What is turnaround or shutdown?

A turnaround, also referred to as a TAR, shutdown or outage is a scheduled maintenance event that involves an asset or unit being taken offline for essential servicing, repairs and optimisations to be performed. 

Turnarounds are often described as a necessary evil by many in the industry due to the significant cost and risk associated in the process. Although necessary for a project’s safety, efficiency and reliability, any delays can affect a company’s bottom line. However, the cost of an unplanned outage far outweighs the cost of a strategic turnaround schedule.

The cost of a turnaround is more than the cost of performing the maintenance works, every day the asset or unit is offline affects production and in turn, cashflow. Beyond the loss in production, taking an asset offline and back online safely is not as easy as flipping a switch, this is hazardous and comes with risk.

Because of this, an asset owners’ partner in planning and executing a turnaround is crucial, an opportunity to optimise turnaround disciplines and practices will always exist.

There are 6 phases in a turnaround.

Strategy

The strategic phase of a turnaround concentrates on the frequency and duration of the turnaround, the organisation and management of the turnaround process, the use of contractors and the specific strategy for the current turnaround. If the steps in this strategic phase are properly implemented, the result will be increased runtime between turnarounds, reduced frequency of required turnarounds, optimised duration of turnaround periods and improved coordination between the turnaround process in the overall business plan.

Worklist

The Worklist phase or scope review is a critical component of the turnaround. The purpose of this phase is to ensure that the correct work is included in the turnaround plan. During this phase, the organisation identifies the work that is essential for supporting production reliability.

• Deciding which work needs to be completed during the upcoming turnaround, which can be deferred, and which can be performed while the plant is operational.
• Reducing the overall turnaround work scope to the most critical tasks.
• Determining which tasks should be done before or after the turnaround period. 
• Identifying items that have long lead times, requiring advanced planning.
• Accurately prioritising the work based on risk assessments.
• Reviewing all fixed-time maintenance activities

Planning & Pre-works

The purpose of the planning phase of a turnaround is to meticulously plan out the jobs identified in the previous worklist phase. This includes a detailed plan for the actual turnaround, pre-work activities and mapping out all necessary safety and environmental procedures.

If executed properly, the planning phase will deliver several key outcomes:

• Reduced overall downtime
• Effective mitigation plans for potential issues
• Prioritisation of the most critical jobs to be addressed first
• Careful planning for any contracted work

Scheduling

The focus during the scheduling phase is on integrating schedules, the critical path, shutdown execution management, logistics, and organising resources. Executing the scheduling phase correctly will result in shutdown preparedness, efficient and high-quality work, better communication, developed contingency plans, resource leveling and scheduling. 

Execution

The execution phase involves notifying and communicating the expected duration of the turnaround period to stakeholders, employees, and external partners. Safely and systemically ceasing operations/production and securing the site. Securing and receiving all equipment, supplies and personnel necessary for the scheduled works and performing the work in accordance with the schedule.

Lessons

Reflecting on how the entire turnaround process went, identifying what the lessons were at every phase and taking those lessons forward into the next cycle.

There are 6 phases of a turnaround, strategy, worklist, planning & pre-works, scheduling, execution and lessons.