Application of Lean Six Sigma in
Oilfield Operations
R.S. Buell, SPE, and S.P. Turnipseed, ChevronTexaco
Summary
This paper summarizes the experiences and results that improve
business performance using Lean Six Sigma in North American
and Asian upstream oil and gas operations. The background and
history on Lean, Six Sigma, and Intl. Standardization Organization
(ISO) systems are also provided. The role ISO-quality systems
can play in supporting Lean and Six Sigma is explained and dem-
onstrated with examples. The overviews of completed Lean Six
Sigma projects are provided for well testing, rod-pump repair,
water treatment, oil treatment, well stimulation, and produc-
tion logging.
Introduction
Most oil and gas producers, as well as oilfield-service and equip-
ment providers, have used or been exposed to quality and statis-
tical concepts through various initiatives in their respective orga-
nizations. The objective of these programs is to consistently
bring together quality and statistical thinking combined with en-
gineering principles to generate improved business results. A par-
tial list of programs many oilfield companies have used includes
the following:
• Statistical process control (SPC).1
• Total quality management, or total quality control, as defined
by Ishikawa.2
• Baldridge’s seven quality criteria.3
• Deming’s 14-point system.4
• Juran’s quality trilogy.5
While these programs were often believed to be beneficial, few
programs were sustained within an organization over multiple
years. The specific benefits of these quality and statistical initia-
tives have typically not been well understood, quantified, or docu-
mented in the oil field. Continuous improvement requires a sus-
tained effort, which has been a significant challenge to the petro-
leum industry. Employees and management alike are often
skeptical of the benefits of a long-term commitment to these pro-
grams because they have seen several of these quality systems
come and go without clear, lasting impact.
A recently developed quality-statistical system is Six Sigma.
Six Sigma evolved out of the work of Deming, Ishikawa, Juran,
and others. Six Sigma has been enhanced over past quality initia-
tives through the following:
• Strategic alignment directed by leadership.
• Structured project-execution process.
• Structured organizational deployment.
• Strong emphasis on business results and verification of fi-
nancial benefits.
Lean is another quality-improvement methodology, focused on
optimizing the customer-value chain. Lean was developed in the
automotive sector but has transitioned into a wide variety of in-
dustries. The most recent developments in quality improvements
combine Lean and Six Sigma to create Lean Six Sigma.
Continuous quality improvement is also facilitated in a struc-
tured framework, such as ISO 9001:20006 or API Q1.7 These
frameworks can be used for controlling operating procedures, as-
Copyright © 2004 Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper (SPE 84434) was first presented at the 2003 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, Denver, 5–8 October, and revised for publication. Original manuscript re-
ceived for review 26 January 2004. Revised manuscript received 14 August 2004. Paper
peer approved 17 September 2004.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
sessing the capability of quality systems, sustaining continuous
improvement, and managing records and documents.
These concepts—proven in other industries—are being adapted
by several operators in the oil industry, while building on the
existing petroleum industry’s knowledge of quality and statistics.
Case histories are provided for one large oil producer’s organ-
izational deployment using Lean Six Sigma and ISO 9001
concepts to create sustainable, continuous improvement in up-
stream operations.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a process-improvement methodology that focuses on
delivering products at a lower cost, with improved quality and
reduced cycle time. It can be summarized as a method for reducing
process variation. Six Sigma was developed in high-tech manu-
facturing in the 1980s. In the last ten years, this methodology has
spread to many industries, including aerospace, pharmaceuticals,
heavy manufacturing, and transactional-service industries.8–11 Ap-
plication of Six Sigma in the oil field has been limited, occurring
only in the last couple of years.
Six Sigma can be defined as10,11
• A measure of process capability (Cpk).
• A set of tools.
• A disciplined methodology.
• A vision.
• A philosophy.
• A strategy.
Defined mathematically, a Six Sigma process will have a pro-
cess-capability potential of 2.0, as given in Eq. 1; a process capa-
bility of 1.5, as defined in Eq. 2; and a defect rate of 3.4 per million
opportunities, or a sigma level of six, as defined in Eq. 3.
