Maintenance Shutdowns: how to effectively manage maintenance shutdowns

What are Maintenance Shutdowns? 

Maintenance shutdowns are periodic events in which the plant partially or completely stops production in order to perform maintenance services and restore equipment to its full operating condition.

Maintenance shutdowns go beyond preventive maintenance, which is scheduled to be performed at weekly, monthly, or quarterly intervals, for example.

They are usually longer shutdowns and therefore must be very well planned. It is common to take advantage of such shutdowns to perform other types of maintenance, such as planned corrective maintenance, detective maintenance, among others.

Why perform maintenance shutdowns? We already know that the main reasons for maintenance shutdowns are to extend the useful life of your equipment so it resumes operations at high performance and to ensure the safety of operators and the environment. It is worth highlighting the importance and benefits of maintenance:

• Cost reduction
• Increased useful life of equipment
• Safety for operators
• Higher availability of machinery
• High reliability index
• Greater competitiveness on the market

How to define the best time to perform maintenance shutdowns? 

When it comes to maintenance shutdowns, there is no general rule that fits all types of operations. Each company adapts to a type of shutdown, taking into account its niche, seasonality, and other factors.

When defining which type of shutdown to follow, it is important to bring together the entire company team to understand its production regime and the ideal time to perform maintenance planning, such as:

• Collective vacations in the plan
• Off-season periods
• Between one production cycle and another
• Within a limited interval, etc

In other words, the maintenance team works together with the administration team, with the sales team, and so on. Everything needs to be considered precisely to avoid headaches.

Types of production regimes and their implications

Understand each production regime and assess which type of shutdown is most appropriate for your company.

Batch Process: 

Batch means a considerable quantity or portion. That is, production is performed in cycles that last an average of 7 days. At the end of this cycle, there is an interval, which is ideal for the maintenance team to schedule shutdowns.

In batch processes, the plant builds up a stock of finished products that meets its market demand, and the main industrial departments that adopt this process are:

• Food and beverage companies
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Textile companies
• Packaging companies

Continuous Process: 

There is no great mystery to this process. It is a continuous production process, without interruptions. In other words, planning a maintenance shutdown for a very long period of time is out of the question.

Companies that adopt this mode usually have a very expensive finished product, for example, making it infeasible to stock large quantities, or they operate in a highly competitive market that requires uninterrupted production, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The main industrial departments that adopt this process are:

• Plants (power, oil, gas)
• Automotive companies
• Mining operations
• Harvest-based operations

You may be asking yourself, but even harvest-based companies? Yes, if they are in the harvest period, there can be no interruptions, as this could cause losses of millions.

Semi-continuous Process: 

Some companies combine their production, sometimes in batches, sometimes in continuous processes. It is usually divided by area: some departments operate continuously, while others operate in cycles. Thus, maintenance schedules are designed considering each department.

How to plan a maintenance shutdown? 

Once we understand the production processes, we need to define how to plan a maintenance shutdown, and for this, it is necessary to define which type of shutdown will be used in each case.

Partially scheduled shutdowns 

This type of shutdown is recommended for companies that work with continuous processes, for the reasons we already know. Some events and small production intervals between one process and another are used to perform partial scheduled maintenance.

These schedules will apply to maintenance tasks performed only on part of the equipment, that is, only part of the production process is interrupted for a limited time. Naturally, all safety measures for the machine operator, maintenance technician, and internal and external environment must be observed.

And when it comes to safety, it must be taken seriously, in accordance with regulatory standards. Some tips to maintain safety during maintenance and avoid accidents:

Perform checklists: 

Have a plan that includes every step of the shutdown. It is necessary to include safety procedures, required PPE, execution time, the number of people who will be part of the maintenance team, which materials will be used, and, if flammable materials are involved, which safety procedures will be adopted. It is important to emphasize that having a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) guarantees safety and quality in your partial shutdowns.

Qualified team: 

Have a well-trained team that is qualified to perform maintenance. Provide training if necessary. This is advantageous for your organization because it reduces risks and increases efficiency.

Signpost the area:

It is common, when we enter public places such as a shopping mall, to come across cleaning in progress and see a sign that reads “caution, wet floor” to avoid an accident involving customers and a possible lawsuit. Even more so when it comes to equipment maintenance. Make sure there is no risk of electric shock or falls, demarcate the work area, and put up signs for other employees so that they do not approach. In short, it is better to be overly cautious than not cautious enough.

General scheduled shutdowns 

Another type of shutdown that can be performed is the general scheduled shutdown, which is ideal for companies that work under batch demand, as production is completely interrupted.

The maintenance planning and control team schedules these shutdowns in advance, which are usually performed on specific dates such as collective vacations, long holidays, seasonal periods, etc.

These shutdowns last on average from 7 to 15 days and, for some companies, even a little longer, about 20 days.

Some tips for performing these general scheduled shutdowns:

Define maintenance plans: 

Just as with partial shutdowns, it is essential to have an SOP to guide general maintenance. As this is maintenance that will require more time, the more detailed the processes and execution deadlines are, the better the results will be. Keeping a history of previous maintenance interventions is also an excellent reference for planning the next general maintenance.

