Managing a shift change in Alberta’s oil sands
Companies operating in the Alberta oil sands are trying to figure out how to retain the corporate knowledge base that long-time employees carry in their brains. Many of those employees are expected to retire in coming years.
“What you see in the northern Alberta oil sands is a group who are in their late 40s or 50s, and there are a bunch of young guys who are in their 20s,” said Emon Zaman, vice-president of AVEVA NET Solutions, a division of AVEVA Group PLC.
He spoke recently about management of change during the Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technology Conference in Calgary.
“I think that there will be like a cottage industry of small companies that could provide consulting and training and other things to oil companies to help mitigate that [knowledge] gap,” Zaman said. “We’ve seen a little bit of that start already…the competition for skilled resources is going to be that much greater.”
He sees a need for oil sands operators to get more people—especially younger employees--trained to run the daily operations. Meanwhile, companies are extending contracts to temporarily retain the veteran employees and also are granting them more flexible work schedules in order to keep the corporate knowledge base intact.
Zaman says information resides in many different sources for any company. Software can help integrate that knowledge. AVEVA is an engineering information technology software provider. Zaman believes AVEVA NET software can help “close the gap between what is in an individual’s head versus what is out in the field itself.”
He foresees information availability and accessibility as something that is going to get easier. For instance, some innovations are coming from consumer products, such as applications for handheld devices.
Zaman envisions a time when an employee can take a picture of a pump within a plant using a handheld device. The device then tells the employee all the details of the pump, including whether the company has a spare pump in its inventory or where to buy another pump or where to get parts for that pump.
“What you see in the northern Alberta oil sands is a group who are in their late 40s or 50s, and there are a bunch of young guys who are in their 20s,” said Emon Zaman, vice-president of AVEVA NET Solutions, a division of AVEVA Group PLC.
He spoke recently about management of change during the Oil Sands Heavy Oil Technology Conference in Calgary.
“I think that there will be like a cottage industry of small companies that could provide consulting and training and other things to oil companies to help mitigate that [knowledge] gap,” Zaman said. “We’ve seen a little bit of that start already…the competition for skilled resources is going to be that much greater.”
He sees a need for oil sands operators to get more people—especially younger employees--trained to run the daily operations. Meanwhile, companies are extending contracts to temporarily retain the veteran employees and also are granting them more flexible work schedules in order to keep the corporate knowledge base intact.
Zaman says information resides in many different sources for any company. Software can help integrate that knowledge. AVEVA is an engineering information technology software provider. Zaman believes AVEVA NET software can help “close the gap between what is in an individual’s head versus what is out in the field itself.”
He foresees information availability and accessibility as something that is going to get easier. For instance, some innovations are coming from consumer products, such as applications for handheld devices.
Zaman envisions a time when an employee can take a picture of a pump within a plant using a handheld device. The device then tells the employee all the details of the pump, including whether the company has a spare pump in its inventory or where to buy another pump or where to get parts for that pump.
Labels: engineering software, information technology, management of change, oil sands
posted by Paula Dittrick, OGJ Senior Staff Writer at
4:18 PM
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