For most companies that run continuously, shutdowns and outages consume a lion’s share of both the maintenance and capital budgets. By its very nature, the shutdown is fat. The reason for this is the skewed balance between the cost of downtime and the costs of shutdown resources. In some cases the costs of having extra resources (such as extra cranes) are dwarfed by the avoided cost of downtime. Shutdowns are also fat because the attitude is “Get’er done and we’ll worry about the budget when it’s over.” Times have changed. This old approach to shutdowns is taken too far and in itself becomes a fat. It is certainly a fat approach now when times are tough and prices and demand soften. The fact that the downtime is more expensive than resources under any economic condition doesn’t justify the waste of resources.
- Discoverables are a key
source of fat. Discoverables are
jobs that are “discovered” after
the shutdown starts (when you
start opening things up.) - Bad meetings are fat.
- Use project management
software. - 85% of the planning and
scheduling work is done before
the shutdown begins. - Keep an eye on over-
ordering of materials and return
unused inventory as soon as you
know you won’t use it. - Note explicitly whether
there are enough supplies
for the entire shutdown (the
planner should put their hands
on these items and not accept
the computer’s inventory level). - Keep an eye on excessive
numbers of rented cranes,
welding units, generators, compressors, tanks, scaffolding
and other equipment. - Be on the lookout for
situations where resources are
being paid for but are not being
used. - Validate the work list and
remove duplications. - Settle claims with any
contractors promptly to avoid
additional fees and penalties.