What We Can Learn From the STO 2015 Conference

The 2015 Shutdown and Turnaround Conference (STO) took place in The Netherlands back in February. The conference, an annual gathering of over 130 turnaround experts and practitioners from over 15 countries, dealt with the “challenges and developments” in turnaround management and outlined a number of case studies concerning offshore oil and gas operators, steel manufacturers and power generation operators. Here we’ll take a look at some of the key developments at the conference and offer some tips on how to effectively manage your own shutdown and turnaround without much hassle.

Industry Discussions

STO 2015 included a number of discussions on the following topics:

• The latest best practice and lessons learned case studies
• Contractor management
• Scope management methodologies
• Maintaining the highest HSE standards
• Best in class start-up methods
• Technological advancements for efficient operation

Attendees Survey

In terms of better shutdown management, the conference released a comprehensive survey of its participants looking at a range of topics, from identifying the major problems with shutdowns to finding the right contractors to deliver it.

Principal Problems While Running a Shutdown

The survey found that the most pressing problem for professionals operating a shutdown was scope creep with 67% of those involved seeing this as an issue. 27% found that delays arising from the interdependent nature of the contractors’ work was a major factor. Less prevalent was the issue of budget recalculation which is surely related to scope creep. This was an issue for 18% of those surveyed and indicates the difficulty in factoring all elements into the initial budget. Finally, at 15% was the issue of breakdown in contractor relations and communications either with each other or with the principal contractor.

Lack of Effective Manpower

The survey showed clearly that companies operating outages were struggling to find the right contractors to undertake the work. 69% of the conference participants said they were having difficulty finding the right workforce and this looks set to continue to be a problem in the coming year with skills shortages in many parts of the world. The majority of attendees were from North America, Europe and China with a large contingent also attending from the Middle East and South Africa.

Takeaways from STO 2015

So what were the takeaways from this years conference? A couple of things came back clearly that were being implemented successfully by companies internationally.

Preparation

Ask yourself, is this shutdown essential? Is the project work scoped out and budgeted and can you validate this? And do you have the corporate knowledge capable of carrying out the project? A rough guide to shutdowns and turnarounds indicates the planning process could take up to 12 months and what came back from STO is that the scope of the outage should to be capped somewhere between 1 and 3 months in advance of work starting.

Training

An appropriate orientation for shutdowns and turnarounds is one of the most important forms of training needed to ensure a successful outage. Shutdowns and turnarounds are intense work periods, therefore the online process may be a more reliable option. Safety training, shutdown processes, site information and contractor registration can all take place in advance of any contractor starting the turnaround and shutdown. What this does is allow both contractors and principal to focus on the work on day 1 and ensures a greater level of safety compliance when all training is recorded.

Quality Assurance

It is critical to have an effective quality assurance and quality checking program in place. The attendees at the conference were asked what their core methodologies were for ensuring quality assurance. 75% said initial contractor selection was part of their core, training was favoured by 61% and periodic inspections was employed by 52%. This shows that the quality assurance program begins months in advance rather than just when the outages is taking place. All of the QA and QC elements should be clearly outlined within the contractor orientation to avoid confusion.

If you would like to learn more about online training and registration for shutdown contractors that can streamline the start-up process and ensure compliance for safety then do contact us here.

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