A planned shutdown often creates high-pressure situations for your plant maintenance department. A plant shutdown involves time limitations and extensive planning and scheduling work. Things can get complicated when the deadline for resuming production is just around the corner. While a planned shutdown can offer numerous benefits down the road, there are also some risks associated with them. It’s critical to manage risk effectively in order to make shutdowns a safe bet.
Risk is often defined as the deviation from the project plan. When it comes to plant shutdowns, it’s impossible to keep everything in accordance with the plan. How much the element of risk can impact a shutdown program depends on how much efforts have been put into planning.
Lack of experience, the magnitude of repairs, unrealistic estimates, incomplete work scope definition, poor communication, and various other problems can lead to cost overruns and delays which isn’t good for your bottom line. You can eliminate these factors or reduce the impact by having an effective risk management strategy in place.
Dealing with risk
The basic function of a risk management team is to effectively project the magnitude of risks involved and react accordingly. There are many factors that must be considered as the project is being outlined. Here is what can cause delays and cost overruns.
1. Unrealistic estimates
While setting high targets for productivity isn’t a bad approach, it’s important to be realistic when undergoing the estimation process. Estimates that are impossible to achieve create bottlenecks. As a result, tasks start getting delayed by overruns in the initial stage.
2. Inexperience team
Inexperienced maintenance personnel find it difficult to deal with certain tasks. For example, your workers might be unfamiliar with new advanced equipment you installed this year. To deal with these kinds of situations, your workers have to learn fast. Training can help your workers get familiar with new tasks.
3. Resource unavailability
Your workforce is likely to be under pressure at the end of a shutdown as the final work can create many obstacles. If it’s hard to obtain resources required to complete various tasks, it can cause serious delays. The availability of labor and materials must be ensured before taking on an extensive maintenance project.
Risk measurement
All problems are not created equal. While most problems can be really easy to deal with, some might cost you millions of dollars down the road. A good approach is to prioritize problems depending on their probability, cost, and tolerance level.
Hire a company that provides plant shutdown services
If you don’t have the required labor force and equipment to plan and execute a shutdown program, hire a company which provides dependable shutdowns and preventive maintenance services. Quality Millwright is a highly experienced engineering company in Edmonton where we provide preventive maintenance and shutdown services to a broad range of industries. It’s time to make your next plant maintenance project highly successful. Contact us to discuss your maintenance needs or visit our website for more information!