Monitor the schedule: 

It should be clear that a maintenance team does not only perform general maintenance during a specific period of the year. There are activities in the department that require attention all year round, and for this reason, monitoring the overall maintenance schedule helps managers with future planning.

Furthermore, if it is possible to level resources, that is, adjust the availability of human, financial, and material resources to a service schedule, maintenance management will certainly be optimized.

Generate work orders: 

It may seem obvious, but we know that the goal of planning is to have a service executed. Therefore, documenting maintenance activities, following a parameter of planned versus actual execution, is essential.

Recording the working hours of maintenance technicians, the materials (parts and consumables) used in maintenance, the planned and actual costs, extra costs, failures, causes, and occurrences identified ensures that, in addition to performing maintenance on the equipment, the organization has reliable histories.

Consequently, the maintenance manager will be able to extract reliability indicators for the equipment, thus obtaining MTBF and MTTR, knowing the actual maintenance costs, and much more.

Full checklist for planning a maintenance shutdown 

To make planning and execution easier, it is important to ensure that nothing is forgotten, since maintaining a standard of conduct guarantees that nothing will be overlooked. That is why a checklist is the best approach to ensure that your maintenance shutdown takes place correctly. Include in this checklist:

• Define the scope of the shutdown (equipment involved, type of service, priorities)
• Estimate required resources (personnel, materials, tools, contractors)
• Planned budget and stock of critical parts/consumables
• Safety planning: PPE, lockouts, signage, lockout/tagout procedures, demarcated area
• Definition of those responsible
• Detailed schedule (start dates, phases, deadlines)
• Communication with involved areas (production, supervision, suppliers, contractors)
• Post-maintenance tests and verification of correct operation
• Documentation (work orders, execution reports, history, failures found, corrections carried out)

Indicators for evaluating shutdown efficiency 

To know whether the shutdown was well planned and executed, and to improve the next shutdown, it is essential to monitor indicators such as:

• Planned vs. actual shutdown cost
• Total shutdown time (hours/days) vs. estimate
• Productivity of the maintenance team (man-hours, rework, rework avoided)
• Consumption of materials and consumables
• Number of nonconformities or safety incidents
• MTBF and MTTR after maintenance
• Frequency of unplanned corrective shutdowns after the scheduled shutdown

These data allow you to reflect on the effectiveness of planning, identify improvement opportunities, and support future decisions.

What to do after the maintenance shutdown? 

The resumption of production does not mean the end of the process; quite the opposite. Some steps after the shutdown are essential and allow the company to continue achieving good results throughout the year:

• Perform final inspection and functional testing of equipment.
• Check whether all planned services have been completed and if there are any pending items, adjustments, or fine-tuning required.
• Hold a meeting with all stakeholders to assess what worked well, failures, and bottlenecks.
• Update preventive/predictive maintenance plans based on what was performed.
• Update the system records (whether a spreadsheet or software) with all shutdown data.
• Adjust maintenance policies, checklists, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and training if necessary.

This promotes continuous improvement and avoids repeating the same mistakes.

What is the role of a maintenance planner? 

Maintenance management involves several strategies to ensure consistent results. Therefore, it is essential to understand the importance of a good maintenance planner, as this role is responsible for planning and supervising:

• Installation services
• Repair services;
• Preventive, corrective, and predictive maintenance;
• Developing continuous improvement projects for machines and equipment
• Monitoring the work of maintenance technicians
• Inspecting materials required for maintenance activities
• Sourcing suppliers and third-party service providers for possible external maintenance, among many other routine activities

How does a CMMS help manage maintenance shutdowns? 

The best way to manage maintenance shutdowns is to use CMMS software. Be aware that the Engeman® solution has exclusive tools for each type of shutdown. Functions you will find in Engeman® include:

• Register and control of assets
• Register and control of various types of maintenance plans
• Ability to document each work order with dedicated comment fields and attachments
• Ability to record labor, services, materials, and other elements
• Ability to attach images, videos, and audio files
• More than 300 report templates to extract management information
• Ability to level your maintenance resources
• Ability to view and reschedule work orders through a Gantt chart, among other features

Real example with Engeman® 

A real example is the success case of the PECÉM Complex. In this customer’s account, the use of Engeman® helped structure maintenance processes, making them more organized, reliable, and controlled.

Through the digitalization of assets and histories, the management of work orders, and the control of materials, it was possible to reduce rework, plan more assertive interventions, and ensure greater operational reliability, crucial factors when it comes to scheduled shutdowns and planned maintenance.

This real case demonstrates how the adoption of a management system brings tangible benefits, reducing risks and improving productivity.

See more success cases like this here!

Conclusion 

Smart planning is key to successful management. Knowing which type of shutdown to perform and the right timing can impact the entire production.

With a solid planning structure, a well-defined checklist, monitored indicators, a structured post-analysis, and, above all, with the support of specialized tools, it is possible to avoid surprises, reduce costs, increase the useful life of equipment, and ensure everyone’s safety.

The importance of maintenance shutdowns and the challenges involved are clear.

If your company still faces friction and conflicts between teams whenever it is time to schedule the next maintenance shutdowns, it may be time to modernize your processes.

With Engeman®, you can automate workflows, record histories, control resources, and make data-driven decisions.

It will be a pleasure to support you on this journey. Schedule a free demo.