Cp = 共USL-LSL兲 Ⲑ 6␴ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
Cpk = minimum of 关共USL-xbar兲 Ⲑ 3␴ or 共xbar-LSL兲 Ⲑ 3␴兴 . . . . (2)
␴level = minimum of 关共USL-xbar兲 Ⲑ ␴ or 共xbar-LSL兲 Ⲑ ␴兴. . . . . (3)
A Six Sigma process, as shown in Fig. 1, has six standard
deviations between the process mean and the specification limits
for a centered process.
A defect rate of 3.4 per million for a normal distribution cor-
responds to ␴level of 4.5. Motorola, in their original definition of
Six Sigma, assumed that a process could shift or drift 1.5␴ without
detection.12 Thus, there is 1.5␴ drift margin built into the standard
definition of Six Sigma. The relationship between ␴level and over-
all yield can be seen in Table 1 for a single-step process. Overall
yield is equal to one, less the defect rate.
As mentioned earlier, Six Sigma can be defined as a set of
tools. Many of these tools are familiar from past quality and sta-
tistics initiatives. A partial listing of the more common Six Sigma
tools includes the following:
• Process mapping/process flow.
• Cause-and-effect diagrams.
• Supplier-input-process-output-customer diagrams.
• Pareto charts.
• Histograms—distribution analysis.
• SPC.
• Regression analysis—scatter charts.
• Analysis of variance.
• Hypothesis testing.
• Root-cause failure analysis.
• Failure mode and effect analysis.
201

Fig. 1—Six Sigma process capability definition.
• Measurement system analysis (MSA).
• Design of experiments (DOE).
• Lean tools.
As a disciplined methodology, Six Sigma projects typically use
the five steps of the define-measure-analyze-improve-control
(DMAIC) project-execution process.8–10 An alternative (but simi-
lar) four-step model, prioritize-characterize-optimize-realize is
also used.11
Companies such as General Electric, Allied Signal, and Polar-
oid have embraced Six Sigma as strategy, philosophy, and vision.
Within these companies and many others, business results and
career advancement are strongly linked to the use of Six Sigma.8,9
A specialized branch of Six Sigma is “Design for Six Sigma”
(DFSS), which is used to create a new process for products or
services that are aligned with customer requirements and deliver a
Six Sigma performance from the outset. Six Sigma can be thought
of as a disciplined methodology for improving an existing process.
DFSS is a disciplined methodology for designing a new product
or service.13
Lean
Lean has its origins in the automotive industry. It is also known
by the terms “lean enterprise,” “lean manufacturing,” and
“lean production.” The Japanese auto industry began creating Lean
in the 1950s on the foundation created by Henry Ford and
Alfred Sloan.14
Lean is a process-improvement methodology that focuses on
removing nonvalue-added activity and aligning production with
customer requirements.14–16 Simply put, Lean streamlines and op-
timizes process efficiency. Lean has successfully spread to other
manufacturing and service industries, but has seen limited appli-
cation in the oil field.
202
Lean focuses on identifying and eliminating the seven hidden
wastes common to both manufacturing and service industries:
• Motion.
• Overprocessing.
• Transportation.
• Overproduction.
• Waiting.
• Defects and reworking.
• Inventory.
Lean tools commonly used to eliminate these seven wastes
include the following:
• Value-stream analysis.
• Error-proofing or “poka-yoke.”
• “Takt time” or pull-scheduling based on customer demand.
• Kaizen-blitz.
• Visual control.
• Five Ss (sort, set-in-order, shine, standardize, and sustain).
• Standardized work.
• Kanbans—“just-in-time” (JIT) delivery.
• One-piece flow.
• Quick changeover.
• Total productive maintenance.
• Overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
• Six Sigma.
OEE is commonly used to measure process leanness, and is
defined in Eq. 4:
OEE = Availability ⳯ Efficiency ⳯ Quality. . . . . . . . . . . . . (4)
Here, availability ⳱ run time vs. net operating time, efficiency
⳱ actual output vs. target output, and quality ⳱ good output vs.
actual output.
This OEE model can be applied in the oil field. An example is
given in Table 2 for a rod-pumped oil well.
When the concept of OEE is used, the value chain, life-cycle
costs, or total cost of ownership is optimized for an entire process.
Lean does not optimize a singular aspect of a process, but it im-
proves the overall process value delivery.
