AltairStrickland: Driven by quality and safety

A Case Study: For 40+ years, AltairStrickland has led the way in turnarounds

Coming off a busy and successful 2017, AltairStrickland, an EMCOR Industrial Services Company and one of the country's premier authorities in process unit upgrades, revamps and turnarounds, continues its work as one of the industry's most sought-after refinery specialists.

Over the past 40-plus years, by listening to and collaborating with clients, AltairStrickland has honed its sweet spot: scheduled and unscheduled (emergency) work on fluid catalytic cracking units (FCCUs), delayed coking units (DCUs) and ammonia units. But the company's experience doesn't stop there. AltairStrickland is proficient in virtually all tasks related to turnarounds, including how to work through the many issues and challenges that stem from getting turnaround clients back on line safely and quickly.

A culture of safety and putting the customer first

"On every turnaround, AltairStrickland is constantly looking for ways to go above and beyond for clients," said Rick Ramirez, director of sales and marketing for AltairStrickland. "Most of our clients might see a turnaround once every five to seven years, but we see them all day, every day. That gives us the depth and range of experience required to help bring clients a sense of control in what they might otherwise perceive as the proverbial threatening storm.

"We always look at those challenges as opportunities to showcase what we've learned and put into practice over the last 40 years. Whether we're seeking avenues to quicker completion or simply following up with a client after the job is finished, the entire team at AltairStrickland is completely committed to customer satisfaction."

Averaging some 25 turnaround projects annually, AltairStrickland is busy and productive, regularly called back by clients to perform additional work. Jeff Webber, AltairStrickland's president, said more than 75 percent of AltairStrickland's clients have worked with the company on more than one job.

"That percentage speaks volumes," Webber explained. "It shows that AltairStrickland's goal isn't to perform one project with excellence, but to perform all of them with excellence. Our organization strives to work in a manner that consistently shows customers just how seriously we approach quality, pre-planning, safety and budgeting. When it comes time for additional project opportunities, AltairStrickland wants to be the preferred contractor for our customers. We want to earn the chance to work for them over and over again."

One refinery turnaround: 28 critical lifts, 135,000 man-hours

AltairStrickland showed its diverse range of turnaround construction expertise in March 2016, when it began pre-turnaround work at a 1,000-plus acre Chicago-area facility, which is a strategic supplier of transportation fuels to the upper Midwest. With a crude processing capacity of 167,000 barrels per day (bpd), the refinery manufactures several grades of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and the high-quality hydrocarbon solvents used in the production of paints, adhesives and coatings.

During AltairStrickland's pre-construction planning phase, also known as the "constructability" phase, many of the potential problems that could arise during the turnaround were identified and resolved.

"The team knew they could set the project up for success during those first critical pre-turnaround months," Ramirez said. "So much of the important work our teams do happens during the constructability phase."

The basis of the constructability concept is experienced construction personnel need to be involved with the project from the earliest stages to help ensure optimum results. Project studies, analyses, lift engineering and comprehensive rigging studies were just a few of the tactics taken to help facilitate a safer, more cost-effective turnaround.

Pre-construction planning: The road map to success

"It was a substantial job that took months of pre-planning," said Floyd Jordan, AltairStrickland's project manager for the turnaround. "We had to think through every single aspect of the project, right down to the inspection of every bolt used to fasten the structural steel we installed to reinforce the structure."

During the project, AltairStrickland replaced six coker drums with two derricks weighing between 320,000 and 680,000 pounds. Initially constructed and put into service between 1968 and 1970, the refinery posed a number of challenges related to the refinery's age, including concerns the old drums being removed were susceptible to cracking.

"During the pre-turnaround phase, we spent hours and hours with the engineering team to come up with the perfect solution to alleviate concerns over how old the drums were," Jordan said. "We ended up adding 50 tons of structural steel to make sure the structure could withstand the work we were getting ready to perform."

However, all the new steel they installed posed an additional challenge: near-endless inspections. The refinery was so rigorous in its inspection process that the AltairStrickland turnaround team encountered something it had never dealt with before.

"Every bolt and every weld was looked at and inspected," Jordan said. "The refinery required between 200 and 250 signatures just to put up the structural steel. But even with all those inspections, AltairStrickland still managed a weld-rejection rate of less than 0.05 percent. No matter how you look at it, that percentage is pretty impressive."

Another challenge AltairStrickland faced was having short cut cycles. "Their six-drum coker is on a 15-hour cut cycle, which is pretty quick," Jordan said. "Most coker units are on a 24-hour cycle."

The shortcut cycle meant AltairStrickland needed workers who were more disciplined, more adaptable, and able to perform fabrication work and other necessary tasks in their downtime. It also meant AltairStrickland's management team needed to orchestrate and implement topof- the-line coordination efforts to keep workers productive during the downtime and ready to resume work as soon as the cut cycle was over.

A complex turnaround managed by an expert team

During the peak of the turnaround, AltairStrickland had 60 people working around the clock. Counting the un-heading devices, the AltairStrickland team performed 28 critical lifts, some of them utilizing the largest crane in the world. AltairStrickland also completed the project with a safety record and work performance level so superior that AltairStrickland has been awarded more work from the client -- one of the accomplishments the company is most proud of.

"We worked 135,000 man-hours on this turnaround," Jordan explained. "Safety was a combined effort that the entire team adhered to rigorously. We had safety meetings before every shift and comprehensive safety plans from both the refinery's team and ours. It was a successful project all the way around, and we look forward to working for them again."

Key to success: Client satisfaction

One of the client's turnaround project managers praised the AltairStrickland crew in a follow-up survey completed after the project had finished in November 2017.

"AltairStrickland did a fantastic job supporting the turnaround wherever they could, even if it was not in the original scope," the client representative wrote. "They never once griped about additional work, as others have in the past, but always pushed forward with a smile. The team was the most polished I had seen, all working together as a well-oiled machine. I was very pleased with the performance."

AltairStrickland also received excellent marks on its post-turnaround survey for communication with refinery personnel, efficient reporting, superior quality and outstanding workmanship.

"By applying the same specialized, dedicated focus on planning, safety and quality to everything the company does, AltairStrickland plans to continue helping clients manage turnarounds from concept to completion," Webber added.

Rising to these types of turnaround challenges has helped AltairStrickland become a recognized industry name in turnaround construction and maintenance. It's the ability to think creatively and quickly, to see problems as opportunities and to innovate solutions that keeps AltairStrickland at the cutting edge of turnaround work. By continuing its long tradition of customer satisfaction and innovative problem solving, AltairStrickland looks forward to the future.

For more information, visit www. altairstrickland.com or call (281) 478-6200.

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