Turnarounds and Shutdowns

A major downtime that “just happens” can be disastrous for a plant. A planned shutdown can provide maintenance organizations an opportunity to identify and address major potential problems or failures in a timely manner to improve plant safety and efficiency. Usually a system or a process is shut down until the requested and specified work is completed and then restarted, thus “turning around” the process/plant. Examples of this type of work can be relining a large furnace, overhauling and upgrad-ing an assembly system, replacupgrad-ing turbine or compressor blades, cleanupgrad-ing and upgrading a chemical reactor, or replacing process tanks. In a produc-tion facility, a turnaround usually consists of combinaproduc-tions of investment projects, maintenance projects or overhauls, and typical maintenance activities such as PMs or corrective maintenance activities that require the plant to be removed from service.

All of the major heavy metal and process industries—steel mills, refining, petrochemicals, power generation, pulp & paper, etc.—have their own nomenclature for their maintenance projects. These are called turnarounds, maintenance shutdowns, planned outages, or just mainte-nance repair projects.

Shutdowns for scheduled major maintenance work and large capital investments are the most expensive and time-consuming of maintenance

Turnaround

Well defined & static-drawings available

Scope Loosely defined, dynamic - changes as

inspections made Capital Project

Can be planned and scheduled in well advance

Planning &

Scheduling

Planning & scheduling can’t be finalized until scope is approved

Fixed, weekly or monthly basis Safety

permits

Requires shift and daily basis due to scope fluctuations

update Shift and daily basis

Variable, changes a lot during execution due to scope fluctuations

Figure 4.10 Capital Projects Vs. Turnaround Maintenance

projects because of the loss of production and the expense of the turn-around itself. They can be complex, especially in terms of shared resources; as the complexity increases, they become more costly and dif-ficult to manage. Scheduled shutdowns usually are of a short duration and high intensity. They can consume an equivalent cost of a yearly mainte-nance budget in just a few weeks. They also require the greatest percent-age of the yearly process outpercent-age days. Controlling turnaround costs and duration represents a challenge.

A shutdown always has a negative financial impact. This negative impact is due to both loss of production revenue and a major cash outlay for the shutdown expenses. The positive side is not as obvious; therefore, it is often overlooked. The positive impacts are an increase in asset relia-bility, continued production integrity, investment in infrastructure, and a reduction in the risk of unscheduled outages or catastrophic failure.

Scope management is one of the major challenges in a turnaround.

The scope will change, sometimes dramatically, and it will impact the schedule. Typically, scope is developed based on information gathered from operating parameters, capital investments, preventive maintenance actions, and predictive tools. Sometimes, we don’t have a good under-standing of the scope until an asset or system is opened for inspection. As an asset is opened, cleaned, and inspected, the extent of required repairs can be determined and planned.

There are distinct differences between turnaround maintenance work and capital projects. Work scope is well defined in capital projects; how-ever, in turnarounds, scope is dynamic and fluctuates a lot. Figure 4.10 list major differences between capital projects and turnarounds.

Identifying and appointing a Turnaround Planner well in advance, maybe six to eight months, is a good practice. This planner helps to devel-op the scdevel-ope, integrate the full scdevel-ope of work including resources, and assure readiness for execution of the turnaround. Similarly, identifying and appointing a Turnaround Manager well in advance, maybe three to four months, is also a good practice. The Turnaround Manager should have the delegated authority to lead the turnaround effort to a successful conclusion. In some organizations, new turnaround managers and plan-ners get appointed just after completion of the last turnaround, as an ongo-ing process to begin plannongo-ing for the next turnaround. Lessons learned from the previous turnaround are then transferred to the planning and exe-cution of the next turnaround.

The following is a suggested checklist for a turnaround manager:

• Identify the rough scope of the work and resources required, specifically who will be planning, scheduling, and supervising the work.

• Scope finalization—Work with key players to identify the scope as soon as possible. As a minimum, freeze the scope four weeks before the start of a turnaround, depending on the size and com-plexity of the turnaround. There will be changes. Accommodate them as they arise within the contingency allowances of the turn-around. Significant additions that exceed contingency plans require revisiting the total scope of the work and authorization of changes by the stakeholders.

• Work planning—Plan the work and prepare job packages with the help of planners and craftsmen who are familiar with the work / area.

• Ensure the work plans have been reviewed by the assigned craft supervisors from an execution point of view.

• Ensure all drawings, repair instructions, and required materials have been identified and updated, and that their availability has been validated. Check that arrangements have been made to stage the material at proper location.

• Check that special tools and lifting devices (e.g., forklifts, mobile crane of right capacity) have been arranged and will be available at site on the scheduled day. Make sure that lift plans, equipment capacity, and condition for service have been validated prior to scheduled lifts.

