Quality Management Systems in Qatar Petroleum - Essay Example

Quality Management Systems in Qatar Petroleum Introduction: Oil industry is a sector which is highly dependent on materials, high quality equipment and methods which meet the growing demands of the business. Quality management is very significant to this industry because of the continued excess of supply over demand. It came under pressure from its own consumers who demanded quality certification from the suppliers and in turn they applied the same pressure on the refineries. The objective of Quality Management system was to respond to the requirements of rigorous management and economic efficiency while satisfying the expectations expressed by increasingly qualified personnel for participation that enhances the value of their work. Another reason for introduction of quality management system was the vertical integration of the oil industry. In the present world, with the increasing workload and decreasing resources, standardisation has become a major concern of the world’s oil and natural gas companies and their suppliers. It is the industry which relies highly on API standards in order to get the job done in the right way. Standardisation helps companies to move forward in the right direction besides allowing them to operate safely and reliably anywhere in the world. The standardisation efforts help to assure compliance with government equipment interchangeability to meet the needs of the global industry. (The oil and natural gas industrie’s most valuable resource 2004). Quality management system: Quality management system can be discerned as a series of practices that are constantly being reconsidered and to conform to the international standard. It aims at achieving first class customer service to be derived and at the least costs, and prove to the customers that the supplier in question has an organized and disciplined approach to the achieving that end. ( Fravennec, Trambouze & Baker, p.540). There are three elements of quality management systems that apply to refineries these are: Matter of culture, service to the customer as the quasi religion, implemented by a wide spread network of customer/supplier relationships as possible, based on the contractual approach and monitors by using quantified measures of satisfaction or nonsatisfaction. Technology, that aims continuous improvement which includes a system of correction and prevention of non-quality practices that are reviews by a process of regular audit and a system for continuous improvement to achieve enhancement of quality. Prescriptive, a formal system of procedures to codify, attempts to see that the incident resulting from a quality problem with fuel customers are advised quickly and the issue is communicated so that the entire supply chain is mobilized to minimize the impact to the customer and provide them timely assistance.(542). A regular quality management system helps to ensure its continuing effectiveness and suitability is mandatory under the ISO standard which is a good practice. Qatar Petroleum (QP): QP was established in 1974 as a national corporation, which is completely owned by the State of Qatar. It is responsible for all oil and gas industry activities in Qatar and it also involves exploration and drilling of hydrocarbon substances, refining, storage, sales etc. QP is very well committed in utilising the latest and updated technology in order to improve the recovery of oil and gas reserves through the application of well established, state of the art technology within international standards. The scope of the process in QP is a corporate one, and hence it spans over all the functional and business activities. Currently, the process covers 28 profit centres and 5 support functions. It starts with its Corporate Mission and Objectives and ends with quarterly follow up of action plans. Standardization objectives of QP: “Standardization is the activity of establishing, with regard to actual or potential problems, provisions for common and repeated use, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.” (Al-Naimi, Maarafia, & Abdulafo Ajjawi 2006, p.6). The standard is defined as the document which is established by consensus and approved by a recognized body that provides for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context. The standardization objectives of QP are as follows: To improve the quality of work. To prevent duplicacy. To improve the quality of work life by providing suitable facilities to HSE and security standards. To improve the procurement performance at all stages, in order to achieve reliability and efficiency of products and services. To promote the quality of material and services. (Quarter petroleum standardisation activities 2007). Issues of quality assurance: QP is involved in the ISO technical committees work related oil and gas industry and quality assurance and quality management. ISOTC176 Quality Assurance & Quality Management: WG 1: Measuring equipment WG 9: Guidelines for qualification of management system WG 10: Complaints WG 11: Guidelines for managing the economics of quality WG 12: External customer dispute resolution WG13: Market based codes of conduct WG14: Monitoring and measuring customer satisfaction QP achieved quality assurance throughout the production process by monitoring relevant measures and processes that enable them to detect, correct and to prevent failures in the supplies to keep the customers satisfied. (Quarter petroleum standardisation activities 2007). Management procedure adopted by QP: Management procedures are systematically prepared and regularly updated so that all information available is made transparent. It is based on rules of art rather than a strict thermodynamic or technological analysis