Planned shutdowns are costly, representing both a high direct cost and a large opportunity cost due to the associated lost production. This is true for both major turnarounds lasting weeks, which only occur every few years, and short preventative maintenance periods, which occur every few weeks.

If poorly executed, planned shuts can reduce operational stability and become a significant source of injuries – so it’s essential that shutdowns are both effective and efficient. There are four key levers that drive shutdown performance:

• Reducing the frequency of planned shutdowns
• Reducing the duration of the critical path for these shutdowns
• Improving management processes
• Reducing the direct costs of planned shutdowns

In our work with industrial clients, we’ve found the greatest potential benefits are often in the first lever. So, how can your organisation reduce the frequency of planned shutdowns?

Eliminate non-failure reasons for shutdowns

We saw one example at a metal processing plant where shutdowns were scheduled every two weeks, as historically, one piece of equipment became clogged with material over this time frame. We implemented a short, sharp procedure so this item could be cleaned opportunistically whenever unplanned downtime occurred. This approach reduced the build-up of material and allowed the interval between planned shutdowns to be increased from two to three, and then four weeks – halving the frequency of shutdowns.

Eliminate root causes of plant failure

The frequency of planned shutdowns is usually driven by the equipment items with the shortest time to repair. Analysing and then eliminating the root causes of failure in these items can extend the number of days between shutdowns. For example, at one site, we identified all the process and engineering issues that prevented the plant from reaching three to four, then five weeks without a shutdown, and prioritised these issues according to their impact and ease of implementation. Working with the client, we then systematically eliminated each issue by redesigning, rescheduling, applying preventative maintenance or condition monitoring techniques, and tightening inspections.

Allocate accountability for ‘requiring’ the shutdown

People often include work in the scope of a planned shutdown because ‘the shutdown is going to happen anyway’. This approach is then self-fulfilling – the shutdown occurs, but it’s not clear whether it really needs to happen now or in a week’s time. Our approach is to identify the equipment items driving a planned shutdown before it starts, and then determine whether they need to be included in the scope or can be maintained outside the shutdown. If the equipment does need to be included, we identify who is responsible for the equipment item’s operation, then work with that person to determine ways to improve the item and extend the time between shutdowns.

Pre-package some maintenance tasks so they can be done outside planned shutdowns

In some cases, it’s possible to inspect and replace equipment items known to frequently fail outside of planned shutdowns. That is, tasks that would normally be part of a planned shutdown can be ‘pre-packaged’ into discrete work activities and performed opportunistically, whenever there is unplanned downtime. This can extend the interval between planned shutdowns and also reduce their scope.

Ensure long-term planning by all divisions to coordinate optimum timing

Shutdowns can be required not only for operational and maintenance reasons but also for safety, regulatory and project requirements, amongst others. A coordinated planning process will facilitate all items requiring shutdowns being known well in advance. The optimum scheduling to minimise overall downtime can then be carried out.

An added benefit of reducing shutdown frequency is that the plant is stopped and started less frequently. Most machinery issues occur doing this, so eliminating planned shutdowns can also reduce unplanned events.

A rigorous focus on the factors that drive shutdown performance can lead to big reductions in costs and downtime. As an example, we worked with an international oil and gas company to reduce its well start-up time by more than 80% from a maximum 29 days to four days. By working closely with the team to address the key drivers of long downtime, we were able to establish several key improvements including a readiness checklist, detailed schedules and parallel execution of tasks. This benefit was multiplied across 15 wells that were completed.

 Learn more about how we have helped clients improve the effectiveness of their Planned Shutdowns here.