General

Exception-Based Surveillance (EBS) optimizes resources, maximizing uptime and minimizing costs

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Effective management requires innovative solutionsThe effective management of resources – such as skilled labor, tools and parts – in environments with geographically-dispersed assets demands innovative solutions. Constantly seeking to increase productivity while reducing operational costs, many businesses are turning to technology in order to respond to asset service issues while tracking service cycle times and … Read more

Digitizing STO & Capital Project Workforces to Optimize Work Execution

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Today’s challengesReducing operating costs and increasing efficiencies – without negatively impacting power production or safety – are key challenges for power stations today. And where better to look for cost savings and improvements than in activities that take a significant chunk of overall costs, such as shutdowns, turnarounds, and outages (STOs), large capital projects, and … Read more

Turnarounds: Adrenaline Rush or 24/7 Headache?

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Turnarounds: Frenzied Failures or Streamlined Accomplishments?Long-term planning. Sleepless nights. An interruption to home life. Coordination of thousands of people, assets, timetables and budgets. Managing change quickly, practically on-the-fly. All of these (and many more) describe the execution of turnarounds in industrial workplaces, as businesses embark on a race against time to get equipment up and … Read more

Technology Enables Facility Run Length Extension and Turnaround Duration Minimization

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Turnarounds Are Being Deferred PetroVietnam Dung Quat Refinery is another of the growing list of sites announcing the deferral of their planned major turnaround for 2020. Anyone who has worked in a refinery or petrochemical plant will know that the last year of the cycle is tough – equipment is fouled, pressure drops are higher, equipment is … Read more

Is it Possible to Turnaround a Turnaround?

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Why are Turnarounds So Challenging?“A large turnaround can include up to 150,000 individual activities. With this level of complexity, approximately half of all shutdown projects are delayed by more than 20% and 80% go over budget by more than 10%. Frequently, the work scope increases unexpectedly by up to 50%.” Achieving Turnaround Success, Digital Refining In … Read more

Can industrial workplaces be pandemic resilient?

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COVID-19 and the demands for social distancing present many challenges in the industrial workplace. Can group activities be eliminated or automated? Can we be effective as social humans with restricted physical access to our colleagues? In industrial settings, many activities are either “team sports” or cannot be performed remotely – “welding from home”, for example, … Read more

COVID-19: An opportunity for change, not just a challenge

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Throughout time, pandemic diseases have generated change. COVID-19 is no different, as social distancing, staying home and isolation continue to change the fundamentals of social interaction and challenge the very essence of our society. When he stated “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity”, Albert Einstein was clearly focused on the intrinsic connection between … Read more