Engineering team goes on-site at Stanlow

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jul 19, 2006

Furmanite has been contracted to provide a permanent on-site core team to the Shell Stanlow refinery, under a contarct lasting up to five years.

Furmanite has been contracted to provide a permanent on-site core team to the Shell Stanlow refinery, under a contarct lasting up to five years.

The Furmanite team will supplement Shell's existing maintenance resource, providing specialist on-line and on-site maintenance services including leak sealing, Trevitest on-line valve testing, on-site valve repair, in-situ machining, controlled bolting and PSI management, composite repair, and pipeline intervention (hot tapping and line plugging), working with the Shell team in a proactive role, under an agreement expected to deliver significant benefits and efficiencies.

The core team presence agreement adds an further dimension to the Furmanite service, helping Shell to develop best practices and implement a preventative problem-solving approach.

Rather than being called onto site on a reactive basis when a problem arises, the permanent Furmanite on-site team will conduct regular site surveys to help catch any potential problems at an early stage - before it becomes an urgent costly issue impacting on operational efficiency, safety or the environment - thereby avoiding or minimising repair requirements and costs.

The on-going knowledge of the plant that the Furmanite team gains as a fully integrated long term partner to the operator further strengthens the proactive contribution it is able to make.

An important feature of the agreement is to work together to introduce on-going developments and improvements in efficiency and effectiveness throughout the contract duration.

Initiatives such as Furmanite's web-based tracking tool, continuously updated to provide a real time record of work undertaken to leak sealing clamps, flanges and bolting, with a 'traffic light' system to highlight plant requiring attention, is one such example.

The Furmanite on-site team will also assist with forward planning for outages, as well as integrating Furmanite's systems into Shell's own systems for optimum efficiency, minimising the need to draw from Shell's time and resources.

The wide ranging specialist expertise delivered by Furmanite's multiskilled technicians also enables manning and cost efficiencies to be achieved.

Moreover, the services are available to Shell 24/7, avoiding any delays in delivery and reducing mobilisation and demobilisation costs.

Additionally, in order to maximise the core team efficiencies and provide Shell with the greatest benefits, it is anticipated that the team will also move in to areas of expertise not normally associated with Furmanite at the Stanlow site, thus providing the greatest flexibility such an integrated contract can provide.

Importantly, regular review meetings between Shell and Furmanite are an important element in the contract, to maintain drive and focus in achieving joint goals.

Furmanite works with complete transparency, to an agreed set of key performance indicators (KPIs) including a particular emphasis on safety.

"Under this contract Shell gains not only unrestricted access to our services and a rapid response engineering resource operating on a fully integrated basis within its requirements, standards and policies, but also a proactive team able to monitor and recommend, and contribute to developing best practices for efficiency improvements, as well as undertaking repair and maintenance work as required", Furmanite Business Development Manager Mike Tucker points out.

"It's within agreements of this type that we're able to offer the optimum service to our clients, so that they gain maximum benefit".

Commenting on the Furmanite core team concept, Shell Commercial Engineer and Contract Guardian, Paul Faraway said: "This is an excellent opportunity for both our organisations to benefit and grow".

"The core team's close integration with the Shell planning process gives cohesion, stability and efficient utilisation of labour and resources".

"This is a long-term, committed relationship with safety at its heart, but it is also an arena where we can jointly explore ways of proficient working and best practice in a partnership of equals".

"We certainly welcome this arrangement".

The Shell Stanlow refinery, at the Stanlow Manufacturing Complex near Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, is said to be the seventh largest refinery in Europe, as well as producing petrochemicals.

It employs some 800 people and processes 12 million tonnes of crude a year.