Client Portal provides up-to-date insight into all jetties at BP Refinery Rotterdam site
BP Refinery in Rotterdam took Bilfinger's Client Portal into use before the summer. The client system offers the various internal clients within the refinery, such as Maintenance and Projects, among others, an up-to-date digital overview of the amount of scaffolding on site. 'With this we want to prevent scaffolding from being on site unnecessarily long,' says Norman Meerkerk, Contractor Management Engineer at BP. 'Moreover, it makes our own people more aware of the status time and thus the rental costs of scaffolding.'
Digital work order
The data then enters the Scaffolding App via the Work Preparation App as a digital work order. The foreman can supplement the data in this app on site with, for example, the type of scaffolding and photos. Once the internal clients have approved the data via the Client Portal, the Bilfinger foreman and his team can get to work on the scaffolding project. Upon completion of the project, they dismantle the scaffolding, and then the clients approve the project. Bilfinger's ERP system automatically generates an invoice, which the clients receive digitally.
Scaffolding material reduction
This approach increases the transparency and efficiency of scaffolding construction projects at BP's refinery, according to Edwin Kats, project manager at Bilfinger Industrial Services. 'It also contributes to cost savings because the digital tools prevent scaffolding from being on site unnecessarily long,' stated Norman Meerkerk, Contract Management Engineer at BP.
The possibilities and benefits of the Client Portal came into view when the BP Refinery signed a new contract with Bilfinger last year. Among other things, it was agreed then to reduce the amount of scaffolding material at the Rotterdam site.
Exploring possibilities
'That is one of the main goals we want to achieve with the Client Portal. We want to make internal clients more aware of the status time and rental costs of scaffolding. They don't have that insight now,' says Meerkerk. He emphasizes that BP only recently started using the Client Portal. 'We are now exploring the possibilities together with Bilfinger. But the first findings are very positive. For example, our scaffolding coordinator will soon no longer have to keep records in Excel. The same goes for Bilfinger. This will give the coordinator more time for other work.'
Digital tools rollout
In the coming months, BP and Bilfinger will start rolling out the digital tools. The program includes digitizing the administration of the hiring in and hiring out of scaffolding in the Scaffolding App. There will also be a link with Bilfinger's financial administration system to add financial data, for example on the rental costs of scaffolding. The next step is to create visually appealing dashboards via the Client Portal. BP can thus see exactly where scaffolding is located and what its status is. BP's internal clients can thus immediately access the entire scaffolding file, including photos, inspection reports and other relevant data.
Benefits Client Portal
Benefits experienced by our clients include:
- Real-time transparent information
- Possibilities to combine different activities on one scaffold (scope efficiency)
- Digitalization of order processing
- Greatly improved management of scaffolding, and therefore lower rental costs
- Better overview of the established KPIs
- Faster insight into the financial agreements
BP Refinery Rotterdam
BP Refinery Rotterdam is one of the largest refineries in Western Europe, processing 400,000 barrels of petroleum daily (19 million tons annually). They produce from petroleum a wide range of finished and semi-finished products such as LPG, euro unleaded, BP Ultimate, super plus, diesel, kerosene (aviation gasoline), heating oil, fuel oil and raw materials for the petrochemical industry. From here, all BP service stations in the Netherlands are supplied. They also export their products to countries such as Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Italy, England and the United States.