ISO 9001:2000
The ISO has a quality-management system that is defined in ISO
9001:2000. The adoption of ISO 9001:2000 and API Q1 is already
well-established in the petroleum industry service and supply sec-
tor, as documented in the API Composite List.17 Additional refer-
ences in this paper will be made to the ISO 9001 systems only. It
should be understood that ISO 9001:2000 and API Q1 are very
similar; however, ISO 9001:2000 and API Q1 are not identical.
API Q1 is fully compliant with ISO 9001:1994, but not with ISO
9001:2000.18 API registers companies to both quality standards;
many manufacturers carry dual registration.17
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
 The ISO 9001 quality management system provides a founda-
tion on which to apply Lean and Six Sigma principles. Oilfield
processes commonly have ␴levels between zero and 1.5. Occasion-
ally, oilfield processes will have negative ␴levels; that is, the pro-
cess mean is outside the specification limits. See Table 3, which is
based on the case histories and projects referenced in this work.
Processes with low ␴level values will have a large standard
deviation, indicating large variations or noise within the process,
often due to a lack of standard operating procedures (SOPs). It
should be understood that Lean Six Sigma projects have made
significant improvements in some of the ␴levels. The process-based
design of ISO 9001:2000 enables continuous improvement and
reduction of process variation through the following:
• Record and document management.
• Control of operating procedures.
• Elimination of process-nonconformance through corrective
and preventative action.
• A structured approach to assess process effectiveness.
Combining Lean, Six Sigma, and ISO 9001:2000
Historically, the Lean continuous-improvement advocates recog-
nized Six Sigma as a tool that supported Lean, and the Six Sigma
advocates recognized Lean as a tool for reducing cycle time and
inventories, but the two approaches were also viewed as competing
with each other. In the last few years, the synergies between the
two methods have been recognized and merged into a single pro-
cess-improvement methodology: Lean Six Sigma.19,20 The most
recent developments are referred to as “fusion management,”
which combines Lean Six Sigma with ISO systems, and the work
of Baldridge, Deming, Juran, and others. Fusion management is a
unified quality approach that brings together multiple systems.
As seen in Table 1, there are two ways to improve quality in
a process:
• Increasing the ␴level.
• Reducing the number of process steps.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
Lean Six Sigma facilitates process improvements by working
both dimensions of Table 1, with Lean primarily focused on re-
moving steps and Six Sigma primarily focused on increasing
the ␴level.
The examples provided later in the paper are the result of using
Lean Six Sigma with the selected application of ISO systems.
Lean Six Sigma Deployment Design
It is important to understand why previous quality systems have
not been sustained in most organizations. Quality initiatives not
yielding clear, bottom-line benefits, and unable to strategically
align with business objectives, will be the first things cut in a low
oil- and gas-price environment.
Key factors in deployment design that deliver results and
achieve strategic business objectives are given in Fig. 2.21–23
Some pitfalls should be specifically avoided:
• Starting in the middle of the organization or forcing it up
from the bottom.
• Discounting the importance of linking Lean Six Sigma or
fusion-management objectives to business strategy.
• Training without accountability for producing results.
• Skipping the time-consuming data-collection phase.
A North American oilfield example plan covering key deploy-
ment factors is given in Table 4; the case histories discussed later
in this paper were managed within this deployment schedule. At
approximately 1 year from initiation, verifiable financial benefits
began to accrue.
A typical Lean Six Sigma project is completed in 4 to 8 months,
with the project’s complexity and scope driving the project dura-
tion. All projects follow the DMAIC project-execution process.
Table 5 maps the DMAIC process to typical tools used in Lean Six
Sigma or fusion management. DOE is one of the most powerful
tools in the Lean Six Sigma toolbox. It is used to optimize non-
linear or complex-interaction process responses.24,25 DOE has
been applied successfully in the oil field to complex-chemical
treating, thermal, and reservoir-simulation problems.
Fig. 2—Lean Six Sigma deployment input/process/out-
put diagram.
203
 Typical roles, terminology, and training used in Lean Six
Sigma are defined in Table 6.
The Black Belts receive 3 to 4 weeks of training. There is a 3-
to 5-week break between each week of training, during which they
work on projects with their team. They are responsible for man-
aging the project and leading the project team. Because Black
Belts are critical to the success of a project and, ultimately, a Lean
Six Sigma deployment, it important to understand desired Black
Belt attributes. Those attributes include the following:
204
• Strong, facilitative leadership skills.
