Energy service firm Subsea 7 has calculated that it could have saved more than £130,000 on a project if it had cut back on documentation.
Business unit director Alan Black said the company had investigated whether it was asking suppliers for too much paperwork.
Mr Black said some suppliers and engineers “strangely” felt that more documents were needed, but most would have been content with a reduction.
Using one project as a test case, it was discovered that the number of documents being requested from suppliers could have been cut by 234 to 328, a 41% decrease.
That would have resulted in a saving of £133,000 on process costs for Subsea 7, Mr Black told the audience at one of the sessions at Subsea Expo 2017 in Aberdeen.
The total did not take into account the amount the suppliers themselves would have saved.