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Get the most out of a plant shutdown |
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Written by Terry Wireman
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Page 1 of 2
For many organizations, maintenance-work processes are essential components in their plant shutdowns, turnarounds and outages (STOs). This is because maintenance resources are typically used to perform and complete STO work.
STO-based resource requirements must be balanced with normal maintenance needs to enable successful scheduling. Weekly allocation of these resources may be part of the capacity calculation for the maintenance-weekly schedule.
It should be noted, however, that only minor STOs are part of the weekly maintenance schedule. These types of STOs may be routine downturns on major pieces of equipment where the routine maintenance crew is used to perform work.
These may occur on one day during the week, or perhaps even over a few days in a month. The resources required to performing this type of STO work are typically deducted from the weekly craft capacity before the routine maintenance schedule is produced.
Major STO work, however, is when an entire plant or facility (or a major section thereof) is shut down for repairs and retrofit. To clearly understand the resource requirements for this type of STO work - one must clearly understand the objectives for STOs.
The main objective statement for STOs could be: "the maximum work performed in the minimum time, with the highest quality work, with adherents to safety and environmental standards, and a quality re-start of the equipment." You can then move forward from there.
When planning for STO work, multiple planners may be involved in planning jobs. The coordination for the STO project, however, is usually the responsibility of a single planner. For this arrangement to be successful, the planner (assigned to the coordination of the STO) must be allocated exclusively - as the time to start the project grows close. The planner then must be dedicated to the STO for the entire duration plus some wrap-up time at the end.
STO planner skills
What type of skills must an STO planner have? Firstly, planners need to already be an excellent maintenance planner. The skills required for both jobs are identical. Secondly, the STO planner has to have a clear understanding of the jobs that will occur during the STO.
The planner must be able to anticipate problems and develop contingencies to circumvent the problems. The most important component to an STO, however, involves solid job plans. The work executed during the STO has to be properly scoped, with good work lists and a controlled schedule.
For almost all STOs - common contractors are employed to shorten the time line. This means that the contractors will work along with (or integrate with) existing maintenance technicians. It will be the responsibility of the STO planner to develop accurate contractor packages.
The STO planner also will be responsible for evaluating contractors and even some of their subcontractors. This will ensure that the planner will be able to mobilize the right resources at the right time. It also means that the STO planner can demobilize the contractors when they're finished the job to help manage costs.
Another skill required by an STO planner comprises the ability to manage costs. The planner will spend much time developing cost estimates, monitoring and trending costs, and ultimately controlling STO costs.
The planner will need to know how to fund the STO, how to estimate the total cost, how to have the flexibility to refine the costs depending on changing the STO scope, as well as how to perform the final closeout of costs for the complete STO.
Controlling the logistics for the STO may be the single most important task for the planner. Consider that the planner must be able to organize storage locations or all of the MRO spare parts, materials and supplies for the STO.
The planner also must prepare detailed site plans - showing the location of all work assignments and plot safe routes for equipment, material deliveries and employee travel. This in itself is a time-consuming aspect of the planner's responsibility.
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