• Respect within the organization by peers, supervisors,
and subordinates.
• Results-focused.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Willingness to lead change and learn new skills.
• Creative- and critical-thinking abilities.
• Capable of coaching and supporting others.
• Seeks win-win solutions.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
 It should be noted that it is not required for a Black Belt to have
a statistical or quality background—they will receive it in the
training. Most importantly, the Black Belt must be able to lead a
team (well enough after the Black Belt moves on to another proj-
ect) such that the project results are owned by key stakeholders. To
remain consistent with Lean principles, the concept of JIT training,
or the approach of “no project/no training,” is used for all project
team members. Effective knowledge transfer requires participants
to immediately begin using the tools they have learned.
A deployment should have an organizational transition plan
associated with it. Achieving the significant financial impact seen
in other industries is not possible when using Lean Six Sigma or
fusion management as simple statistical measures or tools, but by
affecting a cultural change that is aligned with the organization’s
strategy and vision.9,11,22,23 While it may be the objective to
change the culture and strategy of the company, an evolution must
first take place. Success in initiating a cultural change begins with
completed projects that have documented and verified the financial
impact for the organization.
Judicious selection of projects at the outset of the deployment
is critical to building a foundation of credibility and success. While
it is certainly acceptable to take on difficult and persistent prob-
lems, the project portfolio should be balanced so that the majority
of projects are successful and completed efficiently. Some key
factors for project selection and design are as follows:
• Align projects with business objectives.
• Prioritize projects on the basis of effort, impact, risk, and
scalability to other areas.
• Establish management support for and involvement in projects.
Fig. 3—Southeast Asian light-oil well-test accuracy.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
• Establish clear objectives and agreements through proj-
ect contracts.
• Commit the resources—particularly the time and the training.
• Design the project team to engage key stakeholders to en-
sure sustainability.
What follows is a sample of projects successfully completed
and financially verified in Asia and North America.
Case History: Well Testing
A large, light-crude oil field in Southeast Asia uses a well-testing
process consisting of a portable mass-flow/density meter mounted
on the back of a flatbed truck. The truck parks next to the wells and
connects to a manifold, which allows diversion of the fluid through
the meter.
Relative to the oil-sales meters, the well-testing process had
historically overpredicted oil production by approximately 30%. A
Lean Six Sigma improvement team identified that the manually
input water density for each well was the largest factor influencing
the process. Existing water densities were found to have shifted
over time because of waterflood activities. New data were col-
lected that resulted in a 22% improvement in accuracy. The result
was improved response time (by the production engineer) to wells
with significant changes in measured production.
During the same time period, the team looked for ways to
increase the frequency of well tests, up to the customer specifica-
tion of one test, per well, per week. By applying Lean tools over
two improvement cycles, the number of well tests increased 50%.
Because the fixed cost of the nine trucks and crews remained the
same, the cost per test decreased in direct proportion without im-
pacting quality.
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Fig. 4—North American heavy-oil rod-pump run life.
The data in Fig. 3 show how improved quality can be accom-
plished simultaneously with reductions in cycle time and cost.
Morale within the testing group improved dramatically with
these achievements.
Case History: Rod-Pump Repair
A large steamdrive oil field in North America has more than 8,500
active rod-pumped wells. The pumps are the heart of the artificial-
lift system. A Lean Six Sigma project team used a number of the
statistical and cycle-time tools to improve the rod-pump design,
pump repair, and handling process. An intensive two-day Lean-
action workout was undertaken to redesign the storage facility,
incorporating first-in/first-out inventory flow, visual controls, and
improvements in safety design.
Improvements included the following:
• Number of pump designs reduced from 36 to 14.
• Inventory dropped from 320 to 65 pumps.
• Pump storage locations reduced from nine to a single cen-
tralized facility.
• New dedicated-pump delivery service reduced rig stand-
by time.
• More insert-pump designs reduced rig time to pull pumps,
improved lifting efficiency, and, on a historical basis, should in-
crease pump run life, as in Fig. 4.
• An audited ISO 9001-quality system improved the rating of
the pump repair shops.
• Optimal setting of the internal pump clearance to maximize
pump run life was identified.
