Assessing the Implementation of Best Productivity Practices in Maintenance Activities, Shutdowns, and Turnarounds of Petrochemical Plants

Krishnankutty, Pramesh; Hwang, Bon‐Gang; Caldas, Carlos H.; Muralidharan, Sriya; Oliveira, Daniel P. de

doi:10.3390/su11051239

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The demographic information of participants such as, qualifications, level of expertise, job class, industry, years of experience, size of organization, staff turnover, and locations were gathered in the first section of the questionnaire. The later section of the questionnaire covered MoOSTs related questions such as, drivers for performing MoOSTs, causes of delays, estimated use of contracted services, MoOSTs frequency, MoOSTs budget, common approaches for documenting lessons learned, approximations of targeted performances of MoOSTs, based on duration and cost objectives [65][66][67][68]. Furthermore, during the semi-structured interviews, each participant was asked open ended questions, some of which were earlier presented in the survey as close-ended questions.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge Management and Experience Transfer in Major Maintenance Activities: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Iheukwumere-Esotu

Yunusa‐Kaltungo

2021

Sustainability

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Major overhauls, outages, shutdowns and turnarounds (MoOSTs) are significant maintenance interventions needed on a periodic basis to optimise the performance of physical industrial assets (PIAs). However, uncertainties in the forms of emergent and discovery work which sometimes cause delays and cost overruns are quite common partly because, MoOSTs are characterised by inherent challenges such as, but not limited to, short execution spans, volatility in ever-evolving schedules, task complexities as well as huge offline production and/or operation costs etc. Furthermore, in the literature, other complex elements which further constrains decision-makers in MoOSTs from satisfactorily achieving predetermined objectives have been identified, one of which is the lack of a formalised approach for capturing tacit knowledge from experienced practitioners. Consequently, because MoOSTs is an applied discipline, significant human endeavours are required in the planning and management, which makes it pertinent to examine and obtain the perspectives of experienced MoOSTs practitioners. Therefore, the aims of this study are two folds; firstly, to examine the extent of alignment between findings from literature as it relates to the challenges encountered during MoOSTs, as well as probe their underlying causes in practice. Secondly, to show how relevant the findings from this study would be in providing a baseline for establishing a proposal for capturing MoOSTs knowledge and the transfer of experience. The research approach adopted; thematic synthesis of themes which emerged from knowledge management challenges in MoOSTs identified via an earlier systematic literature review (SLR); and then, the identified challenges were validated through conducting interviews with practitioners. Demography analysis as well as specific MoOSTs related questions were administered via questionnaires, which were then analysed using frequency analysis method. Additionally, semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the perceptions of practitioners on pertinent MoOSTs issues. Both questionnaires and interview questions were formulated by findings obtained from the SLR, so as to examine whether the knowledge management challenges identified in the literature exist in practice, and if they do to what extent. In total, the selected responses of 49 practitioners, with origin across five industries were examined to determine the extent of alignment between literature and the practice-based perspectives. Based on the results, nine challenges were identified as critical themes, six of which were associated with managing knowledge. The study identified not only known constraints from literature but also their underlying causes based on the perspective of practitioners involved in multiple MoOSTs, which is crucial for developing sustainable mitigation. A unique contribution of this research is the mapping of demographic information such as industry, country, job class, years of experience, MoOSTs organization size, frequency for performing MoOSTs, etc., to responses obtained from participants, which has not been shown in literature prior to now. The importance of such rigorous efforts in the research design, is crucial for enabling the adoption of holistic approaches to eliminating the underlying causes of challenges encountered in MoOSTs, based on first hand reporting of people involved. In addition, the relevance of such first-hand analyses of responses obtained from this study; serve as baseline for the introduction of the proposal to adequately manage knowledge management issues in this discipline.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge Management and Experience Transfer in Major Maintenance Activities: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Iheukwumere-Esotu

Yunusa‐Kaltungo

2021

Sustainability

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“…Similarly, Krishnankutty et al [1] embraced a decision matrix to expand the scope of improvement for contractors and plant owners during the TAM. Their study revealed that auxiliary activities, including preparation, transportation, and material handling, absorbed substantial on-site work hours.…”

Section: Improve Tam Efficiency With Assessment Toolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Process plants are one of the topics that many researchers have devoted their time to exploring, with process plants covering a wide range of industries, such as petrochemicals, oil and gas, power plants, and food production. These studies address vital areas, such as the design, fabrication, and material selection of plant equipment, as well as construction procedures, testing requirements, safe operating practices, maintenance strategies, and overall operational efficiency [1][2][3][4][5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Turnaround Maintenance in Process Plants through On-Stream Phased Array Corrosion Mapping: A Review

Tai,

Sultan,

Łukaszewicz

et al. 2024

Preprint

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This review paper aims to understand the current processing plant maintenance systems and further identify on-stream phased array corrosion mapping (PACM) to reduce turnaround maintenance (TAM) activity during plant operations. Reducing the TAM duration and extending the TAM interval are common goals of most researchers. Thus, a detailed review was performed to understand the maintenance systems and the problems faced. Furthermore, a review of the current PACM application and the possibility of applying it during on-stream inspection was also per-formed. PACM has better detectability for localized corrosion, and the results can be obtained for a range of thicknesses, which is the main advantage of this method. The challenge is to apply it to a surface with high temperatures, owing to the greater probe contact and the limitation of ultrasonic properties. This literature review provides a more precise direction for future research to evaluate PACM on piping that can be utilized in inspection during plant operation at elevated temperatures. Detecting and monitoring corrosion growth without shutdown.

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“…Hwang et al [17] identified and prioritized the critical management strategies that can help improve productivity in the construction industry of Singapore. Although great efforts are made both by the practice and academia, the productivity of Singapore's construction industry is still low [18,19]. Hence, it is imperative to review and evaluate the practices conducted for improving construction productivity in Singapore.…”

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confidence: 99%

Productivity Metrics and Its Implementations in Construction Projects: A Case Study of Singapore

Shan

Hwang

et al. 2021

Sustainability

Self Cite

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Although some studies have used or developed different types of metrics to assess construction productivity in the existing literature, few of them investigated those metrics systematically and the differences between assessment results. This study examined the various types of metrics used in the assessment of the productivity of construction projects. First, a literature review was conducted first to identify prevailing productivity metrics at four levels, namely trade, project, company, and industry. Then, the questionnaire was developed and disseminated to 53 Singapore-based construction companies for data collection. Subsequently, non-parametric statistical tests were conducted to analyze the data collected by the questionnaire. Results showed that the top five metrics in terms of usage frequency and relative importance were “constructability score”, “buildable design score”, “square meter of built-up floor area per man-day”, “square meter per dollar”, and “output per worker.” In addition, results showed that differences existed in the assessment results when productivity metrics at different levels were used to conduct the same measurement. This is the first study to explore the most widely used metrics in productivity assessments of construction projects and investigate possible differences in assessment results. This study could help the authorities to review, evaluate, and modify the productivity metrics used in practice. Thus, this study is beneficial to the practice as well.

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Assessing the Implementation of Best Productivity Practices in Maintenance Activities, Shutdowns, and Turnarounds of Petrochemical Plants

Cited by 5 publications

References 34 publications

Knowledge Management and Experience Transfer in Major Maintenance Activities: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Knowledge Management and Experience Transfer in Major Maintenance Activities: A Practitioner’s Perspective

Enhancing Turnaround Maintenance in Process Plants through On-Stream Phased Array Corrosion Mapping: A Review

Productivity Metrics and Its Implementations in Construction Projects: A Case Study of Singapore

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