From Shutdown to Head Start – Taking the Fear out of Turnarounds

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Glatt Ingenieurtechnik GmbH

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Bilfinger SE

In an environment where there is such division of labor, teamwork becomes a key qualification. It is the only way that planning, logistics and quality management can pull together with engineers and specialists. Flexibility and specific technical know-how are trump in turnaround business. Yet large suppliers have another ace up their sleeves: in times of globalization, internationality is demanded. While smaller competitors are often specialists in their own particular market environment, companies that operate internationally can fall back on both global and local experts.

Bundled Expertise in Plant Engineering

That is the reason why Bilfinger Industrial Services has decided to bundle the plant overhaul expertise of its various companies in a Europe-wide turnaround network. Therefore, teams from Poland can work with British specialists on projects in northern Europe, while Austrians take care of the revamp of a Total refinery in Leuna. “The network of industrial services companies is very valuable to us. Our international customers often want to introduce cooperation models that we implement in one country at other locations as well. The regional anchoring means that we have country-specific know-how that is tailored exactly to demand”, Pilotto is convinced. And customers benefit from the realignment as well: “Not least because the new projects can be initiated and realized with shorter lead times.”

Digital, Yet present: The Future of Engineering?

The Lünendonk study also assumes that networked systems and digitalisation will gain in importance in every sector of industry: ever faster development times, less expenditure on prototypes and distributed project structures have stimulated the demand for digital solutions. Even so, say the authors of the study, a strong presence on site will remain indispensable in the future. Consequently, the service provider will become a partner who looks after a plant for the whole of its life cycle.

Pilotto agrees: “Particularly in the turnaround business, we expect local shutdown management to develop increasingly into an inter-plant organization. What is needed are general contractors who manage the cycle from planning through formal completion of the project.”

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