Optimizing a maintenance turnaround

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the January-February 2019 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

January-February 2019

Truth be told, I was not a Boy Scout, or at least not a very good scout and not for very long. But I think there are some lessons for supply chain managers in the Scout motto: Be prepared. When I Wiki’d it this morning, I found the following: Be prepared, which means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.

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Every business can appreciate the value of keeping equipment maintained. But maintenance tasks can be tricky—especially in process manufacturing industries such as chemicals, oil and gas, agribusiness, or food manufacturing. For example, a chemical plant might have 4,000 pieces of equipment, some of which can’t be maintained, repaired, replaced or even inspected while the plant is running. Such plants require a turnaround—a complete cessation of all plant activities to perform necessary maintenance.

Because a turnaround involves lost production, an overrun in turnaround downtime can have severe consequences. At a sold-out plant, one where market demand exceeds demonstrated capacity, an inability to meet that demand can lead to millions of dollars in lost potential revenues. But companies sometimes feel powerless in the face of unplanned events, such as the discovery of unexpected damage to a piece of critical equipment. Is there any way to mitigate the risks associated with maintenance turnarounds?

Yes. Turnarounds can benefit from sound strategy and planning. In one recent project, a global chemical company reduced turnaround schedule slippage in a sold-out plant by 97% (100-plus days). It increased asset utilization by 5% and reduced turnaround costs by 10% to 20%. This article explains how.

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