Innovation in the drilling industry — be it a process, method or technology — is rarely accepted in the first dozen implementations. In my experience as a product development manager, I have seen many great concepts that fell short of making it to the field for testing — let alone become a standard tool in the field.
Research and development is a high-risk investment for manufacturers that quickly shifts from investment to a lousy gamble the longer it takes to design and implement. That is why the safe bet is innovations focused on drilling and increasing a rig’s downhole capabilities, all while speeding up the entire process. Drill rigs are designed to drill; therefore, faster and stronger is the key to improving the industry. However, field time studies that evaluate how rigs are utilized on a project from start to finish show that drilling is only about 33 percent of a rig’s usage on site. The rest of the time is dedicated to rod handling, retrieving material, installing the product and, everyone’s favorite, fishing. Rod handling is one of those elusive innovations attempted and often, after several failures, abandoned for traditional methods.