Aramco Asia-Japan (AAJ) recently hosted the 2019 Quality Exchange Meeting to foster deeper engagement and partnerships with key players in the capital program value chain.
The two-day event, under the theme “Proactive Quality — a Cornerstone for Excellence,” brought together 85 senior management from 20 partner inspection agencies. It was organized by the Aramco Asia Quality Management Division of Saudi Aramco's Inspection Department.
The meeting was held in preparation for a new wave of upcoming capital program projects to allocate proper resources. Aramco Asia management and key staff members from Korea, China, and India also took part.
Building relationships
In his opening remarks, AAJ representative director Omar M. Al-Amudi emphasized the importance of this annual meeting with quality business partners to build relationships and support for Saudi Aramco.
“Saudi Aramco is expanding its capital program to meet the growing requirements of the world, including projects in oil, gas, chemicals, and infrastructure,” said Al-Amudi. “It is incumbent among us to ensure that these projects are implemented at the highest level of safety and quality. The relationship that Aramco has with all of you is key to delivering on that goal.”
Muhannad A. Yousef, head of the Aramco Asia Quality Management Division, shared a five year review of the Asia-Pacific quality management services that showed a decreasing number of equipment material deficiencies at Aramco sites. He also reported on some future projects.
“Reduction of equipment deficiencies from Asia is something we share the credit for with you, and commend your proactive participation as inspection agencies and key enablers,” said Yousef. “But we also seek your efforts and contribution in the following years to enhance inspections toward zero deficiencies on an annual basis.”
Proactive inspection and new quality methodologies
The workshop explored proactive inspection measures to ensure the prevention of counterfeiting and using substandard materials based on previous cases in Asia. Extensive and in-depth discussions took place, such as how the Fourth Industrial Revolution is reshaping the inspection industry using newer methodologies, while potentially significantly altering approaches in quality control.
AAJ also hosted potential partner inspection agencies for the anticipated new general inspection services contracts starting in 2021, providing explanations of required vendor inspection services, geographical spread of operations, and business forecasts. It was also designed to assist potential inspection agencies to prepare for the technical evaluation process and enhance internal preparation for next year's contract development.
Touching on the event theme “Proactive Quality,” Aramco Asia Engineering and Technical Services director Tareq Al-Sabti noted, “Working hand-in-hand to improve our performances based on lessons learned is a continuous journey needed to equip ourselves with the necessary resources for the new wave of capital projects.”