6 Productivity Tips for a Plant Shutdown
When a plant shuts down, efficiency is critical. These planned shutdowns are a time for key maintenance work and cleaning, but they are costly as daily operations are at a halt. Whether it’s a cement plant, chemical plant, aluminum plant, material processing plant, phosphate plant, paper plant or many other various plants in a variety of industries, these full or partial shutdowns are times where productivity is of the utmost importance.
That includes cleaning, which is why Guzzler’s industrial vacuum trucks handle these tough jobs with greater efficiency and productivity. Downtime affects each plant’s bottom line, so cutting that downtime is Guzzler’s job day after day.
Considering the Guzzler team’s extensive experience supporting plants and contractors in a wide variety of industries, the team is offering tips for increasing productivity during the critical time of a plant shutdown.
- Determine the plan well in advance. Whether your plant owns vacuum truck equipment, rents it or works with contractors for support, a carefully considered plan will help ensure the right equipment is onsite and ready to get the job done during the full or partial shutdown. Likewise, make a complete list of tasks that need to be completed. These are items that can’t be done during daily operations, and they should be organized by importance of what will make the largest impact on the plant’s daily operations.
- Clean as you go. As each task is completed, ensure contamination, waste and buildup aren’t allowed by cleaning efficiently. Guzzler’s industrial vacuum loader trucks clean, remove, recover and recycle materials such as cement, chemicals, grains, industrial spills, thick sludge and more. For many industries, extensive cleaning can be the main task to complete during the shutdown. For example, when a pulp and paper mill halts production, industrial vacuum trucks help remove residue and debris from key areas at the mill.
- Decrease offloading downtime. With new regulations making dumping more challenging, figuring out offloading is essential. Guzzler vacuum trucks’ continuous systems enable simultaneous vacuuming and offloading, effectively slashing the downtime. For example, the patented XCR Swing-Out Loading Cyclone is the only system that delivers simultaneous vacuuming and offloading capability for no wasted time on trips to a dumpsite. Offering true continuous production capability, the XCR is available on the Guzzler Classic (CL) and is ideal for catalyst recovery applications.
- Conduct maintenance prior to shutdown. Having the vacuum truck up and running is critical to the shutdown’s productivity. Part of that uptime is regular maintenance as directed by the manufacturer, and that maintenance should be handled prior to the planned shutdown. Some vacuum trucks such as the Guzzler Liquid Ring (LR) help speed up maintenance time with components that are placed for simplified maintenance processes. For example. the Liquid Ring’s intuitive, simple controls and easy accessibility to all working components help simplify maintenance and operation.
- Make an emergency plan. If operations cease unexpectedly, how does the plant team react? The best reaction is a proactive action. While these unplanned shutdowns can cause stress, with a plan in place, the team can understand how to handle the emergency as calmly as possible. Emergency plans should include a communication flow, designated decision-makers, list of contacts with their contact information and potential situation instructions. Likewise, if your plant rents its vac truck equipment, understand the turnaround time for renting a vac truck in an emergency situation.
- Evaluate previous shutdowns. Whether they were planned shutdowns or emergency ones, your team likely had key takeaways of what went well and what needs improvement. Gather feedback from key shutdown leaders and participants after the shutdown and use that input to improve the plant’s next planned shutdown or edit the plant’s emergency shutdown plan.
As an industry leader, Guzzler can significantly enhance industrial cleaning operations for contractors and plant managers. For more than four decades, Guzzler has been trusted to clean, remove, recover, and recycle industrial waste and raw materials. For more information, visit Guzzler.com.
