Practices for Shorter, More Cost-Effective Turnarounds
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Download BrochureA turnaround is any scheduled shutdown of a facility or units within a facility, during which maintenance and/or capital work is performed. 
Turnarounds are critical to the overall operating efficiency of a facility. Minimizing the time a facility is shut down and optimizing the cost for completing these maintenance tasks are important for getting the facility back into profitable production. This course is officially registered with the Project Management Institute (PMI), allowing attendees to easily claim 14 Professional Development Units (PDUs) upon completion of the course.
The IPA Institute presents a 2-day course, “Practices for Shorter, More Cost Effective Turnarounds.” The program presents practices from IPA’s quantitative research into the drivers of turnaround effectiveness as measured by:
- Safety during the turnaround
- Shorter turnaround durations
- Smoother startups of the facility going back into production
- Lower capital and maintenance costs
- More predictable turnaround cost and schedules
The program presents key learnings and Best Practices for turnaround planning and execution. Practices associated with the capital project work that typically occurs during a turnaround are also presented. The course is intended to improve how organizations implement their turnarounds.
This course is unique in that it is based on IPA’s approach of quantitatively linking practices to improved outcomes. The program communicates these practices so that course participants can use them as a basis to improve their turnarounds. The findings are based on quantitative analysis of over 325 turnarounds executed worldwide, and represent a wide cross-section of the chemical and petrochemical industries. The program also incorporates findings from IPA’s database of over 4,500 plant-based projects to understand the integration of capital project into turnaround activities. The learnings communicated are based on the industry's actual experience, which provides an empirically grounded industry-wide benchmark for assessing and comparing practices and results between various turnarounds and maintenance systems.
Course Content and Organization
The seminar is divided into seven separate modules with each focusing on an important area of turnaround effectiveness and practices. Case studies and examples from actual turnarounds are the basis for discussion among participants. The modules for this seminar include the following:
Module 1: Introduction and Motivation
This module is a general overview of the course, providing basic definitions and presenting examples of recent performance of turnarounds and industry trends.
Module 2: Measuring Success and Failure
Drivers of short turnaround durations and lower capital and expense costs are presented and the business stake for improved turnaround effectiveness is also discussed.
Module 3: Overview of Turnaround Work Process
This section discusses the three phases of Turnaround FEL: Turnaround definition, preliminary planning, and detailed planning, and presents deliverables for each project stage.
Module 4: FEL and Its Components
This module defines Front-End Loading as the process by which a company develops detailed definition of a capital project to meet business objectives. During FEL these questions are answered: Why? What? When? How? Where? Who?
Module 5: Team Effectiveness
Module 5 presents the constituents of an effective turnaround team, and successful integration of contractors into the project team is also discussed.
Module 6: Importance of Clear Objectives
Turnaround performance is driven by clear business objectives, accompanied by realistic constraints. This section presents the negative effects of having unclear objectives.
Module 7: Contracting Strategy
Module 7 discusses different contracting approaches and the rationales for using them. It also presents research on the effect that different contracting strategies have on outcomes. It also discusses how to select the right contracting approach given the uncertainty in turnarounds.
Module 8: Construction Safety
Practices for improved construction safety during turnarounds is the primary topic of discussion here. Safety challenges for turnarounds are also touched on.
Module 9: Successful Integration of Turnarounds and Capital Projects
The objectives of this module are to identify the need for integration between turnaround teams and capital project teams; areas where integration is important; Best Practices for concurrently executing turnarounds and capital projects; best timing for completing integrated tasks; and the costs of not integrating.
Module 10: Successful Execution
The course concludes with a session to develop techniques for implementing improvements in Turnaround projects.
Target Audience
This program is intended for those who manage turnarounds as well as for those who participate in the planning of the turnaround activities. Managers of projects executed during turnarounds and those who participated in plant site capital projects programs would also benefit from the learnings presented in this program.
Customized Courses to Meet Your Organization’s Needs
"Practices for Shorter, More Cost-Effective Turnarounds" can be customized for your organization’s needs. Customization can include using your company’s turnaround experiences are part of the course case studies. It can also include development of a “roadmap” designed specifically for your organization, to assist in planning more successful turnarounds. Contact IPAInstitute@ipaglobal.com today to request a proposal.
Claiming PDUs
Practices for Shorter, More Cost-Effective Turnarounds is officially registered with PMI, which allows attendees to easily claim 14 PDUs upon completion of the course. Simply visit the PMI Continuing Certification Requirements site and submit the PDU Activity Reporting Form (Provider Number: 2767 / Activity Number: INS-TAR). For those claiming PDUs through other education organizations, please note that the duration of this course is 14 hours.
