Scope Plant Shutdown Turnaround

SABIC PLANT SHUTDOWNS AND TURNAROUNDS, SCOPE VARIATION PRACTICAL APPROACH

PREPARED BY:

MOHAMMED S. AL-QADDA 51060024

PREPARED TO: DR. M. SRIDHAR

OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

SABIC PLANT SHUTDOWNS AND TURNAROUNDS, SCOPE VARIATION PRACTICAL APPROACH

BY

MOHAMMED S. AL-QADDA 51060024

Project Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administration in Project Management

OPEN UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA 2009

I dedicate this thesis to my dear mother, father, wife and son.

ABSTRACT As a big company in petrochemical industries, SABIC has more than 100 plants in Saudi Arabia and over the world. To keep those plants running in reliable manner, it is require conducting periodic shutdown maintenance for each plant. This periodic shutdown maintenance is called turnaround in SABIC terminology. The cycle of the turnaround is different from plant to another according to operation process and type of equipment in each plant. Each turnaround is progressing through four main phases; initial, planning, executing and close out phase. A huge organization such as SABIC needs effective and powerful maintenance for its plants to help the company in improving reliability and products quality Plant Turnarounds are very important to give SABIC better competitive advantage in terms of products quality and cost leadership. Plant shutdowns for scheduled major maintenance work are the most expensive and time-consuming of maintenance projects because of the loss of production and the expense of the turnaround itself. They can be complex; and as the complexity increases, they become more costly and difficult to manage. A plant shutdown always has a negative financial impact. This negative impact is due to both loss of production revenue and a major cash outlay for the plant turnaround and shutdown expenses. Managing the changes in turnaround scope is significant for SABIC turnaround management in Jubail in order to reduce its impact on turnarounds cost, quality and time. The aim of this research is to study and analysis the causes of that variation in scope of work in SABIC turnarounds and find out why the final scope is deviate from original scope. The reasons and cause have been proposed to be analyzed by conducting a quantitative survey among a chosen focus group and a case study approach. The quantitative opinions are to be analyzed by statistical measures of mean and Tally tables using the software called MINITAB and EXCEL. Based on the results of the analysis, recommendations have been proposed for SABIC Jubail so as to minimize the changes in turnaround scope of work and to minimize the impact of changes on safety, duration, cost and quality.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I thank my god for helping me completing this dissertation despite difficulty with the ongoing business hurdle and studying other courses. Also, thanks good for getting support from the company, instructor, and everybody for conducting this study. I thank my advisor Dr. Sridhar for his support in my dissertation program. He was always there to listen and to give advice. He was responsible for involving me in the project in the first place. He taught me how to develop dissertation questions and express my ideas. He was available whenever I needed his support. He showed me different ways to approach a research problem and the need to be persistent to accomplish any goal. Thanks also to learning and Organizational department for helping me in the questionnaire formatting, wording, and categorizing. Let me also say „thank you‟ to the people at my company who participated in the survey and interviews with honest feedback for the interest of the company and their colleagues. Last, but not least, I thank my family: my parents for educating me with aspects from both arts and sciences, for unconditional support and encouragement to pursue my interests, even when the interests went beyond boundaries of being single, also I want to say thank you very much to my wife and son Fahd whose patience was important in giving me time to search, collect data, analyze it and finally put it in the form of a thesis.

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Declaration and copyright

Name

: Mohammed Saleh Al-Qadda

ID#

: 51060024

I declare that the work I am submitting for assessment contains no sections copied in whole or in part from any other source, unless it is explicitly identified by means of quotation marks or, in the case of very long quotations, by means of wholly indented paragraphs. I declare that I have also acknowledged such quotations by providing detailed references in an approved format. I understand that unidentified and un referenced copying both constitute plagiarism, which is one of a number of very serious offences under the University's Code of Practice and Ethics. Copying any information from this dissertation is not allowed without prior approval from the author.

Signature:...............................................

Date:…………………………

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APPLICATION TO CONDUCT RESEARCH PAPER

PART A:

STUDENT PARTICULARS

1. Name of Student : Mohammed Saleh Al-Qadda 2. ID# : 51060024

PART B:

PARTICULAR ABOUT THE PROJECT

1. Title of the project :” SABIC Plant Shutdowns and Turnarounds, Scope Variation Practical Approach” 2. Research objective:” to evaluate and analyze the causes, impacts and practical solutions for the work scope changes in petrochemical plant turnarounds in SABIC, Jubail.” 3. Proposed Research Method : Research Design:

Questionnaire Case study

PART C:

