INDUSTRY TRENDS & INSIGHTS:

Q: What are some of the most significant changes you’ve seen in the petrochemical shutdown and turnaround industry over the past five years?

A: Over the past five years,  some of the key things that I have noticed – and some of these are very specific to my experience in the last five years –is looking at contracting strategy. We're spreading out the turnaround hours over multiple suppliers, especially with some of our larger ethylene units. We talk about hot side and cold side, just to ensure that we're getting a high-quality workforce. Historically, we might have gone to a single GC or a single main trade, and said, "Okay, can you support this entire event?" And we would lean on one particular supplier or one particular contractor to bring hundreds and hundreds of headcounts depending on their discipline. But over the last five years, and especially with COVID implications and supply chain, our strategies have involved spreading that risk out over multiple contractors. I might split my unit in half, so if I am getting challenges or low productivity from one vendor, I already have a vendor there onsite and I can transfer that risk over and cover work without bringing new contractor to site.. The other big focus that I've been very engaged with is the integration of large-to-mid cap projects into the turnaround scope. I think there's a lot more focus in that area than what we've done in the past. In many cases, we ran them as two separate events that were just happening at the same time.  Now we're pushing for that full integration, where the scope is turned over to the turnaround and the turnround team completely executes and after the turnaround event the work is  transition back to the project team.  This is driving much earlier conversations for mid-to-large cap projects  and turnaround on contracting and execution strategies.

Q: In your experience, what has been the impact of digital transformation (e.g., predictive maintenance, IoT, AI) on shutdown and turnaround operations?

A: It's been highly impactful. For a while there, we had a lot coming at us. It seems like everybody was going digital at the same time. We had all these different platforms – many that had been proven, many that hadn't been proven – but there was so much variety.  We had to figure out where we wanted to go as a company and line up a software with it. Once we were able to line up business objectives, what success looked like, and dig into the right software, we've seen it be highly impactful. For example,  predictive maintenance and reliability utilizing the data correctly, it can be extremely effective  in identifying key turnaround scope and risks to go after, ensuring that we're optimizing our work scope as best we can.   The success of this depends on the discipline of the organization, how robust their reliability inspection programs are to have good data  to drive risk-based scoping.

Q: With increasing environmental regulations, how have shutdown and turnaround strategies had to adapt to meet sustainability and environmental compliance?

A: We've been through a lot, especially around flare and emissions management.   This is substantial to the impactl for our shutdown and startup windows. To understand those limits and understand what other areas of the system the process can utilize to stay under those limits (both in shutdown and startup) has been a huge focus in the last 2-3 years for us. We've had a lot of flare and emission limitations, especially on our ethylene units in the Houston area, that will dictate how quickly and/or slowly we can come up and down. We've had to sharpen our pencils, get more creative, get more flexibility in the units in some cases, to ensure that we're not seeing duration impacts that will go negatively towards the turnaround due to the environmental compliance. So, the mindset that we have going into these turnarounds is we will stay environmentally compliant the entire time and we will find out ways and stretch ourselves to work through those challenges to ensure that we're being good champions of our environmental requirements.

BEST PRACTICES & STRATEGIES:

Q: What are the key lessons you’ve learned in optimizing turnaround planning to minimize downtime and cost while maintaining safety and quality?

A: We've got a lot of focus right now on our planning. The key thing for us is the standardization. Specifically ,is the details in  the plans (resources, durations, and materials).We're trying to standardize how our planners are creating those plans. We're also doing  cross-discipline function checks, including our contracting parties, – to ensure that we have a high-quality plan that's representative of what it's going to take in the field. So, quality and safety is validated during the cross-functional review of the plans and again in schedule optimization  Another challenge we have identified is the proper philosophy around productivity factors. In some cases we have identified that we are inadvertently building cushion into our plans and then putting contingency on top of it when we build schedules. We're driving up cost and duration and it’s not representative of how the work's going to be executed in the field. Those are some key things that we've been looking at to help improve our planning quality without trading off safety. Safe and predictable events that drive high quality results to ensure safe and reliable operations to the next interval is the goal of every turnaround.  

