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"If the Bit Ain't Turning..."

When drilling, time is truly money.Every hour a rig sits idle represents lost revenue for drilling contractors, unproductive costs for mining and exploration teams, and missed deadlines. As the saying goes “If the bit ain’t turning, no one’s earnin’”.

To achieve peak productivity and profitability, both mining companies and drilling contractors must gain clear insights into rig time allocation.

This is where Time Usage Models become indispensable.

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What is a Time Usage Model?

A Time Usage Model is a structured framework that categorises the various activities a drilling rig performs during a shift, providing a comprehensive view of operational hours. Its a wee bit more than tracking active drilling time (often called "bit-on-bottom" time) and encompasses all activities, including downtime, standby, maintenance, and other operational tasks.

Think of it as a detailed time budget for your drilling operations. Instead of allocating dollars, you're allocating hours, revealing precisely where time is being spent and illuminating opportunities for improvement.

A correctly configured Time Usage Model allows you to delve into the rig utilisation rate for your rigs and benchmark them to compare their overall performance.

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Why are Time Usage Models Critical?

Benefits for Teams in Mining Companies:

Gaining Control Over Budgets: By understanding the true breakdown of drilling time, mining companies can more accurately estimate project costs, anticipate potential delays, and negotiate fairer contracts with drilling contractors.
Enhancing Exploration & Production: Time usage data reveals operational bottlenecks in drilling programmes, helping to refine schedules, allocate resources effectively, and maximise the return on drilling investments.
Holding Contractors Accountable: A clearly defined Time Usage Model, incorporated into drilling contracts, provides a basis for monitoring contractor performance and addressing any discrepancies in billed time.

Benefits for Drilling Contractors:

Demonstrating Efficiency & Value: Time Usage Models offer concrete evidence of operational efficiency, showcasing your commitment to minimising downtime and boosting productivity for clients.
Improving Operational Performance: By analysing time usage data, you can identify bottlenecks, streamline processes, and optimise crew training, enhancing overall efficiency.
Boosting Profitability: Reducing non-productive time directly translates to increased billable hours, greater profitability, and a stronger competitive edge.

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Building Your Own Time Usage Model: A Step-by-Step Guide

1. Define Your Categories

Start by establishing clear categories that encompass the major types of drilling activities. While standard categories exist, you can customise them to suit your specific operations and contractual agreements.

Time Activities and Categorisation

Active: Productive or Non-Productive

Active time is when the rig is available, running, and actively working.

We split active time into three categories:

Active (drilling): The drill rig is drilling through the ground. Otherwise known as bit-on-bottom time.
Active (productive): The drill rig is not drilling but is running and performing its primary task. These can be tasks directly related to drilling, such as reaming, casing, or wedging.
Active (non-productive): The drill rig is running but is not performing its primary task. Examples of this are rig moves or freeing stuck rods.

Note: Drilling is technically a subcategory of "Productive," but it is separated into its own category to analyse bit-on-bottom time separately. It is sometimes grouped with the non-drilling productive tasks, depending on the information presented.

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Standby: Operational or External

Standby is when the rig is available but not running.

We split standby time into two categories:

Standby (operational): The drill rig is available but not running, and this is within the control of the operator. This can include training, pre-starts, or lunch breaks.
Standby (external): The drill rig is available but not running, and this is not within the control of the operator. Examples include waiting for site access, weather events, or client toolbox meetings.

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Maintenance: Planned or Unplanned

Maintenance is when the rig is mechanically unavailable.

We split maintenance time into two categories:

Maintenance (planned): The drill rig is unavailable for work, but according to the plan. Scheduled maintenance goes under this category.
Maintenance (unplanned): The drill rig is unavailable for work when we need it to be. This is also called breakdown

