Preparation and planning
In 2007, the Turnaround planning coordinator of Samref
visited refineries in Rotterdam and Antwerpen. They
decided that PDM’s software and approach could
have benefits for the refinery in Yanbu. In the meetings that
followed, it became evident that Samref used the same
method of Turnaround preparation and planning. Yet they
lacked an integrated software tool for bringing the methods
to the desktop of the planners, and to produce progress
charts and management information.
Management tool
The PDM turnaround software NSpace is a management
tool for guiding and improving turnarounds, and is part of
our STOP-TM program. Typically, the process results in
higher predictability and reliability for this kind of large
projects, and it can lead to significant saving of millions of
euro’s during program implementation.
Hands-on training
During the PDM visits and cooperation in the middle of the
year, the planning staff of Samref received hands-on
training of NSpace and acquired the concepts very quickly. During the next years, PDM will continue its commitment
to Samref for a succesful TA. Topics will be creating
wall-charts, building progress reports, integrating NSpace
with Primavera P6, and installing Spade & Blind Management.
In this environment, where the sun heats the earth up to
45 ̊C, the people are friendly, and show great interest in new
concepts and techniques. For now, the NSpace programme
has proven to be both flexible and stable, and it can provide
the services necessary for bringing the Yanbu refinery to
the forefront of TA achievement.
NSpace on the Samref network
Early 2008, NSpace was installed on the Samref network
using a SQL Server database. The supervisors of Samref
requested a structured build-up of custom reporting and
training related to the planning of the upcoming 2010
Turnaround event. Reports were compiled for scope
management and for tendering purposes.