A leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels is saving time and money with Achilles Oil and Gas Europe
Semi-submersible Accommodation, Safety and Support Vessels (ASVs) offer high quality welfare and catering facilities for offshore workers. As well as catering, storage, medical services and workshops they offer gyms, accommodation and leisure facilities. Prosafe owns and operates a global fleet of ASVs and Achilles Oil and Gas Europe is helping the company reduce inefficiencies, save time and ensure quality in their supply chain.
Challenge
For Prosafe’s Procurement and Supply Chain Manager Emma Polson, time is everything. The company’s fleet of ASVs operate in challenging offshore environments from the North Sea to Brazil. This means that when problems arise, they need to be resolved quickly. With each vessel containing roughly 45,000 spare parts, consumables and tools, there are a lot of potential issues that can arise. As a result, the company’s supply chain is incredibly varied, ranging from large Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to smaller suppliers, and is currently made up of over 800 active suppliers.
This creates a complex challenge for managing the company’s supply chain. For new suppliers, the process of onboarding is often not as agile as the company needs it to be. Sending out a pre-qualification questionnaire is not an efficient process, and it can often take weeks for suppliers to complete and provide the required documentation. Once companies have been approved and set up, keeping supplier data up to date can also be challenging.
Solution
The Achilles Oil and Gas Europe community brings together over 5,000 suppliers across Europe. As one of the community’s 133 buyers, Prosafe benefit from having a pool of audited and pre-qualified suppliers in place. This not only saves time and money when it comes to sourcing the supplies it needs but allows it to remain agile and resilient in the face of supply chain disruptions.
The new supplier request usually comes from the vessel itself, either due to parts being single-sourced or a new supplier having a tangible benefit to the business. “My first point of call is to go to Achilles to see if the product is available from a registered supplier,” says Emma. “If it is, I can instantly see all the certification and information I need.” Prosafe can also see whether a supplier has a quality management system in place as well as review credit scores, ISO accreditations and Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) information. Having access to this key information and knowing that the supplier has been verified by Achilles can, in some cases, remove the requirement for Prosafe to carry out an audit.
Results
Since Prosafe began using the Achilles Oil and Gas Europe community in 2009, the UK office has seen a number of operational benefits:
Improving the tender process
Prosafe continues to use a range of companies that are not currently on Achilles. But for larger, high value tenders the preference is to minimise risk through searching for approved suppliers. “The pre-qualified suppliers are in a more favourable position, especially as Achilles makes it quick and simple to request additional information,” says Emma.
Time savings
Since migrating to the new platform in late February, Prosafe have conducted a total of 52 supplier searches in total, including 21 searches in April alone. By not having to send out a lengthy pre-qualification questionnaire to new suppliers and then wait for them to return it, the Prosafe team can be much more responsive to vessel requests. “If the company in question is an approved supplier on Achilles, the onboarding process is pretty much instant,” says Emma. “I can get a new supplier set up in a single day – rather than weeks, or even months.” These time savings allow Emma and her team to focus on supplier management and systems development.
Enhanced ESG reporting
Prosafe is committed to integrating ESG factors into its strategy, decisions and operations. This extends to the standards and values which it holds its suppliers to as well. “Having that information in Achilles is a big benefit to us,” says Emma, “and will only become more relevant in the coming years.”
