RAPAT version 2.0 tool released

Astrimar are delighted to announce the latest version of their innovation and technology development management tool, RAPAT.

The latest version includes:

• A new worksheet with guidance focussed on supporting Responsible Innovation, in alignment with (and with links to) the BSI PAS 440 Responsible Innovation Guide

• Links to the KTN innovation canvas to support the commercial development of new products and services

• Updated guidance and links on key standards and certification relating to the changes due to BREXIT. This includes:

  • Links to the new UKCA and UKNI marking requirements replacing CE marking

  • Links to searchable databases for accredited bodies for UKCA certification

To download the new version, go to www.astrimar.com/RAPAT.  Existing users can email RAPAT@astrimar.com to request an updated version.

Suitable across a range of industries and technologies, the RAPAT tool guides the developer through the process of defining technology and user requirements, understanding commercial and technical risks, planning and undertaking required testing and assurance activities and documenting evidence for approval and acceptance.  The tool is also incredibly helpful to organisations applying for grant or investment funding.

Prof John Strutt retires as Technical Director

Following 10 years in the role, John's retirement leaves a lasting legacy shaping Astrimar's future

John has served as Technical Director since co-founding Astrimar in 2010.  During this time, John has led Astrimar’s technical innovations, as well as sector-wide transformation in subsea reliability.

John’s career started as a materials scientist at the University of Sussex before moving to Cranfield University where he undertook teaching and research across a number of industries, with an increasing focus on oil and gas and in particular the subsea sector. John’s interest in reliability and risk management grew from his work in understanding materials-related failures, becoming internationally recognised as an expert in the field of reliability engineering.

In 1999 John was awarded an industry-sponsored Chair in Reliability Engineering and Risk Management at Cranfield University, where he led research and taught MSc programs in Subsea Engineering and Safety, Risk and Reliability, teaching many who are now today’s key names in the Subsea Industry.

In 1999, John was approached by a major subsea operator looking at how to improve the reliability of subsea equipment, after experiencing painful early life failures in the new “deep water” fields.  This started a 20-year journey in Subsea Reliability, which has transformed the way the industry addresses reliability and resulted in a step-change in the reliability achieved, enabling subsea to remain competitive against other production solutions.

After more than 30 years in academic research and teaching, John retired from University life and joined Boreas Consultants (subsequently Atkins Boreas) in 2005 to lead their Risk and Reliability team before leaving to set up Astrimar in 2010.

John’s early subsea reliability work led to him becoming the Champion and lead author of a new API Recommended Practice (API RP17N) on subsea reliability and technical risk management, which was first published in 2009 and became the common industry-wide language for subsea reliability.  John was also responsible for updating and extending the guidance following the Deepwater Horizon accident, re-issued in 2017.  In 2014, John received a citation from the API Committee on Standardization of Oilfield Equipment and Materials, for his “distinguished and meritorious service and many contributions to programs of the Institute”.

In parallel to this, John was also asked to review work undertaken by the Subsea processing community, using the NASA concept of TRLs as part of technology qualification.  He developed these approaches further and after supporting operators and developers in their application, and providing training through SUT, he championed the creation of the new API recommended practice on Technology Qualification, API RP 17Q, published in 2018.  The use of TRLs has now, as a result, become the common language of new technology qualification in the subsea industry.

In 2010, after the Deepwater Horizon accident, John was requested to join a new BOP reliability task force in Houston to drive a change in culture in the subsea drilling sector to achieve and demonstrate greatly improved BOP reliability, in response to the requirements set out by newly formed BSEE, to enable drilling to re-start in the GoM.  After serving on the team for around 3 years, he was also asked to support a technology qualification programme for a next generation of (20k) subsea BOP.

John has worked with many different operators, engineering contractors and equipment suppliers around the world, driving reliability engineering best practice across the subsea industry, enabling it to deliver step changes in reliability achievement. He has been responsible for developing industry and in-company best practices, training and coaching engineers and champions, such that reliability engineering is now a routine part of design and operations across the industry.  He has also contributed to a wider range of related industry guidance, including Energy Institute guidance documents on Integrity Management and Obsolescence Management

More recently, as Technical Director of Astrimar, John has continued to be a visionary and lead innovation in applying advanced reliability engineering techniques to address current industry challenges. This includes developing state-of-the-art techniques to support data-driven predictive risk-based integrity management, utilising all inspection, monitoring and test data related to equipment condition. Encompassed in Astrimar’s industry-driven, innovative software pRIOriti-AIM, it is used by operators for both Integrity Management and Life Extension assessment. In addition, John has developed the science behind Astrimar’s InnovateUK funded STEM-flow tool to model the reliability of well P&A sealing systems, to support the qualification of new P&A barrier materials, as well as enabling data-driven risk-based P&A design, for optimisation in subsea decommissioning. 