Financial benefit was immediately realized with the reduction
of rig standby time and consumption of excess inventory. Control
plans are in place to sustain the gain, and the metrics are being
Fig. 5—Run life of Asian rod-pumped wells.
206
monitored monthly to verify the predicted long-term improve-
ments in pump run life.
Fig. 5 shows another rod-pump repair example from Asia, in
which run life was improved by initiating an ISO 9001-quality
system and Lean improvements in the pump repair shop.
Case History: Water Treating
In this fluid-treating example, a high-water-cut oil field produces
approximately 6 million BWPD. Small concentrations of oil are
carried over from the separation tanks to the waterflood injection
wells. An improvement team identified that the oil-skimming pro-
cedure, the reliability of the chemical-treating pumps, and the dis-
tribution of fluid between the parallel trains of tanks were the
major factors influencing system performance.
Business partners participated in a measurement-system analy-
sis, which reduced the variability in the oil-content measurement
process. Two sample hypothesis tests provided insight into sam-
pling methods. To improve acceptance, plant operator representa-
tives participated in the development of process-flow diagrams and
the SOPs. Following the execution of the new procedures in the
field, average oil carry-over was cut in half and the variability
reduced significantly.
In a followup measure, a structured DOE was conducted to
quantify and model the impact of tank design, flow rate, and
chemical concentration on oil/water separation. The results
showed that all three factors were statistically significant, with
chemical concentration being the most significant. The analysis
identified the optimal chemical-treating levels.
The improvement project produced a significant annual in-
crease in revenue from oil recovery, which was sustained,
as shown in Fig. 6. Intangible benefits were also realized in
process knowledge, improved communication, and acceptance of
new procedures.
Case History: Oil Treating
A North American heavy-crude oil field uses horizontal heater
treaters as the primary oil-dehydration technique, but produces an
unacceptably high level of untreatable “slop” oil. A Lean Six
Sigma project team studied the process and identified that the key
input factors included flow surges, excessively high treating tem-
peratures, and selection of the oil-treating chemical.
After the new procedures were implemented, the amount of
slop oil was cut in half without increasing treating cost, as shown
in Fig. 7. This resulted in an increase of revenue and a reduction
in the cost of disposing of the waste product.
Case History: Production-Well Stimulation
A Southeast Asian steamdrive oil field had conducted more than
200 acid jobs to stimulate oil-production wells. A Lean Six Sigma
project, using historical statistical data analysis, revealed that the
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities

Fig. 6—Oil carryover in water effluent.
process did increase oil production and, on an overall basis, met
economic hurdles. However, because of high process variability, a
large percentage of wells did not produce an economic response
that met economic hurdles.
Use of hypothesis tests revealed that there were statistically
significant differences in post-job oil gain because of the follow-
ing factors:
• Field area.
• Stimulated production interval.
• Well temperature.
• Oil production before stimulation.
• Acid-application method.
The analysis also helped to overcome a paradigm that the acid
volume used and controlled post-job oil gain. The acid volume was
not found to produce statistically significant differences in oil gain.
Changing the method of acid application resulted in a statistically
significant increase in oil production, as shown in Fig. 8.
A decrease in both required well downtime for well stimulation
and the amount of acid used yielded improved economics for this
type of intervention.
By creating a detailed process-flow diagram for screening, the
stimulation prospects can better predict unprofitable jobs. Reduc-
tion in the number of acid-stimulation jobs lowered costs and freed
resources while improving the economics for the overall process.
Fewer acid jobs reduced the generation of low-pH fluid, which in
turn reduced the number of upsets in the oil-treating process and,
thus, reduced disposal costs.
Case History: Production Logging
Routine logging of steam-injection wells is performed to deter-
mine the downhole split of steam into multiple production zones.
Fig. 8—Comparison of acid-placement methods.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities
Fig. 7—Oil skim rates.
Surveys are used to make changes to the downhole assemblies
controlling steam splits. A Lean Six Sigma team evaluated the
logging process with an MSA and found it to have an unacceptably
high variance. The process was immediately discontinued pending
additional evaluation. Unless a fix could be found, the measure-
ment process would have to be abandoned.
A review of various procedures for log interpretation found that
switching from a manual interpretation to a computer process dra-
matically reduced the variability. The process was retested and
found to produce acceptable results, as shown in Fig. 9.