that can be reproduced as required. That is why in QP it is desirable to the extent possible the personnel who are applying them should be closely involved when procedures relating to quality are developed, tested, validated and formalised. These procedures are taken into account by QP for the feedback resulting from the first two components of quality management. Standardization policy Standardization planning (strategy & Annual) Standardization Procedures& guidelines Standards master lists Standards information database Cultural approaches for the adoption and use of these quality assurance standards: Quality assurance standards such as ISO are a worldwide leading developer of International Standards. ISO Standards help in specifying the requirements of state-of –the- art products, services, process, material systems and good conformity assessment, managerial and organizational practices. ISO Standards are designed to be adopted, implemented and used in worldwide. Its helps gulf oil & gas industry to easily prepare the required standards and practices, which enable companies to minimize their specifications. By adopting common standards in oil & gas industry for the benefit of world trade (technology and our useful information can be transferred) within the same regional area uniformity can be achieved. ISO quality standards are idely accepted as a quality measure in the corporate world. Most of QP departments are currently ISO 90001 certified. Participation in the General Organization of Standards and Metrology (QGOSM) Technical Committees on IS/IEC Standards Adoption Activities etc are major benefits. Hundred of standards were adopted by the QP management in their bid to improve quality in their business. Quality audit and its effectiveness: Quality Audit can be defined as the systematic examination of the quality system which is carried out by an internal or external quality auditor or by an audit team. Quality audit forms an important part in the QP’s quality management systems in order to improve its efficiency and effectiveness and is also an important part of compliance or regulatory requirements. It is a key element in the ISO quality system standard, ISO 9001. In QP quality audits are done at predefined time intervals and it examines whether a particular institution has clearly defined internal quality monitoring procedures. This helps them to determine whether the organization complies with the defined quality system processes and may involve result based assessment criteria. It can further be perceived as a management tool which assess how successfully the process of quality management has been implemented, for judging the effectiveness of achieving any defined target levels, in order to provide evidence regarding reduction and elimination of problem areas. Quality audit also highlights areas of good practice. It helps the departments to share the information and amend their working practices to contribute to continual development. (Quality audit 2009). Quality audits vary according to the type of organization. (Verizon NEBStm compliance: quality audit process 2008). Quality improvement policies: The ultimate goal of QP is to provide safe, reliable, and high-quality products and services to the customers and at the same time providing for their own survival on long term basis. To do this, QP have skilled professionals working as teams, with due attention to safety, and imbibing mutual confidence in one another. They are concerned for efficiency and progress, both as customers and suppliers to each other in supply chain that links their raw materials to the end- user customer. In order to achieve this goal, they have to address many quality-related challenges, including material, equipment, process and services. Some of the policies that QP adopted for the quality improvement are: Prepare, review and approve the proposals for new standards. Evaluate the adoption of the International and Gulf Standards as National Standards. Participate in the preparation and updating of National Standards. Review and provide comments on the draft standards ( Qatar, Gulf) Resolve any problems or difficulties that may face the national standardization process. Challenges faced by companies adopting quality management systems. Increased costs: It is cheaper for those companies which has multiple facilities and employees in different locations to maintain separate quality systems, but the inefficiency of the hybrid system can lead to increased cost in terms of man hours. Search and retrieval issues: The documents, that is, (SOPs, policies, etc) which are stored in separate paper and electronic system are difficult to search and locate. Poor turnaround: It is likely to cause a poor turnaround in change implementation when the change control process is not connected to other quality processes. It may be customer complaint, staff training etc. Inefficient system: the change control process can be long for those companies which uses paper based quality system. This requires face to face meetings. These meetings are carried out to discuss the changes and also to obtain the approval and signatures. (Oil & gas 2009). (Continuous quality improvement process, p.2). Quality management systems in QP: The strongest point of excellence that is seen in QP is their effective management system. The work-place health promotion mainly depends on being perceived as a vital managerial responsibility and its being integrated into existing management systems. It should be integrated into the structures and processes existing within the organisation. The organisation also provides adequate resources for the workplace health promotion. An important objective of the work organisation is to consider the skills of the staff. The employees of