Throughout his distinguished career, John’s passion has been to understand and prevent failures, by incorporating reliability into everyday business. John continues to support Astrimar in an advisory capacity. His passion for reliability and innovation leaves a lasting legacy shaping Astrimar’s future and its role in the wider industry.

New version 1.4 of RAPAT tool released

Astrimar are delighted to announce the latest version to support product developers towards Rapid Acceptance of Products and Technologies.

The new update includes:
•  Updated guidance and links on key standards and certification relating to the changes due to BREXIT. This includes links to the new UKCA and UKNI marking requirements that will be replacing CE marking 
•  Links to BSi PAS 440 for Responsible Innovation 
•  Links to the KTN innovation canvas to support commercial development of new products and services 
•  Improved Dashboards and Metrics within each worksheet

To download the new version, go to www.astrimar.com/RAPAT.  Existing users can email RAPAT@astrimar.com to request an updated version.

Suitable across a range of industries and technologies, the RAPAT tool guides the developer through the process of defining technology and user requirements, understanding commercial and technical risks, planning and undertaking required testing and assurance activities and documenting evidence for approval and acceptance.  The tool is also incredibly helpful to organisations applying for grant or investment funding.

New RAPAT Training

Free online UK courses available in January & February 2021 for RAPAT - supporting Rapid Acceptance of Products & Technologies

RAPAT is an easy-to-use tool created to help suppliers achieve successful product acceptance and deployment. The Excel-based tool is applicable across a range of technologies and sectors, and can also support technology development, qualification and certification. It is currently available free of charge to support the pandemic response and economic recovery. Further information about the tool and how to download this can be found on the RAPAT portal.

Following on from the successful launch of the RAPAT tool, initially to support organisations developing products for the COVID-19 pandemic and other technologies for future economic recovery and growth, we are running a number of free online courses during January and February 2021. Training is available for UK users wanting to apply the tool, for example to support certification or funding applications, for non-COVID as well as COVID related technologies.  We are also offering free sessions for UK organisations potentially interested in becoming ambassadors for the tool, for example industry bodies to support their members. 

To find out more about the free online courses and scheduled course dates please go to our training pages

Astrimar wins additional Innovate UK funding for RAPAT

We are delighted to have been awarded "Extension for Impact" funding to further enhance RAPAT and deliver training to help developers gain rapid acceptance of technology to support/recover from the current pandemic

The Astrimar RAPAT tool has been developed to help technology developers meet the urgent need for rapid product acceptance both during the ongoing pandemic and as part of the UK economic recovery from this. The generic nature of the tool makes it applicable across a range of technologies and leads the developer through a series of questions to help them define technology and user requirements, to understand how to demonstrate and document fulfilment of the requirements so their product can be verified/approved for use by the end-user. The tool will also support acceptance/procurement authorities reviewing the submitted evidence of the product’s fitness for purpose and certification when required.

The additional £25,000 funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation agency, will be used to update the tool to incorporate changes for BREXIT and to enable alignment with PAS 440. In addition, in conjunction with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland operated by the University of Strathclyde, training will be devloped for ambassadors and users of the tool to support take up and application by the UK supply chain. The funding will enable a number of free webinars and training courses to be delivered early in 2021.  

For more information about the tool, which is currently available as a free download to support the pandemic response and UK recovery, please sign up to the webinar on 12th January or go to the RAPAT portal. 

Astrimar to present RAPAT at DRAMA Additive Hour

Astrimar's Director, Elizabeth Garry will be presenting our RAPAT Tool: for Rapid Acceptance of Products & Technologies, on December 1st 2020, 11:30-12:30.

We are delighted to have been invited to present at the DRAMA Additive hour, alongside Kadine James from The Immersive Kind and David Wimpenny from National Centre for Additive Manufacturing (NCAM).   Additive Hour is a free weekly webinar organised collaboratively by MIDLANDS AEROSPACE ALLIANCE and the team at NCAM as part of the UK’s DRAMA programme, with this week's session focussed on 3D printing and the Covid response in 2020.

Liz will be presenting & discussing our RAPAT tool developed as part of COVID-19 response with support from Innovate UK (The UK's innovation agency) to support Rapid Acceptance of Products and Technologies. 

Please click on this link if you wish to join this web meeting.

