Turnarounds · Planning & SchedulingA turnaround is a race against the clock.
Hundreds of activities, many trades, a tight window – whether turnaround, outage or shutdown. If the schedule is weak, waiting times and idle crews follow – and every hour translates into money.
Get in touch – we will reply within one working day and look at your situation together with you.
Activity level
every work step a separate activity
Float Based Prioritization
own method
Every shift
Progress measured, not estimated
P6 & MSP
we work in your systems
Why scheduling is decisive
From the plan down to the shift.
The schedule is the one instrument that keeps hundreds of activities and many trades in sync. Turnaround scheduling is a craft: our schedulers come from practice and know the real durations in execution.
Before the first activity is created, we understand the plant, the layout logic and the bottlenecks – cranes, laydown areas, permits, specialist trades. And during the shutdown, the schedule stays alive: we measure progress every shift, make deviations visible early and take corrective action.
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Opening to inspection
Closing
Float until the target date
Float Based Prioritization – the principle
1Logical dependencyEvery work step requires the previous one to be completed. The work on a piece of equipment therefore forms a continuous chain.
2Priority by floatThe remaining float until the target date determines the priority. Activities without float take precedence.
3Continuous reassessmentProgress is measured every shift. If the float changes, the priority is reset.
The durations do not come from a handbook but from the work packages of technical planning. And if you want an independent assessment of schedule quality – including for schedules from your contractors and partners – the SMI delivers it in two to four days.
Scope of services
Plan and control
Logic-linked detailed scheduling
Down to activity level, with realistic durations from practice instead of desk values – derived from the work packages, not estimated.
Float Based Prioritization
Our own method: dynamic control of the schedule based on available float. Bottlenecks become visible early, shutdown time is reduced in a targeted way.
Critical path & bottleneck analysis
Cranes, laydown areas, permits and specialist trades are in the schedule as real constraints – not as a footnote beside it.
Progress measurement every shift
Actuals recording, variance and trend analysis, a reliable forecast of the remaining duration. The schedule stays alive instead of being yesterday's paper.
Resource & shift planning
The right crew at the right time in the right place – including the handovers between shifts.
Optional SMI-checked schedule quality
Objective review of the schedule before the shutdown – 35 criteria based on the 14 DCMA checks.
What you gain
What you gain
Shorter shutdown timeThe plant earns money again sooner – the most direct measurable effect of good planning.
Bottlenecks visible earlyNot only when crews are already waiting, but while replanning still has an effect.
A reliable scheduleOne that holds even under pressure and on which decisions can be based.
Objective schedule qualityOn request with an SMI-checked review before the shutdown – independently assessed.
Real-world durationsOur schedulers know how long a scaffold release really takes, not just what the handbook says.
Our approach
Understand, link, control
01
Understand the plant
Before the first activity is created: layout logic, access and bottlenecks – cranes, laydown areas, permits, specialist trades. A schedule that does not know the plant depicts an idealised version of it.
02
Build the network schedule
The approved scope and the assessed work packages are linked into a logic-linked schedule – with realistic durations, real constraints and a critical path that holds.
03
Control at the pace of the shutdown
During the shutdown, we measure progress, reprioritise using Float Based Prioritization and take corrective action early. Afterwards: planned-versus-actual comparison and lessons learned for the next cycle.
Context
When we take over the schedule
Three starting points. In all three, in-house planning capacity is not enough for what the deadline demands.
01Large turnaroundsA tight time window in the focus of the whole site and high schedule pressure.02High density of tradesMany parallel jobs and interfaces that have to run in sync.03Reinforcement for a limited timeOperators who want to temporarily strengthen planning depth or capacity.
What supports the schedule – and what puts it to the test
A schedule does not stand on its own: it needs a fixed scope, leadership that makes decisions on its basis – and an objective judgement of its quality.
Turnaround Management
The leading role in the turnaround – from definition through to closeout and lessons learned, as the operator's extended arm.
Float Based Prioritization is our own method for dynamic control of the schedule: activities are prioritised by their available float, not by habit or by who shouts loudest. Whoever has no float comes first. Because the float changes with every shift’s progress, the ranking changes too – bottlenecks become visible early and shutdown time is reduced in a targeted way.
To what level do you plan?
Down to activity level – with realistic durations from execution, not from the textbook. The durations come back from technical planning into the network schedule; that is the difference between an estimated schedule and a derived one.
Do you also take on control during the shutdown?
Yes. We measure progress every shift, make deviations visible early and actively take corrective action. The schedule stays reliable throughout the entire turnaround – it is a control instrument, not a document that was finished before the shutdown.
Can you review an existing schedule?
Yes. With the SMI we offer an objective review of schedule quality before the shutdown – regardless of who created the schedule, including schedules from your contractors and partners. 35 criteria, results in two to four days.
Which tools do you work with?
We work in the operator's systems, in particular Oracle Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project, and integrate into your existing planning landscape. You do not get an additional system, but a schedule in the tool you already use.
What does planning & scheduling cost?
We bill by the hour, by day rates or at a fixed price – we work out together which model fits. Planning during preparation is a different effort from continuous control in shift operation during the shutdown. In the free initial call, we propose a suitable team and a price.
Further reading: an article by our specialists on this topic.
Turnaround · Thomas Krischak
From foreman to planner: what operators gain when practitioners plan
No vocational training teaches technical planning and turnaround scheduling. We train practitioners to become our planners – for the entire turnaround.