• Work scheduling—Break large work into smaller work tasks and then schedule them based on resource availability and duration of shutdown. Schedule all work to be completed in 90% of the approved duration. Leave 10% time as a contingency.

• Identify “critical path” tasks that can impact overall schedule and focus your attention to them.

• Make sure all material, tools, cranes, etc. have been arranged to be delivered at least one day before the start of shutdown.

• Ensure all the necessary permits have been procured and the lock-out and tag–lock-out plans have been arranged to provide for safe, effi-cient access to the scheduled work.

• Establish a communication system. How is work accomplished?

Once problems have been encountered or uncovered and correc-tive action taken, how will this information be communicated and how will feedback be provided in a timely manner? For large and critical tasks, communication may be necessary on every shift.

Arrange to meet face-to-face with task leaders, planners, and schedulers on a daily basis for schedule execution and on a week-ly basis to review progress and change in direction, if needed. The schedule is intended to accomplish the overall goals, while main-taining enough flexibility to accomplish minor changes.

• Arrange a face-to-face meeting with all your key players, includ-ing operations personnel, to discuss the goal and schedule of this shutdown. Make sure they understand the cost of this undertaking and impact of delays. Emphasize safety and quality of work. This meeting should be held a few days before the start of the shut-down. At a minimum, the Operations personnel should be includ-ed in the weekly progress reviews.

• On the first day of the shutdown, make sure all safety measures are taken in shutting down the system and that appropriate per-sonal protection equipment (PPE) are used. All lock-out and tag-out should be completed properly.

Attention to the following items may be required and appropriate corrective action planned:

• Barricades. These should be considered to restrict the movement into or the presence of people in restricted areas where overhead lifting, high voltage, radiography, and hazardous materials may be present. Ensure that proper safety signs are displayed in appro-priate areas.

• Dust Control Management. A large shutdown can also be the source of excessive dust, depending upon the area and work to be accomplished. Make necessary arrangements to control the dust.

• Emergency Showers and Eye Baths. Make certain that emer-gency showers and eye baths are available at the right locations.

• Liquid and Solid Waste Handling. Certain cleaning operations may create liquid and solid waste which can be handled within the in-plant industrial sewer system. Other wastes—including asbestos, spent chemicals, sandblast media—may create materials that require special handling, disposal, and access limitations.

Unanticipated disturbance or creations of hazardous materials are show-stoppers often overlooked during the planning process.

Develop and review policies for spill control, and containment and disposal of hazardous material including potential handling problems

• Noise Control. Some repair steps may generate excessive levels of noise. These operations need to be identified and corrective action taken that may require use of ear plugs and posting of

“High Noise” area.

• Scaffolding Control. During a shutdown, scaffolding is often moved from one location to another. Ensure all scaffolding from different sources is properly marked and color coded if necessary.

Portable, motorized lift devices add significant flexibility to any scaffold plan for large turnaround.

• Ensure that “return-to-service” is well planned. What are the critical items that needed to be insured before the system can be released for start-up? Involve Operations personnel in developing and executing the return-to-service plan, integrating their stan-dard operating procedures with special concerns involving new or modified equipment. Make sure those critical items are OK. The right sequence of operation and energizing electrical devices safe-ly is very important.

Holding a Post-Turnaround Meeting is one of the last important tasks for the turnaround manager. The area of turnaround planning that is most often underestimated is the area of lessons learned. Assuming the Manager and Planners keep good meeting notes or logs during the plan-ning and execution phases, these notes provide excellent sources of les-sons learned and process improvements for future turnarounds.

The time to collect this information is throughout the entire duration of planning and executing the turnaround. The lessons learned are com-piled and reviewed with the turnaround team and stakeholders in a post-turnaround session. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss what worked and what did not work in the turnaround process while the memories of the turnaround are still fresh in everyone’s mind. Recommendations from the team are then woven into the process for future reference and imple-mentation.

4.8 Measures of Performance

The planning and scheduling processes, like other processes, need to be measured and evaluated to make improvements. A few examples of performance measures and benchmark data include:

1. Percentage of planned work. This measure is the percentage of all jobs that have been planned. It assumes that all parts, proce-dures, specifications, tools, drawings, etc., have been identified before the job is scheduled. The benchmark is 90%.

2. Percentage of schedule compliance. This measure is the per-centage of work accomplished that is agreed upon or on the week-ly schedule. The benchmark is 85% or better.

3. Percentage of time that kits (materials and parts) are deliv-ered on time. This measure is calculated as the number of times the kits (material and parts) were delivered on time divided by the total number of kits delivered. This measure affects the planner’s ability to plan jobs properly. Expediting parts adds unnecessary and wasteful cost to the P&S process.

4. Percentage of time the right part (s) is delivered. As part of the