DRAMA is funded by UK Research and Innovation and supported by the Aerospace Technology Institute

Offshore Wind Internships with Cranfield University

Two MBA Students complete internship focused on understanding the benefits and value of predictive maintenance for offshore wind farms

Building on our long term relationship with Cranfield University, two MBA students have recently completed internships focused on understanding the benefits and value of predictive maintenance for offshore wind farms. The work involved application of Astrimar's windfarm availability simulator and a comparitive value analysis of different maintenance strategies.

Astrimar to exhibit at DecomConf20

Astrimar are delighted to be exhibiting at this year's Oil & Gas UK Virtual Offshore Decommissioning Conference #DecomConf20 on 24th & 25th November 2020.

With over 550 delegates, speakers and exhibitors, we look forward to meeting you at our Virtual Exhibition Stand.

Find out about our cost-effective Risk-Based well P&A processes to support operators with well P&A barrier design decisions, understand uncertainty, well risk assessments and determination of ALARP.  Also find out about our STEM-flow software for predictive well barrier integrity assurance.

For more information and free registration visit: https://offshoredecommissioningconference.co.uk/

RAPAT Tool available for free download

Astrimar's new software tool is now freely available to support Rapid Acceptance of Products & Technologies

RAPAT is a free, easy-to-use tool, created to help technology developers meet the urgent need for emergency product acceptance. Excel-based, the tool is applicable across a range of technologies and leads the developer through a series of questions and worksheets to help define technology and user requirements, and provide support in demonstrating evidence of fulfilling the requirements so the technology can be verified/approved for use by end-user.

The RAPAT tool has been developed with funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation agency, as part of COVID-19 response. It has been developed in collaboration with experts in advanced manufacturing at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, operated by the University of Strathclyde, and at Angus 3D Solutions, along with product certification experts at Lloyds Register and the Medical Devices Unit at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, to achieve clarity on acceptance requirements and effective best practise.

Although created with COVID-19 response technologies in mind, the approach is generic and can potentially support any start-up/SME technology developer in any sector.

For more information, please watch our overview video on our YouTube Channel, 

To visit our RAPAT webpage and to download the latest version of our free tool, please follow the link below

Astrimar wins funding for innovative Covid-19 response Online Tool

We are delighted to get Innovate UK support to help product developers gain rapid acceptance of technology in response to the current pandemic

Astrimar are developing an easy-to-use tool which will be freely available later this year, to help technology developers meet the urgent need for emergency product acceptance. The tool will be applicable across a range of technologies and lead the developer through a series of questions to help them define technology and user requirements, to understand how to demonstrate and document fulfilment of the requirements so the technology can be verified/approved for use by the end-user. The tool will also support acceptance/procurement authorities reviewing the submitted evidence of the product’s fitness for purpose and certification when required.

Caroline Roberts-Haritonov, Astrimar Managing Director said: “We believe this tool will help hundreds of small-scale producers who have responded to the pandemic with stocks of goodwill PPE and medical components, but are currently restricted from use due to lack of necessary certification and approval. We are delighted to receive the funding to enable us to develop and prove the concept, trial it as a prototype and launch it for wider use, both for the current and any future crises.”

The £50,000 funding from Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation agency, will be used to develop the software tool and to enable collaboration with experts in advanced manufacturing at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland, operated by the University of Strathclyde, product certification at Lloyds Register and the Medical Devices Unit at NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde, to achieve clarity on acceptance requirements and effective best practise.  Astrimar aims to develop the framework tool for accelerated technology acceptance and trial it with developer Angus 3D Solutions Ltd to help them gain acceptance for their ventilated PPE hood concept, before making it available to a wider market of technology developers over the next 12 months.

Robin Sayer, Technical Operations Manager and Head of Mechanical Engineering, Medical Devices Unit, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s Medical Devices Unit have been integral to the rapid qualification and acceptance of medical devices and PPE during the Covid-19 pandemic. We will be sharing this experience to help ensure the framework is optimised to address the needs of the NHS for future emergency scenarios.”

Astrimar present at NMIS Insights webinar

Astrimar were delighted to talk on technology qualification as part of product development for new markets

Our Managing Director, Dr Caroline Roberts-Haritonov was very pleased to be able to join Hannah Leslie from the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland at their Insights Online webinar on developing, verifying and validating products for new markets.

Caroline's presentation discussed the importance of managing risk and reliability as part of the product development and qualification process and highlighted key stages for creating and delivering inherent reliability and reducing uncertainty in performance in operations.

The webinar is available to view on the NMIS YouTube channel. 

