The most financially damaging situations a plant faces are those related to unplanned shutdowns and downtime. Maintaining business continuity and ensuring equipment reliability is one of the top priorities of many businesses. Considering the emerging market demands and need for speed and consistency, it’s critical for a business to keep its critical equipment and operations running smoothly. Unforeseen delays can have a bad impact on production, costs and deliveries.
An unplanned shutdown is an unexpected event that can negatively impact your ROI. It leads to disruptions in cycle time, quality and cost. On the other hand, planned shutdowns are a well-thought-out and scheduled in order to restore equipment performance and maintain the facility. Since planned shutdowns are a controlled maintenance event in terms of resources and time, it is relatively easy to deal with labor losses and productivity when things are planned ahead.
Shutdown issues
When one component of a facility shuts down, it tends to have a ripple effect on everything else. In order to minimize the deleterious effect of a shutdown on your workflow, consult a preventive maintenance company which specializes in preventive maintenance and shutdowns. Shutdown programs involving major equipment are usually expensive; therefore, it’s important to plan them well in order to fix and maintain your critical equipment.
There are different types of shutdowns; some of them are more justified than others. We can divide them into two categories: planned and forced or unplanned. While it’s easier to deal with planned delays, unplanned delays can turn into a major roadblock for productivity.
Shutdown management
Unplanned shutdowns can be disastrous for organizations. However, careful planning, effective management and attention to detail can make your next plant shutdown greatly advantageous. Shutdowns can be rewarding provided that you have a management team capable of dealing with crises. For instance, if your maintenance team has already developed a set of procedures to respond to shutdowns and outages, it becomes easy to respond quickly and effectively.
It’s advisable to train your staff in advance and let them know their tasks and how those tasks can be performed. The inspection should include systematic steps needed to execute the process properly. The preventive maintenance tasks must be made comprehensible through images, estimated costs, time, labor assignments, associated assets, etc. Moreover, having a contingency plan in place can make life easier. Weather-related emergencies, chemical spills, internal service failures, and fire are some of the factors that make it difficult to carry out maintenance tasks as initially planned.
Measuring the effectiveness of your efforts is vital. Your project management team should try to lower the cost of the shutdown as compared to previous years. Increased equipment reliability must be ensured through failure analysis. Major shutdowns should be treated as an opportunity to show how prepared you are to perform under pressure. A well-executed and well-planned shutdown program can be a satisfying experience.
If you don’t have in-house preventive maintenance and shutdowns experts to deal with planned or unplanned situations, hire a team of professionals to get the job done in a time-efficient manner. Quality Millwright provides preventive maintenance and shutdowns services to various industries in Edmonton and surrounding areas. Contact us for more information!
