AMA: Energy 2026: Pelagus Makes The Case for Digital Inventory in Energy and Maritime

Why It Matters

Digital inventory slashes downtime and frees capital tied up in obsolete stock, delivering billions in savings for operators and opening new revenue streams for OEMs.

Key Takeaways

• Equinor’s unused spare parts valued at €2.5 bn ($2.7 bn).
• Pelagus operates 80+ global sites for on‑demand 3D printing.
• Digital inventory reduces part lead time from months to days.
• Kawasaki redesign cut part weight from 75 kg to 8 kg, 15‑day delivery.
• Qualification and procurement inertia, not technology, slow adoption.

Pulse Analysis

The energy sector is grappling with aging infrastructure; roughly 70% of oil and gas assets exceed 25 years, each containing tens of thousands of legacy components that OEMs no longer stock. Traditional inventory strategies lock up billions in spare‑part capital, as exemplified by Equinor’s €2.5 bn ($2.7 bn) cache of unused parts. When unplanned outages occur, plants can suffer $38‑$88 million in lost revenue per year, making the case for a more agile solution compelling.

Pelagus’s digital‑inventory platform tackles this inefficiency by digitizing every component’s design, certification data, and manufacturing instructions into a secure “digital warehouse.” With a global footprint of over 80 additive‑manufacturing sites, the company can produce critical parts on demand, shrinking lead times from months to days. Real‑world results underscore the impact: a collaboration with Kawasaki Heavy Industries re‑engineered a 75 kg return pipe to 8 kg, enabling production, inspection, certification, and installation within 15 days—a dramatic improvement over the typical four‑to‑five‑month timeline. Operators like Hafnia report substantial time savings that translate into multi‑year cost reductions.

Despite the clear operational upside, adoption hurdles remain rooted in process rather than technology. Engineers must re‑qualify parts for additive methods, and procurement teams often default to legacy suppliers due to unfamiliarity with digital‑inventory guarantees. Overcoming these cultural and procedural barriers requires focused people‑enablement initiatives and tighter OEM‑operator collaboration. As the industry embraces on‑demand manufacturing, digital inventory is poised to become a strategic asset, unlocking capital efficiency, reducing downtime, and reshaping the economics of spare‑part management in energy and maritime markets.