10th Anniversary Charity Fundraiser

In May 2020, we are delighted to be celebrating 10 years of business success. We are kick-starting our tenth anniversary celebrations with a Charity Fundraiser to 'Walk 500 Miles'.

Our team of 8, aim to walk a collective distance of 16 miles per day, for the month of May with the goal of walking a total distance of 500 miles by 31st May. The 500 miles marks the distance between Astrimar's Cranfield HQ near Milton Keynes and the Aberdeen area office, in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.

The Astrimar team is raising funds for two very important charities, local to each office: Willen Hospice, Milton Keynes & Mental Health Aberdeen, and have set up a Just Giving page called "AstrimarTeamWalk".  Both charities are particularly grateful for any funds raised, especially during the current situation due to COVID-19 and the sudden oil price slump. If you would like to donate to our great cause, please click here. 

We are very pleased to be working towards such a great cause, while also raising team morale and celebrating ten great years!

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Update

Within the current uncertain situation, Astrimar are working hard to make best use of technology to maintain business as usual

Within the continuing uncertainty and concerns surrounding COVID-19, Astrimar, as a small business, wants to reassure our clients that we have the resources and procedures in place to allow us to continue to operate remotely.

As of today, and in line with WHO and UK Government guidelines, we have moved to the next phase of our Remote Working plan aligned with our Business Continuity policy. Our staff are now working from home with minimal cover maintained in our Inverurie office only. We can continue to be contacted through the Inverurie office phone number and all usual emails.  If the person you need to speak to is not immediately available, we will still respond to your enquiry as soon as possible.  In addition, we are able to hold all meetings online, and as well as our normal webinars, we are preparing to provide training courses online through a range of remote technologies too.

We are confident that our preparations will help us to ensure that we can maintain our full service offering to our clients throughout the current situation, and appreciate your understanding if there are any unexpected interruptions.  

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to get in touch via our general email or Inverurie office phone number shown on our Contact Us page.

Thank you for your continued support. Our very best wishes to you, your colleagues and families.

Astrimar article appears in latest Decom News

The February edition of Decom North Sea's quarterly magazine highlights Astrimar's successful completion of trials using their Well P&A Risk based design analysis tool.

Astrimar successfully completes projects for two clients using its risk-based Well P&A assessment software, STEM-flow.  This new service takes a reliability engineering approach to assess well P&A designs and includes bespoke software and mathematical models for barrier integrity and uncertainty predictions. 

For the full article, please see page 12 of Decom News February 2020 edition.

Astrimar to exhibit and present at Subsea Expo 2020

Astrimar are delighted to be returning again to Europe's annual leading Subsea Exhibition and Conference taking place at Aberdeen's new P&J Live arena on 11th to 13th February 2020

Astrimar Ltd will be exhibiting at Stand 26.

We are also excited to be presenting in the Marginal Fields/Late Life session on Wednesday 12th February. Our presentation is on  Predictive Risk Based Life Extension – Experience from Operator Trials and in particular, the use of our in-house software pRIOriti-AIM to support life prediction. 

We look forward to seeing you there.

www.subseaexpo.com 

Astrimar to exhibit at OGUK Aberdeen breakfast briefing

Astrimar are delighted to participate at the next Oil & Gas UK breakfast briefing focused on the energy transition to carbon net zero

Astrimar have been invited to exhibit at the OGUK Aberdeen Breakfast Briefing with focus on Energy Transition at P&J Live on 3rd December 2019.

The event will give an opportunity to hear from leading players on the UK Continental Shelf on how the oil & gas industry is being re-invented as it helps to deliver the energy transition.

The breakfast will also see OGUK launch their report “Energy Transition Outlook 2019” showing what progress has been achieved in the last year and looking forward.

Astrimar's Director, Caroline Roberts Haritonov says "We are delighted to have this opportunity to show our support for the energy transition and believe we have skills and expertise that will help the industry to efficiently adopt the necessary enabling technologies".

“The choices we make now will shape our country’s energy future for years to come”.

For more information and booking please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aberdeen-breakfast-briefing-energy-transition-industry-transformation-3-december-2019-tickets-54405807234

Success at SPE Young Professionals - UK Student Paper Contest

Astrimar is delighted to recognise the success of Brian Willis, one of our R&D Engineers, at the recent SPE Event in London.

SPE London Section held its 1st Annual UK paper contest with the Young Professional and Student Chapters at London South Bank University on Wednesday 25th September 2019.  The event provided an excellent opportunity for the two chapters to interact, share and learn from each other, while presenting on their chosen topics in front of a panel of examiners and peers.

