The AFPM (American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers) defines a turnaround as:
…a planned period of extensive maintenance, renovation and capital investment at a refinery or other major manufacturing installation. Turnarounds happen, often at regular intervals, in addition to the routine maintenance and upkeep refineries receive on a daily basis when they’re in operation. Depending on the scale of turnarounds, facilities can go “offline” entirely for a stretch of weeks or scale back operations at one or more process units for a duration of time to complete inspections, maintenance and building projects.
Turnarounds are also known as shutdowns and outages. Given the production loss during the downtime window and the costs of performing the maintenance activities, extended advanced planning is paramount.
Valves are a focus area due to their immersion in the process and being subject to the wear and tear this causes. Performing a plant walkdown during the planning phase can greatly assist in prioritizing maintenance required during the turnaround.
Emerson Accredited Service Providers, combined with digital tools, can assist you in collecting and reviewing information to validate your installed base of valves, actuators, and regulators at plant startup or to analyze equipment health in preparation for a shutdown, turnaround, or outage.
An expert helps to digitally identify and collect equipment information. The data is securely exported into an easy-to-use report, and Emerson valve technical experts will review it with you to assist with budget creation, spares inventory considerations, product upgrade and obsolescence opportunities, and maintenance event planning.
Having accurate, up-to-date equipment data enables a proactive approach to equipment repair, upgrades, and project execution and management.
This quick 2-minute YouTube video, Purpose and Benefits of a Walkdown, highlights the steps in this planning process.
Visit the Shutdowns, Turnarounds & Outages Planning and Execution on Valve Solutions page on Emerson.com for more information on digitally transforming the planning process for your valves, actuators, and regulators.
