Logistics: A Critical Element of Successful Outages, Turnarounds and Shutdowns

About this title

If you have ever worked a shutdown, turnaround, or outage, depending on what your organization calls these events, I am certain that you can relate many successes, but also possibly many efforts that were less than successful. These efforts are extremely difficult due to the large amount of work that needs to be completed in a very short time span. There’s also a great deal of cost associated with this type of work that further compounds the stress. Organizations spend a great deal of time and effort developing outage plans and comprehensive and intricate work schedules to enable them to complete the work within the allotted time. What is often missed due to its vast complexity is the logistics – all of the elements that, when combined, support the successful work plan. Logistics is the glue that holds the work plan and schedule together.

During my forty-eight years working in maintenance reliability within the petrochemical industry, I have worked many turnarounds. I would like to tell you that each one I worked on was successful, but I’d be lying. Many were far less successful than I envisioned at the start. What I discovered over my career is that while you may have a well-developed work plan and schedule, if you don’t have sound logistics, problems will occur as the plan’s execution progresses.

This book provides you with a vast amount of information about outage logistics. If you start your effort early enough and use the information in this book to develop your logistics plan, you will vastly improve the ability of your organization to complete the outage on time, on budget, safely, with quality results.

About the Author- Stephen J. Thomas

Stephen Thomas has worked in the refining industry in the areas of maintenance and reliability for over forty-five years. During that period, he has held many positions of responsibility within the maintenance organization, including turnaround execution and management. His experience, coupled with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Drexel University and master’s degrees in Systems Engineering and Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania, has given him a unique perspective. Steve has also authored seven books and two workbooks on various subjects, with a focus on change management, and has presented this material for private clients and at various maintenance and reliability conferences.

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgment

Contributors

Introduction

Chapter 1 – General Logistics: Getting Started

Chapter 2 – Strategy

Chapter 3 Assessment – Checking the Status of Outage Preparation

Chapter 4 – Staffing

Chapter 5 – Safety

Chapter 6 – Security and Transportation Planning

Chapter 7 – Industrial Hygiene

Chapter 8 – Environmental

Chapter 9 – Process Safety Management As It

Chapter 10 – Contractors and Contracts

Chapter 11 – Outages and Their Capital Projects

Chapter 12 – Cost Control

Chapter 13 – Inspection

Chapter 14 – Procurement of Materials

Chapter 15 – Materials Management

Chapter 16 – Shop Repairs

Chapter 17 – Communications

Chapter 18 – Information Technology

Chapter 19 – Training

Chapter 20 – Documentation

Chapter 21 – Operations / Production

Chapter 22 – Scope Related Logistics

Chapter 23 – Outage Planning

Chapter 24 – Pre-Outage Preparation

Chapter 25 – Staging

Chapter 26 – Transition

Chapter 27 – Execution: Effectiveness and Efficiency Support

Chapter 28 – Meetings

Chapter 29 – Testing, Final Inspection and Approval

Chapter 30 – Housekeeping

Chapter 31 – Post-Outage

Chapter 32 – Miscellaneous Logistical Components

Chapter 33 – Forms

Chapter 34 – Other Miscellaneous Items

Chapter 35 – Conclusion

Appendix 1 – Job Role and Responsibility Index

Appendix 2 – Sample Outline for an Outage Handbook

Outage Checklists

About the Author