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The Turnaround Industry Network Conference, held on June 19, 2003 and hosted by Asset Performance Networks, enabled owners to "Share Strategies for Improving Turnaround Performance." The conference, which was a mix of owner presentations, breakout sessions, and networking activities, was viewed as very effective by all the attendees and there was strong support to convene again next year, if not sooner.
Attendees included maintenance, reliability, and turnaround improvement leaders from BP, Celanese, ChevronTexaco, Citgo, ConocoPhillips, Dow Chemical, DuPont, ExxonMobil, Flint Hills Resources, Shell, and Sunoco.
We are very pleased with the positive momentum created by the group in sharing ideas and practices for improving turnaround performance," said George DeBakey. "It was exciting to see the leaders within the turnaround industry share their experiences and rally around a vision for a step change in improving performance" said Brett Schroeder, Managing Partner at Asset Performance Networks.
Cindy Gross, Director of Global Reliability and Maintenance at Celanese Chemicals, was the Chair for the Turnaround Industry Network Conference. She opened the conference and discussed the objectives for the day - these included: to share challenges and learn from the experience of others; to discuss effective implementation strategies; and, to network with peers.
Chet Unruh, Senior Consultant with Shell Global Solutions, was the keynote speaker and he discussed strategies for improving turnaround performance and lowering costs. He presented the concepts of Turnaround Premises, target setting, Risk-based scope development, and the importance of measuring readiness.
Dennis Perz, retired Global Technology Manager with Dow Chemical, facilitated a discussion of variation and its impact on business value. The session covered how variation destroys value and the benefits of implementing a common work process.
Dan Morlang, Head of Projects Gas, Power & Renewables at BP, presented industry data on getting to zero safety accidents. Along with demonstrated management commitment, he presented a series of factors which significantly impacted safety performance.
Brian Hogan, Senior Consultant with APN, presented a benchmarking study on turnaround practices. The study, based on forty surveys from recently executed turnarounds, indicated the gaps in the industry from Best Practices.
George DeBakey challenged the group to make a step change in performance through a case study of the US Nuclear Industry. His presentation quantified the impact and what can be achieved based on his experiences with power plant outages.
(George DeBakey facilitates discussion of Best Practices at the 2003 Turnaround Industry Networking Conference)
There were also two breakout sessions, related to Cost Control and Corporate Turnaround Improvement Initiatives. All the participants shared their experiences within their respective companies and reported back to the group with the highlights.
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