Barriers for 3D printing in the oil industry

By now, over a year we‘ve seen how the oil industry is largely incapable of controlling its cost base and do smth serious about it, be evolutionary or revolutionary. While there are so many attempts and initiatives in the former one, the later (revolutionary) is where you see smth very rare. We take a few things from other industries, which generally outdated there by now, and use them (or try) in the oil industry and claim it to be major breakthroughs.

One of the revolutionary areas is definitely 3D printing, or a better expression to use - Additive Manufacturing. It is amazing, how people perceive the technology when you use two different terminologies “Can I print double sided” vs. “How can I manufacture a gate valve.” So, I will use a proper name for it - Additive Manufacturing (AM).  AM is a process of making a 3D object from a CAD drawing. You can also use a 3D scanner to scan almost whatever you want (in consumer world) and get it printed using a special machine (aka 3D printer). 

AM is based on a principle of “clueing” layers of materials together (layer-on-top-of-layer) until a solid object is formed. There are 7 types of AM, with Direct Metal Laser Sintering (SLMS) and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) being the mostly suited when it comes to metals and elastomers used in applications where pressure, temperature, integrity are the issues. A combination of AM and CNC machining is also used. 

While AM will never replace traditional manufacturing methods, as far as the oil industry is concerned, it would definitely compliment and disrupt the way we do things. There are a number of areas where AM can be used in the short to medium term, with key criteria being 1) cost; 2) operating environment; the 3) logistics.  It could be OEM parts that are not manufactured by the OEM anymore, consumable parts with short life-time or used in high friction and rotation applications, such as pumps and rotary equipment, seals and gaskets, weight reduction applications, offshore parts manufacturing and many more.

When it comes to a longer-term view, this is where the conventional wisdom must be challenged. AM allows manufacturing parts with complex geometries which are not possible to produce using conventional manufacturing methods. What this means is a fresh and start-from-empty-canvas design approach is required, because the traditional manufacturing methods have imposed limitations originated from the laws of physics, chemistry and a like, that govern how we approach thinking in  initial design. I am sure, if you remove ALL known assumptions and constraints, a mobile phone can be designed drastically differently. 

Here is the exciting part – why the Oil & Gas industry will never embrace Additive Manufacturing and enjoy the benefits of it, as done in aerospace, electronics, medical and automobile?

• Awareness. Generally, people are not aware of the concept, what it can do etc. You may here “can-I-print-in-color” or “what-happens-if-it-jammed”. So, people just laugh when they hear that a valve can be 3D “printed” within hours.
• Risk averseness. The industry is so risk-averse; hence people are not willing to look at AM. Coupled with the lack of awareness, this is a very powerful showstopper.  Lack of sufficient data on reliability of AM is another factor contributing to that.
• No financial incentives. There are limited financial incentives to do it. Oil companies never compete in the market (only for concessions, which is political), hence there is no carrot-or-stick scenario to be better. Profits have been always high with occasional crises lasting for a little amount of time, when we just right size the companies and cancel projects. There is no burning reason / desire to go outside the box to survive.
• Legal. Battles for intellectual property rights will be a hassle. This is so ridiculous - a lawyer stopping the progress and break-through? Lack of common law and laws that contribute to the-best-for-all will hinder 3D applications. In addition, because we do not collaborate and do not work collaboratively with our supplier base, who owns IP rights will be a problem.
• Demographics. Not to offend anyone, but our industry is predominantly male dominated with baby boomers (in their 50+) being more than 60% of the workforce and more than 80% in decision making and regulatory roles. Many baby boomers in the oil industry are in settling / approaching their retirement, so who wants to risk? Many baby boomers are known to be very concerned with their retirement and plan to stay in the business after they retire.  In addition, this-is-how-we-used-to-do-it that comes with 30+ years experience is a plaque and the old-school thinking prevents new things coming to our industry faster than they are coming now.
• Job security. Our industry is very much international and projects driven, so no one wants to go outside the box and “Why should I be the whistleblower? I have a great and lavish expat life”.   This is probably a natural human instinct of survival that is hard to overcome. Yet, there are ways to deal with it.
• New projects. New projects are designed and commissioned today contain very little of AM. Perhaps only rotating equipment, such as turbine and generators contain 3D printed parts. And yet this is driven by OEMs in order to be competitive, not oil companies. 

Hats off to those organizations and people who actively promote and try to embrace Additive Manufacturing in the Oil & Gas industry. As mentioned by Avi Reichental, former CEO of 3D Systems Corporation "The real choice facing companies today is whether 3D printing will help them disrupt their industry, or whether they will be disrupted by 3D printing."

Forgot to say, very few people would read it, largely  because of misconception of 3D printing and lack of awareness of its benefits and possibilities.