Plants handling active ingredients
Before work starts, vessels must be emptied, cleaned and gas-tested. This shapes sequence and duration well beyond the mechanical work itself – and can hardly be speeded up by adding more people.
Industries · Process industry
Crop Science
We control shutdowns as well as capital projects in active-ingredient production and formulation – aligned with the season the plant produces for.
- Season
- the window follows the ability to supply
- Product changeovers
- Cleaning between products belongs in the plan
- Projects
- New builds, extensions and relocations
- Lead time
- 6–18 months to the major shutdown
Market
Between ability to supply and strict regulation
Active-ingredient and crop protection production sits between growing demand and a strict European approval framework. Active ingredients go through demanding approval procedures, and the portfolio focus is increasingly shifting towards biological and bio-based solutions. Manufacturers are concentrating their production on innovative active ingredients: plants are newly built, extended, converted or relocated to other sites – almost always integrated into an operating site.
Many active ingredients are made in multi-step syntheses. They are biologically active – that is exactly what they are made for – and accordingly demand strict precautions for occupational and environmental protection. For maintenance and projects this means: the plant must produce safely and reliably while it is being converted, extended and refitted for new products in parallel.
When a plant may stand still is decided here by the season in the field.
Challenges
What is different here
Season and ability to supply
The shutdown window follows production and sales logic. If it shifts, it is not just a date that moves but the production for the season.
Product changeovers and cleaning
Residues of a herbicide must not get into the next product. Cleaning, conversion and proof of cleanliness take time and need their own activities in the plan, not buffer time.
Multi-stage syntheses
Tightly linked process steps have to be shut down and restarted in a precise sequence – the order itself is part of the risk.
Investment at an operating site
New active ingredients, conversions and relocated production lines are built next to plants in operation – with their own engineering, their own permits and many trades that need a common control.
Typical tasks
Your task – and what we offer for it
On the left: what operators in this industry come to us with. On the right: the service that covers it.
A shutdown is coming up
Leadership from the definition phase to closeout and lessons learned – as the operator’s extended arm.
The scope keeps growing
Challenge workshops and a scope freeze that holds – especially where the window depends on the season.
The schedule has to fit the season
Logic-linked, dynamic detailed schedules, critical path and progress measurement every shift – with cleaning and gas testing as activities in their own right.
The work packages have to be right
Work packages that can be executed without queries – with permits, protective measures and material.
We are starting a capital project
Schedule, cost and documents for new builds, extensions and conversions – flexible in scope.
Many trades are building at the same time
Site Management & Construction Management
Coordination of trades and subcontractors under a single control – with fewer interfaces and clear responsibilities.
We want to know where our TAR organisation stands
Objective assessment of the turnaround organisation – 16 analysis elements, with benchmark.
We are short of people for the peak
Schedulers, supervisors, site managers and QA/QC staff – vetted and for exactly the months you need them.
Related services
Shutdown or project?
In this industry we support you in both worlds. From here you can go on to the services that belong to it.
Turnarounds
From the TAR-Check through scope and scheduling to leading the entire shutdown.
Go to servicesCapital projects
From feasibility through estimating and project controls to site management and overall responsibility.
Go to servicesFrequently asked questions
Questions answered
How do you account for cleaning and gas-freeing in the plan?
As separate activities with their own duration and their own owners – not as preparation time on the sidelines. Emptying, cleaning and gas-freeing come before the first hour of mechanical work and often determine when the trades can start at all.
How do you deal with the seasonal window?
We plan backwards from the ability to supply: first we establish when the plant must be producing again, that defines the window, and only within it is the scope frozen. If a scope does not fit the window, we split it wherever possible instead of stretching the window.
Do you also support capital projects?
Yes – from new builds through extensions and conversions to relocating a production line to another site, whether in a shutdown window or during operation. One example is a construction project worth €270 million, in which we coordinated many subcontractors under a single control and significantly reduced the number of interfaces.
How do you plan product changeovers?
Cleaning, changeover and proof that no residues carry over into the next product are activities in their own right, with their own duration. Treat them as float, and that is exactly where you lose the time that is missing at the end.
Do you work on the operator's side and independently?
Yes. We report to the operator, not to an executing trade – ep-cm is owner-managed and belongs to no group with executing companies. In crop science your requirements are binding twice over: the ability to supply sets the window, and the safe handling of the active ingredients sets the way of working. We plan along both and represent them towards everyone involved.
Our glossary explains technical terms from the shutdown and project business – 59 entries, each linked to the relevant service.
Let’s talk about
your plant.
Get in touch – we will respond within one working day, with people who know this industry. The initial call is free of charge.
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