ONS: BHGE execs describe the way forward for their firm
STAVANGER -- It’s been a bit of a wild ride for Baker Hughes, a GE company (BHGE), over the last 12 to 18 months, as most industry professionals know well. But now things are settling down, and the company is forging a solid path forward. That is the message delivered by three BHGE executives during ONS on Tuesday, including President and CEO Neil Saunders; V.P. and CTO for Oilfield Equipment, John Kerr; and V.P. for Subsea Services and Systems, Graham Gillies.
“We are pursuing a new business approach that we call 50/50/50,” said Saunders during a briefing for trade media. “And these 50s represent the percentage of impact or positive change that I think we at BHGE can make for our customers in differing phases. For example, the first 50 relates to supply delivery being carried out more cost-effectively. The second 50 represents a broader family at BHGE, and a collaboration within and without that family, where we are 50% more productive. The third 50 represents our ultimate aspiration to have an outcome on each and every project that improves client yield significantly.”
Saunders said that this approach will be applied to all product lines and services. Kerr noted that there will be “some quite new radical design changes, especially on trees.” He added that there is also a new, modular, compact package design for various offshore elements. “We’re looking at a 14% to 40% reduction in weight and footprint.”
Gillies said that engagement with clients is broadening. “We’re looking at vendor-led solutions, and they frankly are providing the best results in Europe and especially Norway, to date. In one example, BHGE is providing an integrated package, where you have to show the client that the trade-off for a little higher costs will be more than offset and rewarded by gains in efficiency.” Gillies also mentioned that BHGE is investing $36 million to build a new subsea technology and manufacturing campus in the North East of Scotland. The 35-acre campus reportedly will be established in Montrose, Scotland, south of Aberdeen and north of Edinburgh.
