Lean Corner

The Challenges of Operational Excellence in the Energy Sector

Global energy context and industrial challenges
Operational Excellence as a Lever to Meet Future Challenges
Use Case: Energy Leaders’ Digitalization and Operational Excellence
Conclusion: Transforming the energy sector through operational excellence and digitalization

Global energy context and industrial challenges

Energy – A Vital Need for Global Industry

Energy is at the core of all industrial and economic activities worldwide. It is essential not only for production sectors but also for services, transportation, and even emerging technologies. Electricity, gas, and other forms of energy are the driving forces behind growth and innovation in all fields.
Energy is a key factor in competitiveness for both businesses and governments, making energy supply security a crucial issue. Energy sector industries must therefore redouble their efforts to improve efficiency and resilience, as all industries and tertiary sectors rely on a stable and affordable energy supply to remain competitive.

A Sector Facing Heavy Constraints

Ensuring high-quality energy production and distribution is a particularly complex challenge due to the numerous constraints the sector faces. Firstly, the infrastructure required for both production and distribution demand heavy investment for construction and maintenance. Additionally, energy demand is continuously rising. According to McKinsey & Company’s ‘Global Energy Perspective 2024’ report, global energy demand is expected to increase by 18% by 2050, primarily due to the growth of emerging economies.
At the same time, the energy transition, while essential, presents a major challenge. Integrating intermittent renewable energy sources into traditional grids requires innovative solutions in storage and production management. Companies in the sector must navigate a multitude of technological, economic, and environmental constraints while meeting increasing consumer and regulatory expectations.

Operational Excellence as a Lever to Meet Future Challenges

Managing Large-Scale Projects Made Complex by Geographically Dispersed Teams

Energy production, whether it involves electricity, natural gas, or petroleum-based fuels, often requires large-scale projects where numerous stakeholders must collaborate. These teams are frequently spread across different locations, as seen in major nuclear projects, making communication particularly challenging.
The presence of multiple suppliers, subcontractors, and regulatory bodies adds another layer of complexity to project management in the energy sector. Each stakeholder is involved at different stages of the project, making the coordination of activities and tracking of key performance indicators a significant challenge. This often results in delays in large-scale projects.
At the same time, regulatory authorities are demanding greater transparency from industry professionals to ensure safety. The collection and processing of data have therefore become critical issues, and the implementation of digital tools like iObeya can help streamline these processes.

Reliability and Maintenance of Infrastructure

The reliability of energy production and distribution infrastructure is crucial to ensuring a continuous supply. Maintenance issues can often cause outages or disruptions. In France, primary energy production dropped by 17.9% in 2022, according to official figures from the Ministry of Energy Transition. This slowdown is largely due to a decrease in the availability of nearly half of the national nuclear fleet for maintenance operations.
Optimizing maintenance processes has therefore become a priority for many players. In 2018, Veolia implemented Lean processes and digital tools to enhance maintenance operations, reducing downtime by half and improving plant profitability by 15 to 20%.

iObeya’s Contribution: By centralizing data and providing real-time access to geographically dispersed teams, iObeya enables remote collaboration, accelerates decision-making, and improves problem-solving efficiency, ultimately increasing productivity.

Barriers Due to Insufficient Digitalization

Despite the strategic importance of the energy sector, many companies are lagging in their digital transformation. This is confirmed by a digital solutions provider in its 2024 Digitalization Barometer for the Nuclear Industry. Barely a third of the surveyed companies use digital tools for operational execution—nearly half as many as in other industries like the automotive sector.

This delay can be attributed to several factors:

Difficulty in defining a clear digital roadmap.
Lack of awareness of existing solutions on the market.
Continued reliance on paper-based documentation, historically driven by safety requirements.
Very tight financial margins, discouraging investment in the digitalization of operations.

The digitalization of the nuclear industry and the broader energy sector will be essential to ensure data traceability and continuity while also improving responsiveness and productivity.

Use Case: Energy Leaders' Digitalization and Operational Excellence

Schneider Electric: Digitalizing Lean/Agile and Optimizing Performance

Schneider Electric, a major player in the energy sector, has been undergoing a digital and organizational transformation in recent years to enhance the efficiency of its development processes. The implementation of Lean practices has been at the core of this transformation, and iObeya has played a key role in accelerating this shift.
The digitalization of Kanban boards and visual management has strengthened flexibility and collaboration among geographically dispersed teams, which previously had to meet in person for two to three days per quarter. The use of iObeya then expanded, particularly for remote training sessions and Agile project management.
The impact of the solution has been significant, with a 70% improvement in on-time project delivery within the first year of using iObeya. Today, all teams can collaborate remotely without the risk of information loss.

VINCI Energies Activité Nucléaire: Operational Excellence and Nuclear Safety

The VINCI group, a global leader in concessions and construction, manages a multitude of complex projects in the energy sector. Facing managerial challenges in the nuclear industry, VINCI Energies Activité Nucléaire undertook a digital transformation of its operational management by deploying iObeya, yielding rapid improvements at several levels:

Optimization of communication and weekly meetings: iObeya enabled the centralization of data that was previously recorded on whiteboards, allowing teams to focus more on data analysis.
Improved project planning:The implementation of online collaborative schedules significantly enhanced flexibility and efficiency, eliminating the need for teams to travel to consult fixed whiteboards.
Development of a performance and safety culture:Integrating SQCDP methods into routines allowed for quicker identification of bottlenecks and faster decision-making, fostering a culture of continuous improvement within teams.

TotalEnergies – Autonomous Operations on Offshore Platforms

Energy production and distribution companies are not the only industry players implementing innovations to boost productivity. TotalEnergies has been particularly active, distinguishing itself through various initiatives.
In 2023, the company launched an ambitious project in Angola to deploy autonomous robots on offshore platforms for inspection tasks traditionally performed by technicians. This initiative aims to reduce workers’ exposure to hazardous offshore environments while enhancing the precision and efficiency of inspections.
TotalEnergies has also launched projects to develop autonomous vessels for underwater maintenance operations. The objective remains the same: optimizing maintenance tasks by reducing intervention times to improve costs and productivity.

Conclusion: Transforming the energy sector through operational excellence and digitalization

Operational excellence has become a key strategic lever in the energy sector. Faced with increasingly complex challenges, industry players must transform their operational models to enhance performance, flexibility, and sustainability.
The modernization of electrical infrastructure, intelligent data utilization, and automation demonstrate that adopting best practices in operational excellence not only improves energy efficiency but also ensures the long-term competitiveness of energy companies. By leveraging the right tools and a structured approach, energy sector players can not only tackle current challenges but also prepare for future transformations with agility and resilience.

Lean Corner