The ␴level improved, from 0.4 to 2.2, after the change. Because
this practice was determined to be the best, it was immediately
deployed to all fields that use the method. A substantial financial
benefit was realized in improved well-work decisions.
Summary of Benefits
Eleven Lean Six Sigma projects were completed in North Ameri-
can oil fields in 2002–2003. These projects yielded a net benefit
of U.S. $500,000 per project. On the basis of the success of the
completed projects, 14 new projects are currently active.
In Southeast Asian oil fields, 16 projects were completed dur-
ing 2001–2003. These projects yielded a net benefit of U.S.
$1,000,000 each. On the basis of the success of the completed
projects, 15 new projects are approaching completion.
The benefits of projects are determined on the basis of statis-
tically significant changes from baseline preimprovement project
work. All project benefits are financially audited and verified by
accounting or financial professionals not involved in the improve-
ment project.
Conclusions
1. Lean Six Sigma, adapted from other industries, and ISO-system
concepts can be synergistically combined to improve business
results in oilfield operations.
207

Fig. 9—Tracer-log-survey results.
2. Systematic application of Lean Six Sigma and ISO systems
provides a disciplined structure for gaining knowledge of the
processes and delivering business results safer, faster, better,
and with lower costs. Process improvements have resulted in
increased ␴level values.
3. Lean Six Sigma does not offer any special shortcuts to yield
financial benefits. Leaders must continue to inspire employees
to change. The financial benefits are delivered through leader-
ship, vision, sustained commitment, hard work, and the system-
atic application of quality and statistical tools.
4. Most of the tools and concepts used in Lean Six Sigma are not
new to the oil field. Lean Six Sigma is not claiming to be
superior to any other improvement methodologies on an indi-
vidual project or problem-solving basis. In fact, sound engineer-
ing, coupled with quality and statistical thinking on individual
projects, can yield results similar to those achieved by using
Lean Six Sigma. However, it is the authors’ experience that the
effective application of quality and statistical tools, combined
with engineering principles on an organizational level, is not
routine in most upstream operations. The discipline of Lean Six
Sigma and the DMAIC framework can begin consistently yield-
ing business results on an organizational level in oilfield opera-
tions within 1 year. This is accomplished by broadly embedding
quality and statistical thinking in routine engineering and non-
engineering process improvements and problem solving.
Nomenclature
Cp ⳱ process capability potential, dimensionless
Cpk ⳱ process capability, dimensionless
xbar ⳱ process sample average
␴ ⳱ population standard deviation
␴level ⳱ minimum of [(USL–xbar)/␴ or (xbar–LSL)/␴]
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Gary Luquette, Warner Williams, Bob Gal-
braith, and Chris Prattini of ChevronTexaco management for their
vision, support, and leadership of Lean Six Sigma. The authors
also acknowledge Ron Berdine and Sally Ulman of Air Academy
Assn. as a source of advice and inspiration for this work.
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lishers, Munich (1997).
Scot Buell has worked the last 23 years in various reservoir,
production, drilling, and operations engineering positions in
North America, Africa, and Asia. e-mail: rsbuell@yahoo.com.
He is a registered engineer. For the last 5 years, he has been
practicing and deploying the Lean Six Sigma methodology. He
has authored or coauthored 10 SPE papers on artificial lift, well
stimulation, profile modification, economic forecasting, and
reservoir modeling. Buell holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum
engineering, and an MS degree in mineral economics, all from
the Colorado School of Mines. He is currently a technical editor
for SPE and has served as Cochairman for both the SPE Ap-
plied Technology Workshop on Production Enhancement and
the SPE Forum on Fast Track Production. Stephen Turnipseed
has 22 years of experience in numerous upstream roles in fa-
cilities, production, and technical support in North America
and Indonesia. e-mail: spturnip@chevrontexaco.com. He has
also provided technical service both to major offshore devel-
opments and to onshore operations in the U.K., Middle East,
and West Africa. Turnipseed has authored or coauthored nu-
merous NACE papers on corrosion control. He became a fa-
cilitator of Lean Sigma in January 2000 and is certified as a
trainer. He is currently the Process Adviser for the deployment
of Lean Sigma in the San Joaquin Valley Business Unit. Turnip-
seed holds a BS degree in chemical engineering from the U.
of Mississippi.
November 2004 SPE Production & Facilities