the organisation seek to attain economic advantage through lower absenteeism and accident rates, increased efficiency and motivation, improved company image and customer satisfaction. The success factor of work-place in QP‘s health promotion is that the employees in the organisation are fully committed to planning and decision making because of clear concepts which are continuously reviewed, improved and communicated to all the staffs in the organisation. The health promotion measures should also be communicated to all the departments in an organisation. QP avoids all the activities that are detrimental to the public and the environment. QP strongly supports social, cultural and welfare initiatives. The workplace health promotions comprise measures in QP for promoting job design and it also supports healthy behaviour. These measures were permanently interlinked and systematically implemented. The success of workplace health promotion can be measured by short, medium and long term indicators. (Healthy employees in healthy organizations). Figure shows: Qatar Petroleum way to Excellence (Quarter petroleum standardisation activities 2007). Appraisal in the work place of QP: In Qatar petroleum the management keeps the employees focused and motivated and thus encourage them to make a valuable contribution to the company. Work-force appraisals also provide the human resources with information for the successful planning purposes as they identify suitable candidates for promotion and for providing them training to increase their skills. QP appraisals are continued as an ongoing process and it brings in several benefits in that it can develop a greater degree of consistency by ensuring that employers and meet regularly to discuss performance and potential. In the history of QP, 2006 was a true landmark year in many aspects. It was during this time that the corporation managed to distinguish themselves as one of the global leaders in energy projects. On a national level, QP strives for its major role aimed to generate a major share the main part of the national income, and at the same time, they focus on providing the energy products for the domestic community and local industries. It also developed excellent capabilities in managing resources, and became more efficient and commercially focused. QP has been producing over half of Qatar’s total oil output in the case of crude oil business. And the rest is generated by international companies operating under production-sharing agreements covering oil fields. “The current total oil output of 850,000 barrels per day (b/d), is expected to reach around one million b/d by the end of 2009. The development of the offshore Al-Shaheen field, announced by the end of 2005, will increase the production capacity of the structure to more than half a million b/d by then.” (Bin Hamad Al Attyah). QP continues to implement an integrated approach in their mega projects, through either designing new projects to supplement existing plants in order to maximize synergies from the simultaneous execution of those projects, or optimally utilising upstream feedstock in new local industrial projects. “The ethylene cracker of the Ras Laffan Olefins Company, which is one of the largest crackers in the world, will use part of the feedstock produced in connection with the Dolphin project to yield 1.3 million tons of ethylene per year. Another example of how QP coped with this approach was the construction of the Laffan condensate refinery, with planned processing capacity of 146,000 b/d of gas condensates.” (Bin Hamad Al Attyah). QP is also working hard towards a goal of no harm to people and no harm to the environment. They became more conscious about the environment and people. The recognise the fact that maintaining the quality of the environment for future generations is an important commitment to ensure the protection and welfare of people and environment. QP continued in 2006 to play a significant role in organising and hosting international and regional energy conferences. The most significant event was The 10th International Energy Forum, in which 59 countries and six international organizations took part. Other major events included the 11th Middle East Gas Summit, and the International Symposium on Natural Gas and Sustainable Development. The choice of Qatar to host such major events is due, among other reasons, to the fact that most of the world-class energy players have strong business relations with the State. (Bin Hamad Al Attyah). Qatar Petroleum is responsible for all phases of the oil and gas industry in Qatar. Principal activities cover exploration, drilling production, storage and transport and sale of crude oil, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, gas-to-liquids, refined products, petrochemicals and fertilizers, helicopter and financing services. QP’s quality management system is built on a framework that is mainly on decision making points and accountabilities for their success at a critical phase in their products life cycle. (Business centre 2006). Conclusions: It could also be seen in terms of seeking to best utilise critical fossil resources for the betterment of county’s economy and also to meet world needs for oil in the current and future years. Even with all the furore over alternative fuels, the plain truth is that these resources would cost more than the revenue they generate, and except for short term purposes. These sources cannot endure to replace fossil fuels on a permanent basis. While vicissitudes in oil pricing and demand volatility do take place, it would take quite substantial investments and funding before alternative systems could be commercially operationalised on a large scale basis. 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