How Seadrill found $48M across a 17-rig fleet
Offshore rigs cannot wait on a warehouse. Seadrill unified Maximo materials data across 17 rigs, identified $48M in MRO inventory value and moved to hub-and-spoke shorebase stocking, verifying $3.3M in phase one.
- 17 rigs, one trusted view of every part, on Maximo data as-is
- Hub-and-spoke shorebase-to-rig stocking for expensive slow-movers
- Phase-one verification discipline: identified value proven in working capital
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Seadrill, an offshore drilling contractor operating a 17-rig fleet, unified its Maximo materials data with Verusen and identified $48M in MRO inventory reduction opportunity, verifying $3.3M in phase one, based on Verusen customer results. The structural change: expensive, slow-moving spares moved from per-rig stocking to a hub-and-spoke model, where shorebases hold pooled units visible to every rig they serve.
Why offshore is the hardest case: every stocking mistake is amplified by logistics. A part missing on a rig means a boat or a helicopter; a part duplicated across rigs means capital floating offshore doing nothing.
Do this today · 45-minute pooling screen
Screen your own fleet for hub-and-spoke candidates. Works with any multi-site or multi-rig on-hand export.
- List the 20 most expensive slow movers per site: unit cost over $10k (rule of thumb), no movement in 24 months.
- Match them across sites on manufacturer part number. Every part held at 2+ locations is a pooling candidate.
- For each candidate, write down transfer time between sites and the supplier lead time for a new unit.
- Keep on the list only parts where transfer beats the supplier lead time. That is the hub-and-spoke condition.
- Sum the units above one network-wide holding per candidate. That figure is the conversation to have with finance.
You walk away with: a named list of pooling candidates and the capital figure per part, the same screen Seadrill ran fleet-wide.
The starting point: 17 rigs, 17 versions of the truth
Each rig ran its own materials catalog inside Maximo, built by different crews over different years. The same pump seal, valve kit or motor existed under different item numbers from rig to rig, so no one could answer the fleet’s most valuable question: does another rig already have the part this rig is about to buy? Industry estimates suggest 10 to 20% of MRO inventory in large multi-site networks is duplicate or near-duplicate materials, consistent with Verusen’s experience across hundreds of implementations, and a fleet of floating warehouses is the extreme version of that pattern.
The prerequisite fix was identity, not process: resolving every item record across 17 catalogs into one part truth, on the Maximo data exactly as it was. That identity layer is the same foundation described in duplicate material identification.
What changed, step by step
- 1
Unify the fleet’s material identity
All 17 rig catalogs resolved to one view of every physical part, with descriptions and attributes standardized on arrival rather than in a cleanup project.
- 2
Score criticality per part, per rig
Line-stopping parts with long resupply times separated from deferrables, so protection followed consequence instead of habit.
- 3
Design hub-and-spoke stocking
Expensive slow-movers moved to shorebase hubs serving multiple rigs. One pooled unit with a known transfer time replaced several idle units offshore.
- 4
Verify in working capital
Recommendations were actioned and the releases measured: $3.3M verified in phase one against $48M identified, based on Verusen customer results.
The numbers
| Measure | Result | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet | 17 rigs | Offshore drilling operations on Maximo |
| Identified | $48M | MRO inventory reduction opportunity across the fleet |
| Verified, phase one | $3.3M | Actioned and proven in working capital |
| Stocking model | Hub-and-spoke | Shorebase-to-rig pooling for expensive slow-movers |
Attribution note: all figures based on Verusen customer results; Seadrill is one of Verusen’s publicly nameable customers.
Why the model transfers beyond offshore
Any network of remote or semi-autonomous sites faces the Seadrill problem: mines, terminals, wind farms, plants spread across a continent. The pattern that transfers is the sequence, not the industry: identity first, criticality second, pooling third, verification always. Multi-site manufacturers running the same sequence have verified results at larger scale, like Georgia Pacific across 110 US sites, based on Verusen customer results.
“By combining Verusen’s advanced AI-driven insights with the practical expertise of our highly-trained rig crews and inventory management team, we are transforming our approach to inventory strategy. The result is a system designed to support performance at the drill bit: faster, smarter, and more aligned with the needs of the business than ever before.”
