Getting Down to Brass Tacks at TINC Canada 2014

Calgary, Alberta, February 11th, 2014

When it comes to turnarounds, we all want to do better. But what does better look like? What strategies are actually working in the field? Which ones aren’t? These were just some of the questions on the table at the second annual TINC Canada.

Picking up where the inaugural TINC Canada left off, this year’s conference, held on January 28th, 2014 at The Metropolitan Conference Centre, moved from a half day to a full day and featured guest speakers from Suncor, Shell, and Agrium, as well as presentations from AP-Networks. Together, the presenters explored recent trends and challenges in turnarounds, and offered insight on how to turn those challenges into opportunities. Representatives from 13 companies were there to get in on the discussion.

Presentations

Kevin Moorehouse, Manager of the Turnaround Management Office at Suncor, started the day off by discussing what it takes to develop a plan for achieving organization-wide turnaround excellence. While every organization’s plan for success will be different, Kevin laid out the three things that any organization must have in place to truly improve: strong leadership with support throughout the organization, a delivery process in place that everyone can follow, and lastly, staff knowledge and a way to develop that knowledge.

Nathan Centofanti, Manager of Benchmarking and Data Services at AP-Networks, walked us through some of the data that AP-Networks has collected from industry. He started his presentation by stating the following: turnarounds have moved beyond the realm of simple maintenance events; improving turnaround performance can create a true competitive advantage, achieving tangible improvements in the bottom line.

Bobby Vichich, Vice President of Turnaround Services at AP-Networks, tackled a subject that seemed to be on everyone’s minds: How do you successfully integrate capital projects with turnarounds? This is a major challenge facing industry today, as an inability to integrate projects with turnarounds is one of the leading drivers of turnaround failure. The most important point Bobby drove home was the need for a mindset change: A turnaround is executed by one integrated team—there is no your scope, or my scope, but our scope.

Frank Engli, Turnaround Manager at Shell Scotford, gave us a different way to look at turnarounds. Often, the scope of a turnaround is seemingly arbitrary, with your site left to plan out the best way to tackle the impending challenge. But Frank suggested a reversal of that relationship, determining your site’s capability and structuring the turnaround to match. Frank stressed that site limitations differ across industry, and acknowledged that setting these limitations may garner pushback from leadership. But in discovering these limitations and working to stay within them, sites can achieve more reliable turnaround outcomes.

Chris McKay, Turnaround Leader at Agrium Carseland, gave us an introduction to the Monte Carlo tool, succinctly summing up the purpose of the tool as follows: to quantify uncertainty, and let sites know what to focus on. After wowing everyone with the potential of Monte Carlo, Chris threw in an important warning: Monte Carlo is only as good as the inputs your team puts into it. Honest input sessions—that include outlier “black swan” scenarios as well as likely outcomes—provide team members with an outlet for their uncertainty, and help ensure that the outputs your team receives are accurate.

Phil Richer, a Consultant at AP-Networks, posed a question to everyone: When does your organization put you at risk? To find out, it’s necessary to look at both your overall site staffing levels, as well as the capability of your Turnaround Department. Phil walked us through some of the data that AP-Networks has collected, and showed us that there are, in fact, organizational “tipping points,” after which turnaround execution enters a critical zone and meeting targets becomes less and less likely.

Breakout Session

In the morning, attendees broke into small groups for the TINC Canada Breakout Session. A staple of all TINC conferences, Breakout Sessions offer attendees a chance to engage in in-depth discussion on a specific topic. Eschewing presenters, these Sessions are focused on attendees talking with one another. At TINC Canada, attendees were offered a choice of one of three topics:

• Utilizing the Schedule to Drive Turnarounds
• Turnaround Estimating Practices
• Integrating Capital Projects

These Breakout Sessions epitomize what TINC is all about. As one attendee put it:

“It is great to ‘get down’ to brass tacks. No vendor/contractor involvement is a good thing. This conference is a great way to discuss real issues and resolution of issues.”

Spurred by the day’s presentations, attendees were eager to discuss what was happening in their own facilities. Asking questions and offering advice, they were able to gain the kind of genuine insight that only comes from talking to other professionals.

Wrap-Up

At TINC Canada 2014, there was an emphasis on understanding your site capabilities and making turnarounds work for you. Our presenters offered us different methods for assessing and categorizing site capability, looking at everything from maturity and historical performance to organizational “muscle memory.” Beyond understanding your site, presenters emphasized the importance of understanding the turnaround ahead. The message was clear: by strategically structuring not just your organization, but your projects and turnarounds themselves, you can make turnarounds play to your strengths, rather than take advantage of your weaknesses.

As always, true insight comes from collaboration, and AP-Canada was happy to be part of the conversation at TINC Canada 2014.

Asset Performance Canada, an affiliate of Asset Performance Networks, is the trusted leader for improving asset and operational performance in petroleum, chemical, and energy companies worldwide. With data from more than 1,000 turnarounds across the globe, the company’s turnaround database is the most comprehensive in the industry.

Media Contact: communications@ap-networks.com