November 11, 2021 by SOLUTION EMPLOYED Benchmarking & Predictive Analytics SERVICE EMPLOYED Corporate Benchmarking BENEFITS ACHIEVED Cost growth cut in halfSchedule slip reduced by a thirdStronger safety and operability outcomes achievedProvided increased visibility into planning practicesIdentified an underperforming unit class and developed an actionable remediation plan Challenge A major refiner wanted to improve the cost and schedule predictability of their turnarounds. Additionally, they were looking to gain insight into their turnaround practices and outcomes. Specifically, they wanted to understand how competitive they were in comparison to their peers. They also wanted to know where gaps existed in the event planning and execution, and recommendations on how to close those gaps. Approach To deliver the insight the client was after, AP-Networks implemented the Corporate Benchmarking program. To begin the program, a company-wide analysis of major turnarounds was conducted. This was followed by twice yearly updates to incorporate new turnarounds into the dataset. During each benchmarking engagement, detailed data was collected on scope, labor hours, cost, schedule HSE, and a host of other metrics. To accompany and inform this data, in-depth interviews were conducted with the turnaround team in order to obtain a quantitative and qualitative understanding of each turnaround. Finally, the data was normalized for key drivers such as size, unit, and complexity, and then compared with data from similar Industry turnarounds. This comparison, made using data taken from the AP-Networks Turnaround Database, was used to identify strengths and weaknesses of the turnaround program. From these findings, AP-Networks proposed recommendations to close the identified gaps. Results The data and recommendations provided from the Corporate Benchmarking analysis enabled the client to halve their average turnaround cost growth and bring their costs in line with Industry norms. Similarly, schedule slip was reduced by a third and brought in line with Industry norms. A deep analysis of the data also highlighted a unit class that was performing poorly compared to Industry. From that analysis, a remediation plan was developed and implemented, resulting in a major improvement over all outcomes for events involving these units.