Project management stuyd on: Dril – Quiq
Chapter 1
Project Background and Significance
1.1 Introduction
In this chapter, the background of Dril-Quiq will be introduced to understand the nature of the business undertook by the company. This chapter will also provide the project background, objective and scope. The expected outcome is to show the importance of this project and structure of the thesis which sets a framework for titles and order for other chapters.
1.2 Company background 
Dril-Quid is one of the world’s leading manufacturers offshore drilling and production equipment that is well suited for use in deepwater application (see Figure 1.1). The company provides designs and manufactures subsea, surface and offshore rig equipment used by oil and gas companies in offshore area throughout the world. Dril-Quiq offers a range of installation and reconditioning service and rent running tools for use in connection with the installation and retrieval of its product.
Dril-Quiq quartered in Houston, has manufacturing facilities located in various location such as United States, Scotland, Singapore and Brazil. The company also has sales and service offices in numerous locations throughout the world. Dril-Quiq is performing essentially all of its forging, heat treating, machining, fabrication, inspection, assembly and testing at its own facilities.
1.3 Introduction of Pad Eye
In oil and gas industry, the first length of pipe in well is categorized as conductor pipe. Conductor pipe is a bigger size of pipe (28”-36”) to protect the well or bore in shallow water and smaller pipe can be added in to well following the conductor pipe. These conductor pipes are normally joined together to form a string up to a few hundred feet long and driven into earth by pipe driving hammer.
Pad eyes are normally attached during the process of welding to an end of tubular goods (see Figure 1.2). At least two pad eyes are used and are diametrically opposite within several inches from the end of the pipe (see Figure 1.3). As the temporary support plate support full length of well bore related pipe in the joining up process, strength of the pad eye is the main concern during design stage. The prospect of dropping a string of casing, tubing, or conductor pipe into the well is a process that would not be successful without presence of a pad eye. There is a need for a pad eye to enter the skirt of the hammer lead system that is used to align the hammer on the pipe to keep it in place while hammering. After completion of all joining process, the Weld-On pad eye has to be removed by cutting it manually which is very time consuming.
At the vertical position, the load is usually supported by a wire line or bail and attached to pad eye by a clevis and pin (see Figure 1.4). The hole in the pad eye has to be larger than the pin, which enables it to be inserted without much effort.
1.4 Project Background
Currently, the company is using various types of “Weld-On” pad eye for pipes (see Figure 1.5 and Figure 1.6). It was noticed that current pad eye designs is hardly accepted by the market due to the installation procedure. Long time is required to install a pair of pad eye through welding process.
During installation, 3 hours and above is required for welding, cool down and inspection. Furthermore, service men encountered difficulties in assembling large and heavy pad eye, with the weight of the items ranging from 40kg-60kg installed onto the conductor. This approach was also labour intensive, as it required longer setup and installation time. Besides that, waste of pad eye after removed from conductor cannot be reused due to uneven cutting area and size.
With the work cell concept, the engineering teams discussed the potential solutions to the problems mentioned above and the appointed person was tasked to improve the current design to increase the efficiency of installation process and possible recycle of pad eye. During design, the final dimension of pad eye might be done by Aid Design Software to expedite the whole process.
The key consideration was to improve the cycle time of installation of pad eye to the conductor through a reduction in the set-up and welding time required while enhancing the cost saving by reusable on pad eye.
1.6 Project Scope
The company has decided to establish a new design of pad eye which is featured with compatible, re-attachable function. After project has been approved by relevant department, the appointed person was given authority to utilise any related option. This study will consider improvement on the installation process in priority. There would not be any change on base material of the final product in order to maintain the base cost.
1.7 Expected Outcome
In this project, it is expected the cycle time of installation of pad eye to be reduced by at least 20%-30%. Additionally, the waste of material is to be reduced at least 30%. Lastly, the reuse function of pad eye makes it more competitive in market.
1.8 Thesis Structure
The structure of this thesis is shown in Figure 1.7. Chapter 1 discusses on background of project and briefly on pad eye. Chapter 2 commences with a literature review of Conceptual Design, Embodiment Design and Detail design, followed by the existing design analysis and patent and material search. At the same time, the methodology used in this project is also discussed. In chapter 3, the Conceptual Design will be analysed with support of the Functional Analysis Design, Morphological Chart, Design Concept and Decision Matrix in order to establish a final concept design. Detail of Embodiment Design will be discussed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 will have the new design with detail dimension from the aid of design software. Tested and evaluated for later calculation of cost reduction in Chapter 6, not forgetting the benefits after the implementation in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 presents the recommendations and suggestions for future work that ends with the conclusion of this thesis
1.9 Concluding Remarks
To conclude, the functional and brief idea about the pad eye has been discussed. This project has highlighted the objective of the project, which is to improve on the current installation process and the material saving by improving the current pad eye’s design.
The thesis structure acts as a guide line to provide a smooth path to complete this project. To fully understand the problem and implications before designing and implementing the new design, prior study of existing design and research of design concepts was carried out, which are discussed in the following chapters.
Chapter 2
Literature Review and Project Methodology
2.1 Introduction
This chapter gives an introduction on design process followed by literature review on Conceptual Design and Embodiment Design. The literature review encompasses review from website and reference book to ensure that the most up-to-date knowledge from the resources have been taken into consideration for the project. In this chapter an outline of project methodology is also adopted in this project.
This chapter covers:
a) Introduction of the design tools and techniques used for designing a new pad eye.
b) Introduction of the existing pad eye designs to the reader.
c) Introduction of the patent in pad eye group to the reader.
d) Introduction of the materials used for pad eye.
e) Discussion of the project methodology.
2.2 Introduction of Design Process
Based on literature review such as Internet and feedback from the company experts, the following design process (see Figure 2.1) are used for developing a new design. The traditional design to manufacturing process is a sequential process where the outcome of one stage will be used for in the next stage of design process. In the last stage which is the verification/prototype stage, the design is then reviewed and verified for correction and improvement.
Conceptual design is a process of generating a design idea and Embodiment Design acts as guide and support process to refine the concept during developing a design from concept to reality. Both of the process of Conceptual Design and Embodiment Design have become the most prevailing and efficient process while being widely used in designing. The design process will be applied and discussed in this project in the subsequent chapters.
If you want Project management Assignment Help study samples to help you write professional custom essay’s and essay writing help.
Receive assured help from our talented and expert writers! Did you buy assignment and assignment writing services from our experts in a very affordable price.
To get more information, please contact us or visit www.myassignmenthelp.Com
