A Glimpse into Gilmore: Karen Cestarte, Aftermarket and Customer Service Supervisor
Posted: August 19, 2020
Karen Cestarte has led the Aftermarket and Customer Services team for over 5 years. Prior to working for Gilmore, she led supply chain for subsea equipment and valves globally for a leading oil and gas company. When she took on the role of Supervisor for Gilmore, she brought a fresh new perspective to the team’s customer experience. She launched a vigorous campaign to educate Gilmore clients beyond an initial order to ensure the client was aware of all the products and services that Gilmore offers.
Insight gained from the campaign resulted in the restructure and formation of two key service offerings: Gilmore’s comprehensive Preventive System Maintenance Program and Field Service Technical Support. Both offerings provide Gilmore clients with significant long-term realized cost savings through asset life extension and performance, yielding uninterrupted operation and increased productivity.
Gilmore’s Preventive System Maintenance Program certified factory trained technicians repair and maintain flow control products for a variety of applications using Gilmore procedures and parts, ensuring components are rebuilt to factory standards and to the latest designs. Gilmore’s Field Service Technical Support offers onsite and offshore, inspection, consultation, conversion and factory level maintenance on Gilmore field installations. The introduction of these two services along with client education propelled Aftermarket Service business by 77% over the last 5 years.
The Aftermarket team is also active in supporting custom control flow solutions in partnership with Gilmore’s Engineering, Research and Development Teams. Recent solutions include:
- BOP regulator conversion upgrades and re-certifications for a leading OEM client
- Onsite shuttle valve refurbishments and re-certifications for a major Drilling Contractor
- A custom-engineered SPM improvement conversion for a key Intervention Service Group
During a 5 year scheduled maintenance of BOP MUX control systems, an OEM client discovered the need to upgrade the existing regulators. Due to Gilmore’s adaptable technologies, product component upgrades were easily interchanged within existing designs to the latest product line revision. The Aftermarket team has completed over 100 conversion upgrades of the legacy regulator, now optimized using dynamic T-seal elastomers, improved piston guidance and Tungsten Carbide seal trim improvements. These upgrades paired with Gilmore’s factory re-certification and renewed warranty transformed the client’s Gilmore pressure regulators.
A scheduled BOP maintenance review by a Drilling Contractor revealed the immediate need for onsite repairs for their Gilmore MKIII stackable shuttle valves. Gilmore Aftermarket maintains serialized valve certifications, enabling Gilmore Field Service Technicians to perform onsite analysis offshore while performing field repair and re-certifying the products to factory standards – using original equipment manufacturer components and factory acceptance testing. Gilmore technicians performed maintenance and re-certified the valves onsite to expedite the client’s maintenance period – saving the client from the cost of brand new product replacements.
Working together with a prominent intervention services company, Gilmore Aftermarket Services and Gilmore Engineering has provided 95 SPM upgrades to incorporate pilot flushing ports to simplify onsite maintenance – allowing the pilot areas to flush without removing the SPMs from service.
“Aftermarket is becoming more and more recognized as an important support system for customers needing long-term cost savings, factory quality maintenance, reliable repairs and efficient services. Participation in preventive maintenance programs has increased over the past few years, sustaining the life of our customers’ Gilmore products and improving system performance.” ~ Karen Cestarte