Q: Can you discuss the role of effective communication between internal teams and contractors during a turnaround, and how it contributes to project success?

A: Absolutely, and it's more than just during the turnaround. Effective communication begins at the beginning of the turnaround execution process 2-3 years before the turnaround is in execution.  After we've identified our main/ key disciplined contacting parties in detailed planing, we'll start pulling them in very early. The earlier we can start building those relationships, having them walk down their packages, meet the planners, meet our operations team, the sooner we can get some of their leadership in with us, the better. And again, you start building that relationship and understanding of the site, the site requirements, and that naturally moves into the execution window. It also helps that on day one, people aren't just showing up and you've lost a shift with everyone just getting oriented to the  site and the cadence of the event.   From a General Foreman level and above, you've already built those relationships out and now you're in a  normal workflow. If you start building that trust early, it pays dividends in the end.

Q: What are the common pitfalls that companies face during shutdowns, and how can organizations avoid these mistakes?

A: Some of the common pitfalls are project integration, scope identification/management. Project integration has been huge, specifically to ensure you have full integration. The word ‘integration’ gets tossed around quite a bit, but what that means is we're working as one team and that some of the responsibility that the project might have had pre-TAR is fully transferred to the turnaround team during the execution and then handed back for post. Ensuring that  plans are being maintained and that the priorities that the project feels should be the priorities of that day aren't being worked versus what's planned for that day in the turnaround. Clear delineation of roles and responsibilities during the turnaround window The other is strong scope identification and management. It is the basis of everything and must be validated and clear. . Have a strong scoping process that is risk-based. There are multiple places requested turnaround work could come from. Each should be discussed with the owner of the scope and the turnaround core team to ensure work is risk ranked into the turnaround. Tell us why it has to be in this turnaround window. Show the team all the data that validates the requested scope and ensure the team agrees. Every piece counts to ensure that we're doing the right scope  and being good stewards of the dollars that we’ve beenallocated for this event. After the scope is endorsed and frozen, you must have a management process that has a lot of rigor in it, pre-turnaround and during turnaround. Those are two big items that can impact the success of an event heavily.

CHALLENGES & SOLUTIONS:

Q: What have been some of the most challenging shutdowns or turnarounds you’ve worked on, and how did you overcome the hurdles you faced?

A: One of the most challenging ones I've ever done was a result of poor project integration. There was a mindset that it was a debottleneck  project with a turnaround tagged to it. If you looked at the turnaround hours, it was probably a third of the full hours that were going to be executed. That project was very late on IFAs, IFCs, their schedule was in poor shape, and the turnaround team hadn't seen any details . It was a lot of trust of, "Oh, this is a well-known EPC company, they've got everything under control, we just have this small little bit of turnaround work, so we're really staying outside of it It was supposed to be a 20-day event and it ended up being closer to 50 days when all was said and done. And from a challenge standpoint, because of the poor integration we were completely reactive and were just trying to manage the bleeding.We couldn't save the duration or the cost of the turnaround. We did get it done, but that was a great learning experience moving forward and has driven our projects and turnaround organizations to focus on early and quality integration.

Q: With the ongoing global supply chain challenges, how do you ensure timely delivery of critical materials and equipment during a turnaround?

A: One of the key things that we do is we have a turnaround procurement representative in our corporate turnaround group, and they are a conduit for us to understand that market, forecasting and identifying potential challenges. This hit us really hard in  2021-22 time period, where things that we used to be able to get overnight we could not get for months. Coming out of that, very early in our turnaround execution process while we are defining our worklist (18-24 months out),we're already identifying potential long leads  and reviewing those with our procurement reps. Our worklist does include capital/expense projects so engineered long leads are also included. Honestly, its just being as proactive as we can. We review the long lead list  monthly so that if we are seeing any market changes, we can adjust to that as quickly as possible. As we get within six months of the outage, it moves to biweekly and then to weekly. We're watching everything. We have a very strong tracking system for all materials and equipment We've been able to build some tools to get a lot of visibility on this, but really it's early identification, continuously reviewing that with our market SMEs ,and  having one consolidated sheet with absolutely everything.  

