_______
My first shutdown equipment modification was a tiny one in a converting plant. This was a five-day operation, so we were going to begin it Friday evening after the last shift went home.
I was a young person with a very poor attitude. I didn't want to be there. I had not done my homework. We were missing three bolts, three tiny bolts, necessary to do the little project. We aborted and came back to it the next week. And I got a couple of demerits when Monday morning came around.
Over the years, I became absolutely OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) over shutdowns. One has to make certain one has thought of everything.
Often, it is a generational thing. Younger people, as a group, tend to be less meticulous than older people in preparing for shutdowns. Of course, this could be a weeding out process, too--the only older ones left who like to do and are trusted to do shutdowns are the OCDs.
I can list some key performance indicators to help you determine if you are ready for a shutdown:
1. You have accounted for every bolt, nut and washer required to hook up the equipment. I am not talking about some broad sweeping, bag of bolts accountability; I mean every single one and every place each one goes. Want to be really obsessive? Use spray paint to mark bolts, nuts, washers and the holes they go in.
2. Same goes for gaskets. Touch every one, know where everyone goes. Spray paint again if appropriate.
3. If a device being installed has a signal wire, know exactly where in the programming logic that device appears. Tag the signal wires with the lines of code that go with that device.
4. And, of course, take a good old tape measure and check field dimensions against the foundation and clearance dimensions.
Finally, the special category of shims. Have plenty of shims of all kinds of thicknesses made up ahead of time. I don't know how many shutdowns have been extended because time had to be taken to make shims.
If you think all of this is too much work, consider this. It is a "pay me now or pay me later" proposition. You have to have all these items accounted for and correct in order to have a successful installation. The question is, do you want to do this ahead of time when things are quiet and calm or during the outage when a production manager is yelling in your ear?
