Essay Sample on Project Management in Turnaround Maintenance Projects

Abstract

Turnaround maintenance is essential in the process industry. It is essential in maintaining a continuous productive capacity in the industry. Turnaround maintenance project often requires planning, execution, and control of the process. This paper highlights the structured approach that is used for managing Turnaround maintenance projects and outlines its practice in the process industry. In this paper, a structural approach is provided that guides the initiation, planning, execution and termination of Turnaround maintenance projects.

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Introduction

Project management processes and techniques are applied in various fields to help in the completion of projects. For instance, development of new products, development of production planning, installation of a factory, establishing and maintenance of complex processes. According to Al-Turki et al., (2019, p. 63) in recent years, an increase of complex activities has occurred thus project management techniques have often been used to enhance completion of this complex processes and projects. Project management process has often been used in outsourcing, gas and oil industries and even aerospace engineering. This paper focuses on the project management process and techniques in the process industry. In the process industry, project management techniques consist of management of projects such as the expansion of production plant or even construction of new plants. Project management techniques also include increasing the operational capacity of equipment in the industry to increase output and enhance repair and maintenance (Hadidi and Khater, 2015, p. 123). In the process industry, maintenance approach is important and focus past the preventive and reactive maintenance. An emphasis in the industry is given to the product quality, monitoring and the overall condition of the equipment. The maintenance projects of processing industries such as chemical industries use turnaround maintenance. These maintenances are essential to prevent an unscheduled breakdown in the industry which may have negative implications on the industries revenues. Proper maintenance of the process industry can lead to improved technical integrity and reliability; therefore, the workload in the process industry is predictable, and an effective and efficient work planning maintenance is generated (Elixmann et al., 2018, p. 1160). Turnaround maintenance projects have essential impacts on the industry. TAM is vital for continuous and consistent productivity, reduction of costs that are used for maintenance purposes, efficient management of resources and increasing the reliability of the industry's processes. Thus, in the process industry effort is required to monitor the processes and equipment performance to achieve targeted processing outputs.

Management Strategy

In TAM management is important as well as in the planning process. Management should always know the situation and support the TAM process for a recovery to be achieved. According to Wenchi et al., (2015, p. 8) framework development is essential for planning of maintenance and can play a critical role in companies' development of policies and schedules for maintenance. (Hadidi and Khater, 2015, p. 120) States that the development of frameworks provides for management; thus resources are appropriately utilized for maintenance. Planning and management of maintenance activities is an essential criterion that can be used for the success of the turnaround maintenance process. Management strategy can be done by drawing different managers of the departments to carry out the maintenance process. In the management strategy, a streamlined process can be used for planning to achieve best practices.

Execution of the Process

Generally, turnaround maintenance in chemical processing industry takes up to four weeks. During TAM, resources that were planned for the process are used hourly. Previously, monitoring could not be done on a real time base; therefore in the case, the teams developed units that were responsible for management of problems that arise during the TAM process. Problems that pop-out during the process extend the period, therefore, leading to productivity effects to the company. The effects include losses to the company. During TAM some of the activities that are involved in the process may have fallen to the critical path because of the increased workload. For example, after inspection, the team realized that the furnace tubes needed to be renewed thus leading to a critical path. To control the critical path, the members pulled resources and used them to complete the work. The data provided show that during the shutdown process, the complication was not experienced; therefore the estimation that was done during the workshop was deemed to be correct. In the new approach, plant productivity is viewed as the primary concern and not the budget; therefore, the group planned for maintenance activities and budget itemized for the activities that they had planned. The workshops are essential as they are used to determine and discuss schedules and budgets. During TAM in the process industry, the discovery of new maintenance items was made. The analysis further shows that civil and mechanical costs contributed to the additional costs that were realized.

Monitoring and Control

Monitoring, evaluation, and control are essential aspects of any process. Monitoring and control phase help the industry is streamlining the process wherever it is deemed to be necessary. At this face, feedback is obtained which can be documented and use in the future. The evaluation and review of the process can be done at different phases for instance during commissioning. Monitoring and control focus on the aspects of the company or process, for instance, technical factors such as technology and maintenance can be monitored. Even non-technical factor can also be evaluated and reviewed. For example, in chemical processing industries the technical factors can be evaluated and documented and the results shared with other companies that are in the same field.

Conclusions and Recommendations

The recommendations are useful in the management of TAM projects for companies that are dealing with similar projects. The case study, however, has limits in gaining access to sensitive data and information event these events occurred during the management strategy, planning and execution phase. Project management techniques, processes, and tools are important for turnaround maintenance because of the complexity and resources that are used. It is essential that a central database is established that will be used to archive and store turnaround maintenance process that has been previously used hence helping the companies to manage risks that could otherwise be time-consuming and expensive in the whole TAM process. Information technology is essential and should be integrated into the TAM process (Elixmann et al., 2018, p. 1163). The industry should plan for maintenance activities such as startup activities, plant shutdown, and preparation of appropriate documents. The company should come up with standard activities and plans that can be used for each equipment type. The development of these standard plans will help in reduction of efforts, time and cost used in the future to plans. Because the current system's application in a single plant, the experience form this TAM will be useful in the shutdown of other processing plants.

References

Al-Turki, U., Duffuaa, S. and Bendaya, M., 2019. Trends in turnaround maintenance planning: a literature review. Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering. 154-167

Elixmann, D., Imle, M., Feist, M. and Becher, R.D., 2018. Smarter process engineering across the plant life-cycle: CAPE 4.0 in industrial practice. In Computer Aided Chemical Engineering (Vol. 43, pp. 1159-1163). Elsevier.

Hadidi, L.A. and Khater, M.A., 2015. Loss prevention in turnaround maintenance projects by selecting contractors based on safety criteria using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, 34, pp.115-126.

Wenchi, S., Wang, J., Wang, X. and Chong, H.Y., 2015, September. An application of value stream mapping for turnaround maintenance in the oil and gas industry: Case study and lessons learned. In Proc. 31st Annual ARCOM Conference (pp. 7-9).