A plant shutdown, also known as a turnaround or outage, is a planned and temporary interruption of operations to perform maintenance, repairs, inspections, or upgrades. A plant shutdown can be a complex and costly project that requires careful planning and execution to minimize risks, costs, and downtime. In this article, you will learn how to plan a plant shutdown in six steps.
The first step in planning a plant shutdown is to define the scope of the work that needs to be done. This includes identifying the equipment, systems, and areas that will be affected, the tasks and activities that will be performed, the resources and materials that will be required, and the expected outcomes and benefits of the shutdown. The scope should be based on a thorough assessment of the plant's condition, performance, and compliance, as well as the operational and business objectives.
There are two types of outages. Planned and unplanned shutdowns. The goal of a planning group is to have a plan for all outages. The operations group don’t always have the luxury to restart every time the unit stops, and unplanned outages are usually quite costly when compared to planned ones.
JDI (Just Do It) Make a good plan by involving all related parties. Shutdown is a good opportunity to recover plant performance if it was effectively done. With limited time given, of course we must plan it as well as possible by making the list of activities to be performed, timetable should be in place as the control of the progress, procedures in doing safe shutdown works, all the teams involved including the contractors should be on the same page in completing the works safely & efficiently, etc. Better achievements only could be fulfilled with a better plan as well.
The scope of shutdown also accounts for the available days / time with respect to business and operational requirements, tasks to be done and the time tasks will take to complete. Plus you always need to account for a buffer / safety duration just in case things do not go out as planned, which may be but are not limited to; 1. Condition of plant worse than expected 2. Time delays due to contractors / sub-contractors delays 3. Hiccups in restart 4. Spare gone wrong or unplanned task came up and spare unavailable All of these need to be in the back of the mind of a good planner.
100% in agreement, however most crucial is communication between maintenance staff and management to ensure the end goal is clear and definable.
A plant shutdown should be planned like a typical project. You must include specific key performance indicators, or KPIs, which include milestones and deadlines. You might also want to delegate tasks and responsibilities to individuals and teams. Preparations should also include a systematic plant shutdown checklist. Here’s an example of the kind of plan you might want to make:
The next step is to develop a detailed and realistic schedule for the plant shutdown. The schedule should include the start and end dates, the milestones and deliverables, the dependencies and constraints, the critical path and float, and the contingency and buffer time. The schedule should also account for the availability and coordination of the workforce, contractors, suppliers, and stakeholders, as well as the potential risks and uncertainties that may affect the shutdown.
That's the most crucial part before shutdown. Most of the time engineering team provides the ideal or theoretical time requires to perform the job. While executing the job often they face the issues like shortage of manpower, inventory, delay in getting permits from concerned dept etc.. So my opinion is that we should consider 1.2x time against suggested by engineering team.
Schedule to be prepared minutely-including hour wise activities to be done. Keep a small amount of contingency time at the end to take care of uncertain delay’s.
Ensure that the cause of the shutdown is fully understood and if design evaluation requires component replacement’s or upgrades.
Scheduling is aligning all stake holders for a plan having detailed activities with minimum interfaces & maximum productivity. Do define objective of scheduling? is it about reducing cost or time or both ?
Developing a shutdown schedule is an essential aspect of effective time management and optimizing productivity. It involves establishing a routine that allows individuals or organizations to wind down their activities and prepare for restful sleep or closure. Assess your priorities: Before creating a shutdown schedule, evaluate your daily responsibilities, tasks, and goals. the effectiveness of a shutdown schedule lies in its consistent implementation and adaptability to your unique needs. Experiment with different routines and approaches until you find a process that works best for you. Prioritizing self-care and maintaining a healthy work-life balance is essential for long-term wellbeing and sustained productivity's
The third step is to prepare a comprehensive and accurate budget for the plant shutdown. The budget should include the direct and indirect costs of the shutdown, such as labor, materials, equipment, utilities, permits, fees, and overheads. The budget should also include the opportunity costs of the lost production and revenue, as well as the savings and benefits of the improved efficiency and reliability. The budget should be aligned with the scope and schedule, and should be monitored and controlled throughout the shutdown.
To have a successful plant showdown activity is to follow PDCA. Where in Planning we spend 70% of the time get all activities and sub activities accounted. Most of the shutdown fails due to lack of resources for the sub activity due to importance will not provided. for it. Another important aspect is to check the carried jobs completion and finally recording the change points and intimating to all stake holders through. MOC.
