Maintenance in Manufacturing Plant: Turnaround Planning and Monitoring

Keywords: Plant maintenance, Turnaround management, Maintenance planning.

A turnaround (TA) is a planned shut down of a production plant for general maintenance/repair or implementation of capital investment jobs or a combination thereof.

Scope:

A turnaround of a plant which is operating on a seasonal basis, e.g. a sugar refinery, or is part of a network, e.g. a power station, may differ substantially from a turnaround of a plant operating on a continuous basis like an oil refinery where each shutdown implies a non-recoverable production loss.

The latter category obviously requires the highest degree of careful planning and time scheduling of the various stages of the turnaround. The present paper will therefore focus on a turnaround of a continuously operating plant with emphasis on those items which have proven to be essential for a successful implementation. However, the philosophy expressed herein may well be applied with suitable adaptation to other plants of both categories.

A turnaround generally comprises three phases:

1. Pre-turnaround phase

2. Turnaround phase

3. Post-turnaround phase

The three phases are described in a general way in the following sections.

Appendix 1 lists the key factors influencing the planning and performance monitoring of the turnaround.

Appendix 2 elaborates on the monitoring of plant equipment condition in operation as the basis for determining the scope and timing of the turnaround.

Appendix 3 shows examples of data sheets and time schedules used for the performance monitoring of the turnaround.

Jan D Pedersen, Kalundborg. Denmark

28 pages, 4 figures.