How long can we last without people who designed and built the equipment

Weatherford was built on buying previously successful companies and then merging their operations together.

The company was structured as a top down organization and limited any local decision making ability instead of a bottom up organization.

When Bernard was in control, he would convince the BOD (without having more than a general knowledge of the industry), he would buy companies mostly because they were successful previously. (Eventually, the BOD turned on him and made him the fall guy)

Then, he would limit and restrict these smaller companies ability to make decisions. Any innovative thinking was restricted or limited. It didn't help with the various tax problems or Deep Horizon. But the real killer was the collapse in the oil and gas price. Weatherford had bought these companies and then they would try to lease everything that they could (Building, vehicles, etc). Low initial cost to lease but over the long term, the costs increase and planning on the oil and gas price remaining high.

They put an emphasis on anything in the Middle East at the detriment of North America and concentrated far too much on Big Iron. Poor CEO Mark M (who was poached from Halliburton) is now travelling to various places and handing out Weatherford T-shirt's as one can see on their facebook page.

They do have some good equipment but when you have the people who designed and built the equipment leaving or laid off, there is trouble. To give a better example, how long will a vehicle go with only adding fuel and the occasional oil change. Eventually, it will wear out and without anyone looking at what parts are wearing out and making improvements. A similar parallel can be made to an airplane. How long will it fly with only fueling it up and minimal maintenance. (Surprising long) but eventually, even the best designed planes will need refurbishment and if you don't have the people or the equipment for this, it is eventually going to fail.

I have no doubt, that Mark M is a great guy but when he says that we need to squeeze operations and cut them when they are already are stretched to the limit because of the 5 billion or so in debt, I would be very worried.

Perfectly put by @Q2uesTn-1rih in another thread. Hope the OP does not mind the bump.

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I worked for Ellis Williams Engineering Co. when WFT bought and in 8yrs. they have

completely destroyed a world class product.

WFT has Chinafied the product line and will not even lend support to their own customers.

How sad is that!

When somebody says, “We were very smart...”, you can bet they are not.

We were very smart here at Manufacturing and had engineering create documentation to cover all the procedures and Techinical support for the LWD tools. We can train anyone to keep the fleet working. Just look at my shop Techinical team for example they were just the average joe but with the right Techinical information they can keep the company going. We could even bring in the homeless and have them up to speed within weeks and reduce the pay scale by factors.

When that time comes (Who will build the new stuff) I think we will see a jump in technology. At the moment some of the equipment used is as we say dated slightly and not very cost efficient. That is a hurdle for any company, because as we want more eco friendly equipment that uses less consumables, higher maintenance hour schedules the only solution is to tap into the shore supply. That's all well and good in some locations but not all locations offer a reliable shore supply. So I think we see a lot more hybrid system in the future. We have been using the hybrids for the last 10 years but its outdated and not really a full engine / electrical hybrid.

The old school hands know what they are doing and what can and can not be done. However this will change in next few years. As with that change we can expect problems for a few years to sort out the gremlins. This why the people now laid off need to look at how to be competitive once the doors open again. The next problem will be finding people who can work in this enviroment. They have to put a pair coveralls on, get dirty, get the job done correctly and without opening there phones to check that Facebook crap every 20 minutes. I can assure you that is going to be the biggest challenge.

The existing products can limp along without the original designers and builders. But, who will design and build the new stuff?

I didn't build anything I work with. There were problems with it all. Fixed it. So yeah, we can use tools without the developers, who in most cases left an incomplete product or service behind. Out with the old and in with the new, don't be a Nancy boy.

Are you really discussing the equipment or are referring to equipment as people as it can mean both, just depends how you read the above I guess. The situation between equipment or people how ever you look at it is not good.

If it can be stretched to the limit and just kept ticking over then it may just work. Like before we've made things work and we have all danced with the devil on more then one occasion. I can assure you that the equipment is doing well over what it normally does. PM schedules are thing of the past but that does not mean its becomes a liability. By changing some of the old systems and maintenance plans you still have the same amount of pro active maintenance.........

Your post reminds me of a Hyundai car I purchased new 8 years ago. They offered me all sorts of extra cover for a 8,000 USD car that I only wished to last 5 years as a school bus. Been a bit of risk taker I told the wife never change the oil or filter. Don't have it serviced or pay attention to it in general. This resulted in the loss all the warranty.

It now has over 70K miles on the clock to date and it has never broken down with the wife just doing what most female drivers do "drive". She just turn's the key and drives away, just adding gas as and when required. Now after 8 years the only problem that has come to light is the failed air conditioning compressor. So after 8 years that is 1000 USD a year car in depreciation.

So sometimes a calculated risk can pay dividends but it is a risk. If I sold the car today I would still recover 15% to 20% of my investment. I wouldn't of been able to recover that percentage If I had treated that car to endless maintenance program that they were offering me.

Thread regarding Weatherford International Ltd. layoffs

How long can we last without people who designed and built the equipment

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