Independent Belgian Refinery (IBR), situated in the harbour of Antwerp, has a long and interesting history. IBR is the latest acquisition of Gunvor, one of the biggest trading groups. This worldwide operating company is in charge of the logistic chain of fossil fuels, both up and downstream, and has its own fleet, transport and storage facilities and multiple refineries.
In April 2012 we were requested to assist IBR in managing and preparing the 4 yearly Turnaround of the refinery in October 2012, thorough analysis of the current Turnaround situation, followed by setting up a Turnaround management team for preparing and managing the upcoming Turnaround. PDM and IBR management worked as one team and in close cooperation with each other.
Considering the fact that the Gunvor-deal was made up rather late, IBR did not reserve capacity at contractors. Also the organisation kept on losing employees and consequently knowledge about operating and maintaining the refinery. Above that IBR had set a goal to postpone the next Turnaround to a time schedule of four years.
It was almost a mission impossible, but PDM helped us significantly with the Turnaround organisation and IBR benefitted through their expertise and methodology in Turnaround optimization processes. The pratical approach of PDM resulted also in the buy in of the people on the floor which is essential for meeting the objectives. The mutual performance that is realized is not common. PDM entered an unkown refinery, in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people and still managed to realize the Turnaround in accordance with our high expectations.