Astrimar’s R&D Engineer, Brian Willis, won the young professional category for his presentation of a system model for a risk-based approach to well plugging and abandonment (P&A). He offered an overview of the P&A challenges facing operators and technology developers with a focus on the decommissioning in the North Sea. Brian then proposed a system model to represent a well P&A design addressing the potential failure mechanisms of a plug.  He also explained the importance of a risk-based approach when dealing with the uncertainties present in these systems. Following the presentation, the examiners asked questions relating to the technical aspects presented, about new technologies entering the P&A market and broader topics on P&A legislation, regulation and guidance. 

Astrimar present at Decom North Sea Networking Breakfast

Astrimar joined other Decom North Sea members to deliver an elevator pitch on our STEM-flow software for prediction of well P&A integrity risk.

Astrimar’s Brian Willis was delighted to present about our STEM-flow® modelling approach at Decom North Sea’s event at Aberdeen’s Chester Hotel on 21st August 2019.

STEM-flow®, which incorporates a probabilistic modelling approach, is used to evaluate long term well plug integrity to support P&A design and application of new technologies.

The drive to reduce the huge projected costs for North Sea decommissioning is leading many operators to look to new technologies, including new barrier materials (such as bismuth alloys, resins, and thermite) as alternatives to cement. To effectively displace the use of cement, these materials need to demonstrate that they offer at least the same performance as cement plugs, while costing less to deploy. Alignment to industry requirements to achieve a 3000-year plug life is a significant technical challenge.

Astrimar developed the STEM-flow® risk-based plug integrity assessment model, to support this challenge, by evaluating the performance of cement and new barrier materials over time, based on well data and materials test data.  The insight provided by the analysis enables effective P&A design decisions for both current and new barrier materials. 

More information about the event and a copy of Brian’s presentation can be obtained from the Decom North Sea website: https://decomnorthsea.com/events/august-networking-event.

Astrimar and Rawwater Collaboration Agreement

Astrimar signs new collaboration agreement with Rawwater at the SPE Aberdeen Well Abandonment 2019 conference

Following on from our previous work with Rawwater as part of two Innovate UK projects to qualify advanced bismuth alloys for plugging and abandonment and other sealing applications, Astrimar are delighted to be continuing this relationship to support the deployment of high integrity bismuth alloy plugs and metal seals.

The Innovate UK funding has supported both the Rawwater qualification testing of the bismuth alloys and the development of the Astrimar STEM-flow tool which can be used to evaluate long term well plug integrity for P&A design and to support qualification of new plug technologies towards the Oil and Gas UK guidelines including a 3000 year life. Both parties were presenting at the SPE Aberdeen Well Abandonment 2019 conference providing feedback on work to date.

Moving forwards the collaboration agreement will enable Astrimar and Rawwater to provide a combined plug service provision with well application bespoke plug performance forecasts.

Astrimar to present at 9th SPE Well Abandonment Symposium

Technical director, John Strutt will be presenting with Brian Willis on our STEM-flow model used to evaluate long term well plug integrity for P&A design and new technologies, at the AECC on 26th June.

We are delighted to be presenting our STEM-flow model at the 9th SPE Well Abandonment Symposium taking place in Aberdeen on 26th and 27th June 2019 at the AECC. The STEM-flow model, which incorporates a probabilistic modelling approach to assessing long term well plug integrity, is particularly relevant for new P&A technologies and non-standard approaches to P&A design.

Many operators are looking to new technologies (materials and techniques) to reduce the huge projected costs for decommissioning North Sea assets. New materials, such as bismuth alloys, resins, and thermite offer attractive alternatives to cement. To effectively displace the use of cement, these materials will need to demonstrate that they offer at least the same performance as cement plugs, while costing less to deploy. This is extremely challenging to demonstrate, particularly industry requirement to achieve a 3000-year plug life.

Astrimar has developed STEM-flow, a risk-based plug integrity assessment model, to support this challenge by evaluating the performance of cement and new barrier materials over time, based on well data and materials test data.  The insight provided by the analysis enables effective P&A design decisions to be made for current and new barrier materials. 

Astrimar's presentation, titled: "How can new P&A technologies ever demonstrate they are good enough to meet industry requirements?", will examine the impact of uncertainties in barrier material properties and leak rate criteria on the reliability performance and predicted statistical life of plugs using STEM-flow. Comparisons will be made between cement and Bi alloy plugs. The importance of plug material qualification testing and its role in risk-based well P&A and integrity assurance will be discussed.