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Aspects of Shutdown Planning - Safety & Procurement

Safety: There may be many factors contributing to success of the shutdown and the most important is safety. As the safety performance is measured by the number of incidents/accidents, preparation is required to make it nil. So what type of preparation does it require? Identify a team which has experience in plant operations, handling hazardous material and occupational safety to prevent "grinding halt' issues. Team has to review the previous occurred incident/accident and identify the cause for the issue. Segregate the proposed list of activity as Ground work, working at height, Vessel entry and hot work. Do a pre-assessment on the activity that would be carried out and analyze the work area for any worker exposure risk. Safety team has to define the potential loss which is associated with hazards and present the need to eliminate the hazards to Shutdown team. If elimination is not possible detailed plan needs to be framed to deal with the hazards.

Procurement: After identifying the equipment, for the detailed task that would be executed determine the list of spare parts required. Segregate the identified spare parts based on their lead time. One which has highest lead time needs to be ordered first.
Procurement considers and involves a gamut of factors and activities to be done beforehand.
• Itemize the materials - Have a detailed listing of materials that would be required for carrying out the shutdown for the above identified tasks.
• If the required material is stock item then check if the sufficient quantity is available for the shutdown requirement.
• If the required material is of type non-stock then ensure that the material is available before taking the equipment for shutdown.
• Itemize the spares that need to be procured and these are generally classified as MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operation) in manufacturing organizations.
• Hire/Rent any equipment (example a crane, etc.) that would be required carryout shutdown wherever applicable.
• Plan a hand over of excess materials, spares and return rental items appropriately.
• Ensure to mention the manufacturing/shipping dates appropriately by taking into consideration the lead times if not the project may run into delays.
• Communicate the requirement to 3PL /freight forwarding details like "date required", "date expected ready", "mode of transport", etc.
• Also, create a physical quarantine area to store incorrect or return materials.
• Have a standard procedure for any handling exceptional process and ensure that the personnel's are trained to handle any exception.
• Ensure that cycle counting and warranty activities managed appropriately so that there are no surprises at the end.

Execution and evaluation are the next phases in shutdown but it would not be a success if its initial phase planning is unsuccessful. A shutdown can be an overwhelming undertaking if managed as a single, stand-alone event. However, if the event is broken down into various phases with detailed, formal processes in each phase, it can be managed successfully each and every time.


a very informative and professional article five stars

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