Allocated some budget to manage the uncertainty or emergency job during plant shutdown. Plant condition is dynamics, the job scope prepared for shutdown can changes from the last assessment conducted. Hence the budget prepared might changing as well
Budget starts with aligning SD in a broader perspective from business plans to 10 years, 5 years, 3 years , 1 years & then months. Train staff about the classes & types of budgeting estimates with their accuracy levels. details planning helps in creating better budgets. Define cost thresholds limits in budgets to separate fine lines among OPEX & CAPEX and then in CAPX do define is it depreciate able capex or amortized capex.
The fourth step is to communicate the plan for the plant shutdown to all the relevant parties, both internal and external. This includes informing and engaging the employees, managers, customers, suppliers, regulators, and community about the purpose, scope, schedule, budget, and impact of the shutdown. The communication should also address the roles and responsibilities, the expectations and deliverables, the safety and quality standards, and the feedback and reporting mechanisms. The communication should be clear, consistent, and timely, and should use various channels and formats.
Communication without accurate execution is key to a planned shutdown. Roles and responsibilities should be clear from the outset.
Communication wins the SD over any thing due to limited time & cost impact. Communication protocols must be designed, defined and published ahead of time. Do align strategic decision team to have fast track minimum time decisions implementations.
The fifth step is to execute the shutdown according to the plan, while ensuring the safety, quality, and efficiency of the work. This involves mobilizing and managing the resources and materials, performing the tasks and activities, monitoring and controlling the progress and performance, resolving any issues and problems, and documenting and recording the results and outcomes. The execution should also involve regular communication and coordination among the team members, contractors, suppliers, and stakeholders, as well as periodic reviews and adjustments of the plan.
Preparation with lean concepts is the half win before execution. Start execution only if Pre SD preparation success is guaranteed 100 %. Do conduct risk assessments with mitigation action plans to redesign success to achieve 100% results. Keep management informed, inspired & engaged in a timely manner no matter how tough is the situation.
It is very important, when you are in the food processing business, to plan te raw material warehousing and how you will empty WIP because you need to stop the "wheel" several days before, and it will take several days to fill the pipeline to get it running again. Perishable products cannot be keeped in plant floor.
After the job is complete, pre start up safety review need to be carried out to make sure the system is ready and safe for operations.
The final step is to evaluate the shutdown after it is completed, and to identify the lessons learned and best practices for future improvements. This involves measuring and analyzing the actual vs. planned scope, schedule, budget, and benefits of the shutdown, as well as the feedback and satisfaction of the customers, suppliers, regulators, and community. The evaluation should also involve recognizing and rewarding the achievements and contributions of the team members, contractors, suppliers, and stakeholders, and celebrating the success of the shutdown.
So critical in the forward planning of future planned maintenance, evaluating where the shortfalls were is almost as important as the shutdown itself
The evaluation need to highlight the best practice learn during shutdown. The information will be used for next shutdown how to plan and execute it faster, better qualities and safety approach, cheaper.
I had a great experience in 2021 that I want to share. I scheduled the planned shutdowns of a rotary kiln incinerator for 650 kg/h with its scrubber system. Total calendar time: 15 days Maintenance activities: 115 preventive, corrective and predictive Equipments: 2 cranes of 100 tons / 1 telehander 20 mts height. Budget: $220,000 Just when I was going to start the maintenance, I had to isolate at home for covid, but the plan followed its course as planned and gave remote follow-up, in the end the work finished without accidents, within the budget, this had the recognition of the representatives of the technical management & performance department who invited me to give a meeting to all the managers of maintenance for the plants of LATAM.
One of the barriers of a successful turn around maintenance is the lack of adequate resources to drive the plant start up phase. Sometimes, the TAM project is termed a success with its impact seen during the start up phase. The project team sometimes fails to put measures or resources in place the can address urgent changes such as labor cost and materials cost which should be a priority while planning for a TAM.
discovery! once you shut the plant down and start fixing things there are going to be unexpected malfunctions or broken things. you need to be sure to have a plan to find the unknown early of possible. don't leave big complicated with too the end of your schedule. you have to have resources ready to identify the needs of newly discovered issues. some can't be put off, some might be able to be out off.
In todays world of supply and demand, lead time considerations for equipment and parts, is paramount. Developing a 2,3…..5 year strategy, for long lead time purchases, is a real issue.
Plan throughly, set a schedule and priorities. Make sure that you have time to verify the shutdown items of most importance is done first prior to moving to the " if we have time" items.