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Category	Description	Examples
Active (Drilling)	This category exclusively captures the time the drill bit is actively penetrating the ground.	Drilling time only, always.
Active (Productive)	This encompasses all activities directly related to drilling, where the rig is operational but not actively drilling.	Reaming, casing, tripping (raising or lowering the drill string), connecting rods, conducting downhole surveys.
Active (Non-Productive)	This includes activities where the rig is operational but not directly contributing to drilling progress.	Rig moves, freeing stuck pipe, addressing minor equipment issues, non-drilling related delays (e.g., waiting for supplies).
Standby (Operational)	The rig is available but not running due to planned breaks or activities within the crew's control.	Lunch breaks, safety meetings, pre-shift checks, crew training.
Standby (External)	The rig is available but unable to operate due to factors outside the crew's control.	Weather delays, waiting for site access, client-requested stoppages, safety stand-downs.
Maintenance (Planned)	Scheduled maintenance activities that require the rig to be shut down.	Regular servicing, preventative maintenance, inspections, replacing worn components.
Maintenance (Unplanned)	Unexpected downtime due to equipment failures or breakdowns.	Engine problems, hydraulic leaks, broken drill string components, electrical issues.
Other	This is an optional category and we don’t recommend using this one unless absolutely necessary.	ideally minimal entry

2. Assign Activities to Categories

Create a comprehensive list of all activities that typically occur during your drilling operations. Be as specific as possible. Then, carefully assign each activity to the most appropriate category based on your defined categories.

Example:

Activity: Connecting drill rods
Category: Active (Productive)
Activity: Waiting for a thunderstorm to pass
Category: Standby (External)
Activity: Replacing a worn drill bit
Category: Maintenance (Planned) or Maintenance (Unplanned) (depending on whether the bit wear was anticipated)

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3. Customise for Specific Contracts

You can tailor your Time Usage Model for different contracts or projects. For example:

A contract might specify that certain types of standby (e.g., waiting for client instructions) are billable, while others (e.g., waiting for weather to clear) are not.
You might categorise crew training differently depending on whether the training is required by the client or part of your internal training programme.

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4. Implement a Data Capture System

Reliable and consistent data capture is the foundation of a successful Time Usage Model. Choose a method that suits your operational needs and technology capabilities:

Digital Plods: Electronic drilling logs captured on tablets or ruggedised devices at the rig.
Rig Monitoring Systems: Automated data collection from sensors on the rig, tracking parameters like engine hours, drilling depth, and pressures.
Manual Time Logs: Paper-based logs filled out by the drill crew, although this method is more prone to errors and less efficient.

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5. Analyse and Optimise

Once data is flowing into your Time Usage Model, you can start analysing trends, identifying inefficiencies, and implementing strategies to enhance your drilling operations.

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Example: Analysing Rig Utilisation in CorePlan

Below, we see CorePlan’s Rig Utilisation charts with the time usage breakdown. The primary purpose of the Rig Utilisation chart is to benchmark your rigs and compare their overall performance.

Rig Utilisation Hours Chart on CorePlan

At a glance, we see that Rig GDD22 is far more efficient and effective when it comes to its shift time. It has a greater percentage of time spent on actual drilling and other "active" hours compared to the other rigs listed.

Meanwhile, the opposite is happening with Rig GRC20, where more time is spent on Unplanned Maintenance (usually, time classified as 'Breakdown' is placed in this category) - which would be a cause for concern as it's an indicator of potential revenue loss.

(In a nutshell: the more blue, the better)

This offers a clear way to determine which rigs are performing well and which ones need attention.

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Navigating the Grey Areas of Categorisation

Sometimes it's challenging to categorise a time activity definitively. Should refuelling be under Operational Standby, Non-productive Active time, or perhaps even Planned Maintenance? How about daily pre-starts, how should they be classified?

Ultimately, it’s up to you how you want to split it up, and you can even place them under different categories for different cost contracts.

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The Power of CorePlan

By implementing a well-defined Time Usage Model and leveraging the power of data, you can gain control over your operations, boost efficiency, and enhance profitability. Whether you're a mining company seeking to optimise exploration or a drilling contractor striving for operational excellence, a Time Usage Model is your key to unlocking success.

CorePlan's drilling management platform streamlines data capture, automates time usage calculations, and provides powerful visualisations to help you analyse and optimise your drilling operations. With CorePlan, you can easily:

Create and customise Time Usage Models.
Track and analyse time usage across rigs, crews, and projects.
Identify bottlenecks and implement improvements.
Benchmark performance across rigs, projects and more

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Time usage models explained

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