Common Impacts of Craft Tool Time Delays: Causes, Consequences, and Solutions

In refinery turnarounds, Craft Tool Time (CTT), the time craft workers spend actively engaged in productive tasks, is a crucial metric for project success. Delays, inefficiencies, and management challenges can lead to significant CTT loss, resulting in cost overruns, schedule delays, and reduced labor productivity. This white paper identifies key Direct Craft Tool Time Impacts and Indirect Impacts that contribute to CTT loss and offers actionable recommendations to improve overall efficiency.

Direct Craft Tool Time Impacts

1. Shift Start Delays

Shift start delays often arise from poor time management by supervisors, prolonged safety meetings that extend beyond best practices, and inadequate task readiness. When tasks are not prepared in advance, the start of each shift is delayed, resulting in idle time for workers. This accumulation of downtime reduces the available hours for productive work, and when such delays occur repeatedly, they compound and significantly impact the overall project timeline.

2. Shift Early Finish

Shift early finishes occur when task scheduling is poorly managed, often due to management oversight. This results in crews completing tasks early with no additional work prepared for them. Furthermore, inefficient tool return processes contribute to additional lost time. The consequence is a reduction in the use of available work hours, which diminishes overall productivity. Without proper scheduling, labor utilization becomes inefficient, as workers are left idle without subsequent assignments.

3. Coordination Delays

Coordination delays stem from ineffective communication and a lack of coordination between different teams. When interdependent tasks are not prepared on time, forward planning turns into reactive crisis management. Craftspeople are often left idle, waiting for approvals, materials, or task readiness, which disrupts the workflow. This reactive approach creates bottlenecks and workflow inefficiencies, further delaying overall project progress and increasing downtime.

4. Permitting Delays

Permitting delays occur when required permits for certain tasks are not obtained in a timely manner. As a result, workers are unable to begin work that requires these permits, leading to extended periods of idle time. These delays can create a ripple effect throughout the project, impacting the schedule and causing further disruptions.

5. Safety Procedure Delays

Safety procedure delays arise from inefficient safety protocols or unprepared workers who are not ready to begin tasks after safety checks. The time spent on delayed safety meetings or checks reduces the hours available for productive work. Additionally, safety bottlenecks slow down task execution, causing further delays in the overall workflow and decreasing the efficiency of the project.

6. Material Management Issues

Material management issues are a common source of CTT loss. Delays in the delivery of materials or poor organization of materials on-site result in significant downtime as craftspeople wait for the necessary resources to arrive. The lack of organization not only delays tasks but also disrupts the overall workflow, further reducing productivity and causing delays throughout the project.

7. Equipment Delays

Equipment delays result from malfunctions or delays in the availability of tools and equipment. When essential tools or equipment break down or are not available when needed, productivity is lost as workers wait for repairs or replacements. The impact of equipment delays is often far-reaching, as these delays cascade throughout the project, causing schedule slippage and further disruptions.

8. Tool Trailer Delays

Tool trailer delays are caused when workers spend excessive amounts of time retrieving tools from distant or disorganized trailers. The time lost walking back and forth to retrieve tools, combined with the additional time spent searching for the required tools, reduces the amount of time available for productive work. As a result, overall productivity declines, and project timelines are extended.

9. Inspection Delays

Inspection delays occur when there is a bottleneck in the approval process, leaving workers idle while they wait for inspection clearances. These delays prevent the completion of tasks, causing backlogs to grow and extending the overall project timeline. Without timely inspections, work cannot proceed as planned, leading to inefficiencies across the project.

10. Hot Work/Fire Watch (HW/FW) Delays

Delays related to hot work and fire watch assignments occur when there is a lack of personnel or when safety checks are not completed on time. Craftspeople are often left idle while waiting for fire watch personnel to be assigned or for fire safety protocols to be completed. The mismanagement of fire watch schedules further compounds these delays, slowing down critical work and reducing overall CTT.

11. Breaks

Unscheduled or extended breaks can disrupt the workflow and reduce the time available for productive tasks. When workers take breaks that extend beyond the scheduled time, it causes downtime and interrupts the smooth flow of work. This leads to a decrease in overall project efficiency, as extended breaks create delays that ripple through the project.

12. Logistics Issues

Logistics issues arise from poor planning and coordination of material and equipment deliveries. When materials or equipment are not delivered on time or in the correct order, workers are left waiting, resulting in idle time and delays. Inefficient logistics coordination further compounds these delays, slowing down task execution and reducing overall project productivity.

Indirect Impacts on Craft Tool Time

?? What to learn more about Indirect Impacts on Craft Tool Time?...

Read the complete article for free here. ??