The November technology evening was on the topic of shutdown planning, which was clearly of interest and attracted an audience of over sixty members and visitors to the usual venue at the Durban Country Club. Several members, who had been upgraded, were presented with their certificates by Hennie Prinsloo before the technical presentation began.
Alassandro Macedo, director of Instroworx, gave an informative talk as he took an attentive audience through the sequence of planning, execution and critique of work involved when a process plant has to be to be shut down for maintenance or upgrading.
Pre-shutdown work, essential for developing a successful plan, was the starting point of this presentation where typical activities were demonstrated together with timelines. After answering questions on some of the details, Alassandro moved on through the materials procurement and handling phase, for which the importance of having a multi-disciplinary and experienced team was shown to be critical for a successful outcome.
Next there came the actual shutdown, for which there were key points highlighted as requiring attention, and an example shown of a check list for work execution. Finally he covered post-shutdown activities, noting that there are always learning points throughout the process that could benefit future shutdowns.
Hennie Prinsloo (left) thanks Alassandro Macedo for the presentation.
What of the future for shutdown planning and implementation? A video demonstrated potential to use connectivity between the field workforce and a centralised information system, which can be used to supply data plus loop and hook-up drawings, while tracking actual versus planned progress so that resources can be optimised.
After a final question and answer session, Alassandro was thanked by Hennie who also thanked Instroworx for co-sponsoring the evening. The evening concluded with some lively networking over a meal and drinks.
Interested readers can find an in-depth article on the subject on page 32.
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