What is the key difference between Planned and Unplanned Shutdowns?

The positioning of the mind is what makes the difference between the failures and the successes: Jaachynma N.E. Agu

Introduction

These days the heart sinks for many when suddenly our internet network stops. During peak summer afternoon, when abruptly electricity goes off, we sweat and crib the local government and electricity board for their inefficiency. Due to Covid, the planned lockdown was planned in many cities, states, and countries. When we are on a highway and our car all of a sudden breaks down, we get helpless.  

Objective

Any unplanned shutdown and downtime lead to financial damage to the plant.  For any business, maintaining business continuity and ensuring equipment reliability should be their key priority. Considering the emerging market demands and need for speed and consistency, it’s critical for a business to keep its critical equipment and operations running smoothly to minimize a bad impact on production, costs, and deliveries.

By having a systematic methodology in place, an organization can effectively and efficiently manage both planned and unplanned shutdowns.

Definitions

Production shutdown: Condition where manufacturing processes are idle; time may be a few hours to a few months.

Total Productive Maintenance: A system of maintaining and improving the integrity of production and quality systems through machines. equipment, processes, and employees that add value to the organization

Detailed Information

For most organizations, the No. 1 goal is to maintain business continuity. Every day, an unplanned shutdown results in leaving potential profits on the table. It’s vital to keep business humming along as efficiently as possible at all times.

Considering a chemical plant having an unplanned shutdown, it can result in losses worth Millions and huge concerns related to human safety.

What is a Shutdown? A condition where manufacturing processes are idle; time may be a few hours to a few months.

Planned Shutdown: is time specifically scheduled to address equipment performance, hardware/software upgrades, facility maintenance, tool breaks, inspections, and other necessary upkeep. Because planned downtime is anticipated it is also controlled in terms of time and money invested, as well as productivity and labour losses.

An unplanned Shutdown: is any unforeseen event that reduces the return on investment by causing disruptions in quality, cost, and cycle time. It can be due to poor maintenance or hardware/software errors, operator error/performance, and/or slow changeovers

Downtime Cost: Tangible Cost+Intangible Cost

Impact of unplanned shutdown:

• Expectations of customers and relevant interested parties remain the same!
• Nobody (including top management) knows the right answers to the sudden shutdown
• The high cost of production
• Low Productivity
• Unavailability of skilled manpower
• Breakdown in the supply chain

What to do after restarting the machine after shutdown?

• Define a process
• Implement the necessary actions
• Ensure product compliance
• Fulfill the requirements
• Train the concerned person for any unplanned shutdown

Following are some of the key Difference between Planned and Unplanned Shutdown:

Present Challenges

• How often organizations calculate the unplanned shutdown as part of Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ)?
• How often Unplanned Shutdown is discussed as a key input in Management review meetings and the performance is reviewed through internal audits?
• How often the organization clearly defines the difference between routine breakdown and unplanned shutdown?

References:

ISO 9001: 2015

IATF 16949: 2016

Industry Experts

This is the 116^th article of this Quality Management series. Every weekend, you will find useful information that will make your Management System journey Productive. Please share it with your colleagues too.

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