Addivant, a global specialty chemicals company that provides next-generation additive solutions to the rubber and polymer industries, has gone through some challenges over the past four years, according to Addivant Plant Manager Chris Vaughn.
"But we've learned some things," he said.
Discussing some of those challenges brought to bear by the company's turnarounds at the Downstream Engineering, Construction & Maintenance Conference held recently in New Orleans, Vaughn isolated accountability and visibility as two key challenges faced by stakeholders during those turnarounds.
Specifically, Vaughn offered tips on how to integrate both concepts into a turnaround "that has a lot of complexity and a lot of people doing multiple things at one time."
One of the techniques Vaughn touted is a 30-minute meeting that quickly updates personnel regarding all the activities going on throughout the day. The meeting aids in accountability as well as decision-making, offering "a quick status of the turnaround for everyone that is really, really beneficial," Vaughn said.
"We had all the organizations from operations, safety, capital projects and everyone else in there," he said. "This would be your single source of the truth."
Maintenance activities, critical paths and other objectives are accentuated in these short meetings, Vaughn said.
"There is a lot of drama in turnarounds, and there are a lot of people talking," he added. "But having this (meeting) where everybody who is involved in the turnaround can help everyone understand what the real challenges are -- not just some personality conflicts going on in the field."
Soliciting workers' input in assessing and critiquing how turnarounds are executed is also very beneficial, Vaughn said.
"We used SurveyMonkey," he said. "We had a preset selection of about 20 different multiple choice questions like, 'Did you get enough training?' and 'Were the objectives set?'"
Two portions of the survey specifically appealed to Vaughn as being particularly effective in improving efficiency.
"Those were, 'Tell me three things that we did well,' and 'List three or more things that we need to work on,'" he said. "After the last turnaround, someone had the good idea that one of the areas where we really needed to do a better job was to look at our ERT (emergency response team) staffing: How many incident commanders, rescue leaders and other ERT members do we need to support safe execution on turnarounds?"
The team then collected all the data and put together focus groups to address various concerns.
"And then we would publish the results and corrective actions," Vaughn said.
Safety = Savings
Vaughn's first turnaround, he admitted, "was pretty much a disaster."
"It was uncoordinated, and we couldn't get ourselves together straight," he recalled.
As he sat in his supervisor's office awaiting his midyear review following this turnaround, Vaughn thought it was unlikely he would receive a promotion for his performance.
"Then my boss told me something that was really impactful to me," Vaughn recalled. "He said, 'Chris, what you did took a little bit longer, but the unit that you put back together is safer and more efficient to operate now.'
"So I think, for myself, as long as we maintain our right to operate and we have safe equipment and supporting operations, as well as having no injuries and no incidents on turnarounds, that's successful. For me, it's getting the unit back safe so the guys in the field who we work with closely can operate it, make product, make money and have fun."
Vaughn also focused on how he ultimately qualifies turnaround savings.
"There are no savings in a turnaround, in my opinion, if you hurt somebody or have an environmental impact, or if you have major, significant property damage," he said. "We may miss it by a couple of days but, overall, as long as you support the business and get back on line so that you don't have any misses on your production plan, these are the things that are most important.
"Costs are important. But those are the things that I qualify as turnaround savings."
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