The standard exchange: maintain in a series
BOURBON relies upon the standardization of its fleet and its equipment to streamline maintenance operations and optimize costs. Objective: reliable and available vessels for greater client satisfaction. One way to get there: the “Plug & Play”.
Centralize preventive maintenance
The standard exchange operations, known as “plug and play”, allow the replacement of crucial equipment – such as engines, alternators, and propellers – within very short timeframes. Proper inventory management for this equipment is essential.
The standardization enables the optimization of:
- construction, purchasing, and logistical costs,
- the availability of spare parts,
- overhaul time.
We have experts within our purchasing, logistical, and technical teams working with all of our operational affiliates, in particular with the sales teams. This close collaboration helps centralize and schedule maintenance periods to coincide with client needs.
"The standard exchanges allow us to minimize the downtime of our vessels, in cases of both scheduled maintenance and unexpected breakdowns."Stéphane BURGAUDManaging Director of Bourbon Docking
Optimize unschedule technical stops
Curative maintenance actions carried out by the group are conducted via a local network of experts based in our BOURBON Repair Centers.
Our technical teams work with partner construction sites and manage stocks of critical standard and shareable parts that have been sent closer to operation zones. Thus, we can show that we are very responsive, and optimize the downtime of a vessel during an unscheduled stop.
The “Plug & Play” can now be found at the maintenance operation centers of the group’s major series of vessels, such as the Bourbon Liberty, the Bourbon Evolution 800, and the Bourbon Explorer 500, which have a lot of equipment in common.
The quality of the scheduled technical breakdowns and the inventory management of critical parts significantly reduce the frequency and duration of vessel immobilization. BOURBON can therefore advertise a technical availability rate of nearly 95%!
Benoit Vrignaud - Technical Superintendent in Dubaï
"The standard exchange consists of removing all the used equipment and directly replacing it with new or refurbished equipmentl. This reduces stress during the technical stop and allows for a better working environment. After being reequipped, the vessel is immediately operational. As for the used equipment, it is reconditioned in the workshop, to be used for new standard exchanges. The refurbishment is carried out at a lower hourly rate in the workshop than onboard, and also limits the number of people to be managed during the technical stop.
This practice increases the availability of the vessel, since the new engines or alternators in place will be more reliable than equipment serviced in haste, under pressure from an increasingly demanding operational schedule."
