Plant Turnarounds: How to Deal with It

Heavy industrial plants like refineries and the like can’t always keep operating at full throttle. Wear and tear on equipment can affect a plant’s performance, and if plant equipment isn’t given proper maintenance, the financial loss to the company and the economy can be massive. This is why turnarounds are important.

A plant turnaround is a planned shutdown that stops the operation of a plant, either totally or partially, so that repairs and maintenance may be done to the plant’s equipment. This isn’t a spur-of-the-moment event; to have an ideal turnaround, plant managers usually plan for it ahead of time. The main thing that plant managers have to take into account is the potential costs of a shutdown. For example, if an oil or chemical plant servicing a fleet of vehicles is planning a turnaround, managers would calculate how much money will be lost from not keeping your vehicles operating. They will then think about alternate methods of supply like fueling services.

A plant turnaround can take a while. At the very minimum, a plant will need to be out of commission for one to four weeks. Any smart manager will try to seek alternatives to the shutdown; they’ll need to contact experienced suppliers to bridge the gap during this time.