Q: How do you handle unexpected disruptions, such as safety incidents or equipment failures, during a shutdown, and what processes do you have in place to quickly adapt?

A: This is something we prepare for. That's always part of a turnaround, especially with our discovery work or potential discovery work. One of the key things that we look at is any data that we have on hand from our inspections or our process teams. We utilize risk based scoping so we get data on any current operational challenges with this piece of equipment, inspection data, drivers for work, and consequences if the work is not done. You want to try to identify those items where your SMEs are not confident in the data or are concerned with the data. , It’s the, "I don't know what we're going to find when we open this". Those are the items we want to act on and get on our risk register or get in front of us quickly to try to minimize as much true discovery as possible. . We want to use the time and the energy on discovery and our reaction truly on the things that we could not see coming. So, it’s rigorously looking at these lists and talking to equipment owners (maintenance, operations, reliability) to ensure we have good data and plans to address the risk. Seeing if we need to do some early studies, if we need to scan the tower to see if we can identify some of the areas that might be challenging for us.  In addition, we prepare for the execution window by running tabletops for situations.  We’re playing through some of those scenarios that we have seen in the past and that we've had to react to, to make sure the team is aligned and ready on who will take point, how that process will go and who will be involved. That helps streamline responses and keep the TA moving efficiently.

INDUSTRY COLLABORATION & COMMUNITY:

Q: How important is collaboration across the supply chain, including with vendors, contractors, and other external parties, to ensure a successful turnaround?

A: It's critical. This is a business of relationships, it's a business of people, it's a business of communication. You cannot successfully run these in a silo, so we are very sensitive to the amount of collaboration that is needed. We're very mindful of that and our relationships with our vendors and our suppliers. We participate in a lot of industry conferences and discussions. . You have to stay abreast of new things that are out there and how things are being used and how you continuously drive competitiveness for your benchmarking, but  understanding, benchmarking doesn't tell you whole picture.  For example, our common industry benchmarks  can't  tell you how your competitors are performing in comparison to you If you ask them how you are being outperformed, they can't directly answer that question for you. You've got to have relationships with some of these other turnaround professionals throughout the industry to learn those things that people are doing differently. So, to me, if you don't have that sense of community, , collaboration, trust and that awareness of things that are going around in the industry, you're not going to be as successful as an organization as you could be.

Q: What are some of the best practices for managing diverse teams during turnarounds, particularly when dealing with contractors from different regions or backgrounds?

A: This is kind of the bread and butter of a turnaround manager. You must have a skill set for bringing different people from different organizations and  backgrounds together and focusing on a common goal. We go through a series of these kick-off discussions where we align the full team on the goals, the objectives of the event. We explain the “why” behind the need for their support, how big of an event this is for the company. Every turnaround we do, we are extending the lifecycle of the unit. We're making it more reliable, we're making it more safe, we are allowing it to meet it's commercial goals and we are pushing profitability.We have a huge impact on the economy and our company.  Grounding our teams on the impact that their efforts will make is a way to drive our vision of success.  Clearly outlining roles and responsibilities and holding ourselves accountable to the expectations  is something we are not great at. It is a focus for us and our continuous improvement,  , We're all here to do a job and we need to know if we’re meeting the mark or we're not meeting the mark and having the ability to hold those discussions and support each other. Turnaround teams tend to get , very close, very quickly,  We support each other, we help each other. That doesn't mean that we don't disagree on things or have hard conversations – we do – but at the end of the day, we're doing the best thing we can for the company, and we are going to get everybody across the finish line together.

Q: How can industry leaders foster a culture of continuous improvement when it comes to shutdowns and turnarounds?

A: Quality steering teams/guidance review teams. I hear them multiple ways but it’s the commonly the leadership at that site, plus maybe some other external stakeholders, providing guidance  orbeing decision executives for the turnaround team. It’s important for these teams to be a support system for that turnaround – give them guidance, give them support when they need it, help them close  gaps, and make necessary decisions. Hold the turnaround team accountable, engage, and seek to understand details or challenges.  There's a lot of influence and focus that can come out of  leadership team. In addition, if a decision is made, we live together and we die together. There's a lot of trust that could be broken if something n is endorsed, it doesn't go as planned and there are repercussions.  That drives a culture of fear and not being willing to take smart, calculated risks that could drive immense benefits.

