Turnarounds and shutdowns are among the most critical—and stressful—phases in the management and operation of industrial assets. These planned outages require precision, speed and seamless coordination between multiple teams. With tight schedules and massive amounts of work to complete, even the smallest delays can lead to cost overruns and downtime that compromises asset profitability. Yet, many organizations still rely on legacy systems to manage these complex events, leading to data silos, miscommunication and delayed start-up.
The solution? Digital completions software such as MODS Connect Completions enables timely visibility, reliable oversight, predictive scheduling and automated or expedient processes that cut out the fat. Cloud-based intelligent industrial software solutions such as MODS Connect Completions are transforming how organizations approach shutdowns and turnarounds.
Case in point, MODS Connect Completions has been successfully used in Chevron’s Gorgon LNG plant in Australia, achieving a 100 percent paper-to-digital transition for turnarounds within three years, cutting the numbers of onsite staff by half.
Let’s explore why digital completions are essential for maximizing efficiency and reducing downtime for turnarounds and other unavoidable shutdowns.
Every plant or facility turnaround is high stakes because any downtime or compromise in plant productivity represents a loss for the owner-operator. Whether it’s a routine maintenance shutdown or a major facility overhaul, turnaround project teams are under intense pressure to meet strict deadlines, driven by the threat of financial loss. The challenge isn’t just in getting the work done—it’s in ensuring that every step is tracked, inspected, verified and cleanly handed back to the owner-operator before the plant can restart or return to full operations.
Some of the biggest hurdles inherent in all industrial turnaround and shutdown projects include:
Turnarounds often involve thousands of work packages being executed simultaneously, resulting in far more Inspection Test Records (ITRs). The sheer scale of activities—ranging from repairs, replacements, inspections, system testing, certification and signoffs—requires a huge amount of coordination. Delays in one area can create a domino effect, pushing out the entire restart schedule.
With legacy systems or paper-based certifications processes, teams struggle to get up-to-date visibility into work progress, and avoidable delays are built into certification signoffs, leading to last-minute scrambling, errors, and increased safety risks. A digital completions system such as MODS Connect Completions is metaphorically like a swimming duck: presenting a fluid, smooth project execution to the client, while the digital system takes care of the furious paddling beneath the surface, freeing up the project team to focus on quality, safety and productivity.
Managing a High Volume of Inspection Test Records (ITRs)
Inspection Test Records (ITRs) are the centerpiece of turnaround documentation. These documents confirm that work has been completed to spec and that equipment and systems are safe to get online. But when managing ITRs manually—through spreadsheets, disconnected databases or paper-based processes—issues pile up:
These pitfalls associated with traditional completions processes result in extended shutdowns, increased costs and frustrated teams.
Many owner-operators and contractors, alike, continue to rely on outdated, disconnected systems to track turnaround and shutdown activities. Different domains—engineering, maintenance, quality control and assurance—often use separate databases, spreadsheets, or even paper logs that don’t talk to one another, making it extremely difficult to hone in on a single source of truth.
These data silos promote:
Without real-time, centralized data, teams are left to make decisions based on outdated, incomplete or otherwise unreliable information, which is an expensive and inefficient way to manage shutdowns and turnarounds.
Digital completions solutions like MODS Connect Completions address the most pressing challenges associated with traditionally-managed shutdowns and turnarounds by enabling:
By transitioning from legacy systems and outdated modes of tracking ITRs and issuing completions certificates to a centralized, digital completions system such as MODS Connect Completions, turnaround teams can significantly reduce project duration, cut costs and increase overall ROI.
Turnarounds are expensive—not just in terms of direct maintenance costs, but also due to lost production. Every extra day a facility remains offline represents huge amounts in lost revenue. That’s why remaining on schedule or even reducing turnaround time by a few days can have a massive financial impact. The pressures are real. Maintaining quality and safety in the face of these pressures is the tension. But digital completions systems such as MODS Connect Completions create huge avenues for efficiencies so that project teams can remain focused on delivering quality-assured, timely, cost-effective turnarounds.
Digital completions result in:
Turnarounds and shutdowns will always be challenging, but they don’t have to be chaotic. By replacing outdated processes with digital completions solutions, organizations can gain full visibility, streamline workflows and minimize costly delays. The shift to digital completions ensures that turnaround project teams execute work competitively so that owner-operators can maximizing operational efficiency of their industrial assets.