A plant shutdown, or turnaround, is a temporary closure of a building to perform maintenance. The main activities should be preventative in nature with the focus on equipment inspections. This is the opportune time to replace worn-out or broken process materials and equipment at their useful end-of-life. An effective plant shutdown should result in reduced unplanned downtime, reduced overtime, and greater operational efficiencies. Five distinct phases of a plant shutdown are scoping, planning, scheduling, execution, and wrap up.
Phase 1: Scoping (What to do)
The scoping phase is the foundation for a plant shutdown. Initial planning, scoping, and organization occur during this phase. It’s important to build a strategy to address what you are going to do for each area of your operation: test, replace, repair, defer the work, or do nothing. Each decision should justify safety, cost reduction, or operational efficiency to make it a necessity and a link to company goals. These goals should include key performance indicators (KPIs) that focus on safety, cost, schedule, labor hours, overtime, and task completion.
Phase 2: Planning (How to do it)
The planning phase represents the nuts and bolts of your strategy and how to accomplish the work. Basic requirements include a development of job tasks, and the steps, duration, and sequence. Resource planning is another decision you should make around people, material, tools, and equipment. Other factors to complete are cost estimates, risk assessments, and safety requirements. Develop logistics plans for the reception, storage, protection, usage, and demobilization of every item (material and equipment) required for the shutdown. Write plans for quality assurance and quality control. On the final work list, vet tasks for risk and contingency plans prepared for worst case scenarios. Once you complete Phase 2 items, you should have a final work list, a revised schedule, and a finalized cost estimate.
Phase 3: Scheduling (When to do it)
The outcome of your planning phase should drive your scheduling phase. It is also important to keep the shutdown as short as possible. Keeping the list short is a way to reduce cost and ensure the focus is on the work you can only perform during a shutdown. Defer all other work to a time outside of the shutdown window. Please note that no matter how detailed your project plan is, unplanned work is inevitable. Not accounting for some degree of unplanned work can have a huge negative impact on timeline and budget. Build a 10 percent contingency for budget and time to ensure unforeseen issues do not derail your project.
Phase 4: Execution (Doing it)
After an extended planning period, the execution phase is where the rubber meets the road. Now is the time to inspect your equipment and put in place any corrective actions needed. It is important to keep up with any manufacturer notices regarding products nearing end of life. Repair and replace equipment and parts as needed. Make sure to measure any changes to scope, schedule, or budget against KPIs. Conduct final inspections and complete punch-list items before returning to normal operational levels.
Phase 5: Wrap up (Evaluating it)
Phase 5 begins once you complete all the tasks associated with the shutdown. Conduct a post-mortem meeting to review the shutdown in its entirety. The agenda should include EHS review, KPIs/metrics, cost, schedule, punch lists, contractor management, shutdown to start-up and ramp-up, critical path and major tasks review, and best practices and lessons learned.
A turnaround can be an overwhelming undertaking if managed as a single stand-alone event. But, if you break it down into various phases with detailed, formal processes, you can manage a successful maintenance shutdown each time. Consistency and repeatability are key in managing a long-term, annual plant shutdown strategy.
A plant shutdown, or turnaround, is a temporary closure of a building to perform maintenance. The main activities should be preventative in nature with the focus on equipment inspections. This is the opportune time to replace worn-out or broken process materials and equipment at their useful end-of-life. An effective plant shutdown should result in reduced unplanned downtime, reduced overtime, and greater operational efficiencies. Five distinct phases of a plant shutdown are scoping, planning, scheduling, execution, and wrap up.