POST-TURNAROUND REVIEW & FUTURE PLANNING:

Q: How do you conduct post-turnaround reviews, and what metrics or KPIs do you use to measure success and areas for improvement?

A: There are a few things we do. One of the newer initiatives that was rolled out last year was an 80:20 work scope.  When the turnaround is over and as part of the close-out process, the turnaround manager and the core team work together and they build an 80:20 scope list for the next turnaround. They will pull routine maintenance/preventative maintenance, any inspection items that we know are going to be on the next turnaround cycle, and any projects we might know about tostart building out the worklist list for the next event. That's also how we estimate the budget for that next interval as well. This really helps the momentum of the next turnaround and helps  define the duration and the cost budgets for our future intervals.  We have a lengthy closeout checklist with associated due dates for completion. This includes the final metrics and KPIs. Cost, Duration, Environmental, Safety, and Quality. In addition there are details on lessons learned exercises, financial closeout, turnover to maintenance list, demobilization status, post work, rebairables,  80:20 scope collection, next interval budgets, and formal benchmarking data.  

Q: Can you share an example of how a recent shutdown or turnaround led to improvements in subsequent projects, either through lessons learned or the implementation of new practices?

A: We had a large ethylene outage, and the critical path for most ethylene units is going to be your compressor deck. We were optimizing the schedule for timing to get into the cases and the initial duration to get into those machines was around 10 days. Historically,  that has been our process/duration.  .  During on of our turnarounds, we were able to bring in more experienced rotating SMEs and they optimized that schedule and had some good conversations with our operations partners. and then thought through, really looked at our systemization, safety requirements of when we can open things up, and we were able to streamline substantially . I believe we cracked the case on day four (or thereabouts) and had never done it that quickly before. It was highly successful, and we were able to roll that into our TA execution standards.

Q: What advice would you offer to a new manager in the petrochemical turnaround industry?

A: I would say, get out and talk with people. There's a lot of power in the craft and a lot of knowledge if you're willing to go out, walk down the unit and talk with people. You really get a feel on the heartbeat of the turnaround. You can learn so much from just sitting in a lunch tent and talking with people. One, it builds a lot of trust and two, the communication that comes out of it is priceless. IP People love talking about what they do. They take a lot of pride in it and they really appreciate when people take the time and recognize it. It's a people business and you get so much out of those discussions. –Easy things that you can go and improve on for them to help build morale and effeciency So that would be one thing – don't be afraid to sit down and talk with anybody who's on the turnaround, The other thing I would say is, be humble – and that that goes for your whole career. You're always going to learn something. There's always something new. Nobody has this down 100% and doesn't need to continuously improve or look for ways to be more competitive. So, always keep that open mind, don't be afraid to try different things. Run crews in the field, go do some costs, figure out how P6 works. Stretching yourself and  being a little uncomfortable is a good thing.

CLOSING THOUGHTS:

Q: As the petrochemical industry faces increasing pressure for both operational efficiency and environmental responsibility, what do you think will be the most significant challenge in future shutdowns and turnarounds?

A: I think one of the most significant challenges, in my current position, is the reliability assets. Reliability and turnarounds go hand in hand. Sometimes we try to separate the two, but I think one of the biggest challenges as people are getting more competitive and trying to lengthen their intervals or shorten durations will depend very heavily on reliability strategies and helping people understand that connection. There are a lot of things we'd love to do with our TA strategies, , but we have got to finish implementing asset strategies and  scope what we need to do in turnarounds to support those  strategies. to If we don’t  have to clean out a lot of fouling or do invasive overhauls each cycle that will save days. The relationship between operations, reliability, and turnaround have to stay interconnected.

Sarah Earl,  Corporate Turnaround Technical Manager at Chevron Phillips Chemical will be speaking at the Petrochemical & Refining Engineering & Construction Conference, June 11-12 at the George R Brown Convention Center, Houston.  More info at https://www.epcshow.com/petrochem-refining-engineering-construction