Oman’s oil company wants to 3D print its spare parts

Oman’s national oil company, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), and French startup Spare Parts 3D (SP3D) have teamed up to test the 3D printability of 150,000 unique spare parts.

Thanks to SP3D’s data-driven funneling method, DigiPART software, material coding datasets, and a dedicated multidisciplinary PDO team, the whole endeavor ert became possible.

A special approach

Although the master data sets were extensive, an ideal data set was required to make all data easily accessible. For about 80% of the parts, basic information such as dimensions and weight was missing. This is where DigiPART software came in handy, allowing the team to optimize the original data set to create an algorithm.

“After having selected non-suitable parts, ourselves, we contracted SP3D for their ability to enrich our partial dataset. This helped to select the right spare parts to focus on for PDO’s AM journey,” – Mohammed Yahyai – 3D Scoping workstream Lead, Lead Rotating Equipment Engineer.

DigiPART uses algorithms such as the Semantic Recognition Algorithm to efficiently search 150,000 coded parts. Automatically, more than 10 functional specifications are assigned to identify the correct AM materials and printing methods such as selective laser melting, rapid casting or material deposition. These data-driven results help inform PDO’s 3D printing adoption roadmap.

“PDO now has access to an agile decision tool covering over 60,000 spare parts. Customised business cases filters enable PDO to select the most relevant parts to print and install or switch from physical to digital inventory,” Commented Paul Guillaumot, CEO of Spare Parts 3D.

Then, the results had to be regrouped to show the potential for increasing local value. Since also has significant implications for investment decisions and allows a fact-based decision instead of speculation.

“The ability to provide valorisation on AM potential is a first in Oman and of great support to accelerate In-Country Value initiatives and build our Industry 4.0 ecosystem in the sultanate,” said Sulaiman Ruqaishi, PDO In-Country Value Business Development Lead.

“Our fundamental issue was to logically and quickly screen and identify 3D printing candidates to define PDO AM scope and move forward. With the support of our partner SP3D PDO is now able to make informed decisions, accelerate deployment and support stakeholders,” said Philippe Dupont, Head of Material Procurement & Inventory Management, PDO.

Find out more about PDO at pdo.co.om.

For more information about SP3D, please visit spare-parts-3d.com.