pacific Ocean. The materials needed to be identified and matched with their respective drawings while also undergoing inspection to determine if refurbishment was necessary prior to installation. Loop Material Readiness provided Worley with an efficient and organized method for locating materials and applying barcodes or RFID tags to track their release to various refurbishment contractors. Each material’s status was updated automatically in Loop Material Readiness when triggered by a single gate reader installed at the one entrance/exit to the laydown yard.
Site set-up
During deployment, the system coordinator uploaded high-resolution imagery, then mapped and zoned laydown areas for two yards. The addition of these zones was the key to organization and accurate inventory while also passing location information to Worley’s procurement system, SAP.
Success example
After complete implementation of Loop Material Readiness on the Richmond Refinery Modernization project, Worley had a full inventory of inherited materials and could easily maintain an accurate inventory as new materials arrived to replace missing or damaged pieces. GPS locations on all yard materials allowed Worley’s materials management crew to operate with reduced overhead thanks to the increased organization and ability to quickly find materials.
Deployment
Tablets - Built to withstand harsh environments, rugged tablets extend track and trace functionality into the field.
Active RFID Tags - Active RFID tags automate material identification and tracking throughout the material’s lifecycle.
Gate Reader - Gate readers automate data collection through shipping, receiving and intra-site transfers.
Barcode Labels - Barcodes are an inexpensive method of tracking that are printed in the field with mobile printers.
OnSite System Coordinator - JSCs offer “boots on the ground” support to help you realize the highest ROI from Jovix.