Matt McClellan, Global Inventory Manager at Seadrill (as published on verusen.com)
The platform behind this reads ERP, EAM and P2P data exactly as it is. Most customers reach a working solution in under 45 days, with no data cleanse required first, based on Verusen customer results. See where your own network stands with the MRO inventory calculator, or read how the identity layer works in MRO master data management.
The starting point: 17 rigs, 17 versions of the truth
Each rig ran its own materials catalog inside Maximo, built by different crews over different years. The same pump seal, valve kit or motor existed under different item numbers from rig to rig, so no one could answer the fleet’s most valuable question: does another rig already have the part this rig is about to buy? Industry estimates suggest 10 to 20% of MRO inventory in large multi-site networks is duplicate or near-duplicate materials, consistent with Verusen’s experience across hundreds of implementations, and a fleet of floating warehouses is the extreme version of that pattern.
The prerequisite fix was identity, not process: resolving every item record across 17 catalogs into one part truth, on the Maximo data exactly as it was. That identity layer is the same foundation described in duplicate material identification.
What changed, step by step
- 1
Unify the fleet’s material identity
All 17 rig catalogs resolved to one view of every physical part, with descriptions and attributes standardized on arrival rather than in a cleanup project.
- 2
Score criticality per part, per rig
Line-stopping parts with long resupply times separated from deferrables, so protection followed consequence instead of habit.
- 3
Design hub-and-spoke stocking
Expensive slow-movers moved to shorebase hubs serving multiple rigs. One pooled unit with a known transfer time replaced several idle units offshore.
- 4
Verify in working capital
Recommendations were actioned and the releases measured: $3.3M verified in phase one against $48M identified, based on Verusen customer results.
The numbers
| Measure | Result | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Fleet | 17 rigs | Offshore drilling operations on Maximo |
| Identified | $48M | MRO inventory reduction opportunity across the fleet |
| Verified, phase one | $3.3M | Actioned and proven in working capital |
| Stocking model | Hub-and-spoke | Shorebase-to-rig pooling for expensive slow-movers |
Attribution note: all figures based on Verusen customer results; Seadrill is one of Verusen’s publicly nameable customers.
Why the model transfers beyond offshore
Any network of remote or semi-autonomous sites faces the Seadrill problem: mines, terminals, wind farms, plants spread across a continent. The pattern that transfers is the sequence, not the industry: identity first, criticality second, pooling third, verification always. Multi-site manufacturers running the same sequence have verified results at larger scale, like Georgia Pacific across 110 US sites, based on Verusen customer results.
“By combining Verusen’s advanced AI-driven insights with the practical expertise of our highly-trained rig crews and inventory management team, we are transforming our approach to inventory strategy. The result is a system designed to support performance at the drill bit: faster, smarter, and more aligned with the needs of the business than ever before.”
Matt McClellan, Global Inventory Manager at Seadrill (as published on verusen.com)The platform behind this reads ERP, EAM and P2P data exactly as it is. Most customers reach a working solution in under 45 days, with no data cleanse required first, based on Verusen customer results. See where your own network stands with the MRO inventory calculator, or read how the identity layer works in MRO master data management.
Frequently asked questions
Seadrill identified $48M in MRO inventory reduction opportunity across its 17-rig fleet and verified $3.3M in phase one, based on Verusen customer results. The fleet also moved expensive slow-moving spares to hub-and-spoke shorebase stocking, so pooled units serve multiple rigs instead of sitting idle on each one.
Expensive, slow-moving spares are held at shorebase hubs that serve several rigs, with transfer times known and planned. Each rig keeps its line-stopping, short-lead parts on board while the pooled hub protects everyone against the long-lead failures. One visible pooled unit replaces several invisible idle ones.
No. The platform ingested the rig catalogs exactly as they were and resolved part identity across all 17, standardizing records continuously. That is the standard approach: most customers reach a working solution in under 45 days, based on Verusen customer results.
Yes. The sequence transfers to any multi-site network: resolve identity, score criticality, pool the expensive slow-movers, verify releases in working capital. Georgia Pacific ran the same foundation across 110 US sites and 4 ERP systems, based on Verusen customer results.
Identified is the opportunity the analysis surfaces; verified is what has been actioned and proven in working capital. Verusen reports both, and phase-one verification, like Seadrill’s $3.3M, is the discipline that makes the rest of the number credible.
See what your network already owns
Book a 30-minute demo and we will walk your own materials data: duplicates across sites, pooling candidates and the stock you can release first.
See the full framework this case runs on in MRO inventory optimization.