How to Achieve STO Success with Clear Precision Work Instructions

Precision-work instructions are valuable for bringing in a successful shutdown, turnaround, or outage (STO) event. The goals for a successful STO event are clear:

1. Come in on scope.
2. Come in on schedule.
3. Come in on budget.
4. Ensure zero adverse safety or environmental consequences.
5. Ensure a smooth and successful restart.

Precision work instructions support these goals, especially a smooth and successful restart. Let’s explore this further.

The typical STO event combines many divergent jobs, including capital tie-ins, and utilizes a diverse labor force that includes contractors from multiple disciplines and organizations. Moreover, everything must be done on a very tight and usually inflexible time schedule.

An STO has many moving parts, especially when it’s a huge and complex event. For most plant managers, the only thing worse than planning and executing an STO is dealing with poor work-quality issues in the 30, 60, or 90 days following the operation’s startup.

A Simple, Value-Adding Concept

Precision work instructions are a simple concept, but they seem endangered in most STO plans. These instructions are part of an STO work package that provides the tradesperson or technician with specific details about how a job must be completed and, where appropriate, specifies the tools that should be employed to complete that job.

Precision work instructions supplement other elements of the work packages, including, among other things, bills of materials (BOMs), to ensure the right work is done right. Such instructions should provide a precise sequence in which tasks should be completed; an appropriate amount of detail about how to complete the task; precisely defined fit, tolerance, quantity, and quality details; and required work-quality checks to ensure that a job was done correctly.

Think ‘Knowledge and Know-How’

When I discuss this topic with plant maintenance managers and reliability engineers, they often respond, “We employ experienced tradespeople who should know how to complete the job.” I typically respond with questions like, “What’s the required torque value for a 7/8-inch SAE 5 UNC threaded fastener?”

The conversation normally gets quiet at that point, or I’ll hear, “We have torque tables in the shop.” Or, “It’s the contractors’ responsibility to provide that information.” Precision-work instructions, though, are about something else: knowledge and know-how management. This includes knowledge and know-how in administration, logistics, and engineering.

Knowledge and know-how administration converts tacit knowledge into formal knowledge and know-how. Too many organizations rely on tacitly held knowledge contained in the heads of tradespeople and technicians—sometimes referred to as tribal knowledge. Relying on tacit knowledge has consistency and continuity problems that result in work-quality issues.

From a consistency perspective, it’s doubtful that all tradespeople possess the same concept about how a particular job should be completed, and they’ll surely possess different levels of experience. Additionally, tradespeople and technicians demonstrate various levels of initiative to obtain the information necessary to complete a quality job when it’s missing from the work instructions provided.

From a continuity perspective, when knowledge and know-how are held tacitly, your organization’s intellectual property walks out the door when experienced people resign or retire. Formalizing their expertise and know-how prevents what is sometimes called “corporate amnesia”— where the organization forgets how to run its business.

Another chief benefit of formalizing tacit knowledge and know-how is that it supports training and helps less-experienced people function more effectively. Knowledge administration is essential for all maintenance activities, but deficiencies are particularly risky during an STO event.

Knowledge and know-how logistics refers to getting the necessary information to the people who need it, where they need it, and when they need it. The schedule is quite compressed during an STO event. If clear work instructions are unavailable where and when required, the tradespersons and technicians must search for the necessary information (which adversely affects schedule compliance) or forge ahead and complete the job using their best guesses (creating work-quality problems). Neither scenario is ideal.

Knowledge and know-how engineering closes the loop. Improving work instructions is difficult unless they’re clearly defined and documented. Once that’s done, engineers can evaluate opportunities to increase reliability by selecting different parts or materials or modifying part, component, or system design. Remember that maintenance engineers and planners must clearly define the current state before recommending changes that will increase maintenance work effectiveness or efficiency.

Consider the Return On Investment

Precision work instructions are essential for all aspects of plant maintenance—and plant operations, for that matter. However, these types of instructions are necessary during an STO event. Straightforward instructions, made available where and when required, result in high-quality and safe work. However, the compressed timeline and diversity of maintenance jobs completed during an STO raises the stakes.

If you experience problems with startup quality and operational stability following an STO event, look at your maintenance work instructions. Reliance on tribal knowledge may be the root cause.