FACULTY’S INPUT

1. Topic chosen : Acceptable / Not Acceptable Suggested supervisor for the student:

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RESEARCH PROPOSAL SUBMSSION FORM Project Paper Title: ” SABIC Plant Shutdowns and Turnarounds, Scope Variation Practical Approach” Director Open University of Malaysia (OUM) Bahrain branch Dear Sir, Attached are the following documents of your evaluate and approval Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Literature Review Chapter 3: Scope Change Management and Control Chapter 4: Research Methodology Chapter 5: Data Analysis Chapter 6: Discussion of Results Chapter 7: Research Conclusion Chapter 8: Reference Chapter 9: Appendixes I have thoroughly checked my work and I am confident that it is free from major grammatical errors, weakness in sentence construction, spelling mistakes, referencing mistakes and others. I have checked with OUM MBA program guideline for writing project paper and I am satisfied that the project paper proposal satisfies most of its requirements. Thank you, Student Signature:……………………………. I have read the students‟ research proposal and I am satisfied that it is line with the OUM MBA program guideline for project proposal. It is also free from major grammatical errors, sentence construction weaknesses, citation and others. Supervisors Signature……………………………

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1 - Research Introduction 1.1. Introduction………………………………………………………...………..……….........1 1.2. Research Background……………………………………………...……………..…..……1 1.3. Discussion of the Research Problem………………………………………………..……..2 1.4. Aim and Objectives of the Research…………………………………..………..……....…3 1.5. Research Questions……………………………………………………………………..…3 1.6. Research Hypothesis ……………………………………………………..………..…..…5 1.7. Scope of the Research…………………………………………………………………..…5 1.8. Research Design and Methodology ……………………………………………....…….…6 1.9. Research Organization…………………………………………………..………..…….…7 1.10. Chapter summary……………………………………………………..………..……...…8 Chapter 2 - Literature Review 2.1. Chapter Introduction………………………………………………………...………..……8 2.2. Overview of SABIC…………………………………………………………..………...…9 2.3. Plant Turnarounds…………………………………………………………………..……11 2.3.1. Defining Turnarounds and Shutdowns………………………………….......…11 2.3.2. Turnaround Management………………………………………………………11 2.3.3. The turnaround Process……………………………………………………...…12 2.3.4. Turnaround Vs Project…………………………………………………………12 2.4. Petrochemical Plants and Turnarounds………………………………………………..…14 2.5. Turnaround Scope of Work in Petrochemical Plants……………………………..…...…16 2.6. Turnaround management in petrochemical plants……………..……………………...…18 2.6.1. The steering committee……………………………………………………...…18 2.6.2. Periodic reviews……………………………………………………………..…19 2.6.3. The phases in plant turnaround process……………………………………..…20 2.6.3.1. The conceptual phase…………………………………….……..……20 2.6.3.2. Work scope development………………………………….…………21 2.6.3.3. Detailed Planning………………………………………….…………21 2.6.3.4. Pre Turnaround Work………………………………………..…….…22 2.6.3.5. Turnaround execution………………………………………..…….…22 2.6.3.6. Post Turnaround…………………………………………………...…23 2.6.3.7. Measuring the success of the turnaround performance…………....…23 2.7. Deviation between final and original scope of work …………………………………...24 2.7.1. Causes of big changes in turnarounds scope of work……………………...…..24 2.7.2. Impacts of change in turnaround scope of work………………………..…..….24 2.7.3. Scope change management and control in turnarounds…………………….….25 2.8. Chapter summary………………………………………………………..……………….25 Chapter 3 - Scope Change Management and Control 3.1. Chapter Introduction…………………………………………………...…………………26 3.2. Defining the scope……………………………………………………...……………...…26

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3.3. Project Scope Management…………………………………………………………....…27 3.4. Scope Management Plan…………………………………………………………..…..…27 3.5. Scope Change Management and Control……………………………………………...…29 3.5.1. Scope Change………………………………………………………………..…29 3.5.2. Change Management………………………………………………….……..…29 3.5.3. Goals of scope change management………………………………………...…30 3.5.4. Purpose of scope change management…………………………………........…31 3.6. Scope Change Management in Petrochemical plant Turnarounds………………….……31 3.7. Primary Drivers in Plant Turnaround Scope Change Management……………...………34 3.8. Scope Change Requests and Change Process in plant turnarounds…………………...…34 3.8.1. Key Personnel and their Responsibilities…………………………………....…36 3.9. Scope Change and Tracking form……………………………………………..…………37 3.10. Template for Scope Change request, impact assessment and cost assessment…………38 3.11. Chapter summary………………………………………………………….............……42 Chapter 4 - Research Methodology 4.1. Chapter Introduction……………………………………………………...……...…....…42 4.2. Research Approaches………………………………………………………………....….42 4.3. Research Strategy………………………………………………………………….…..…43 4.4. Quantitative Data Collection……………………………………………………..………43 4.4.1. The basics of the Quantitative research methodology………………….………44 4.4.2. The Principles of Quantitative Research Method…………………………....…45 4.4.3. The Quantitative approach for this research work………………………..……46 4.4.4. The quantitative questionnaire…………………………………………………47 4.4.5. The Sample space for the Quantitative research…………………………….…48 4.4.6. The interpretation of Quantitative data…………………………………..….…49 4.4.7. Reliability and Validity of the data collected……………………..………....…50 4.5. Quantitative data collection for SABIC turnaround scope change analysis…………..…51 4.5.1. The survey questionnaire……………………..……………………………...…51 4.5.2. The sample space……………………..…………………………..…….………54 4.6. Case Study as a research methodology……………………..……………………………55 4.6.1. The Case Study approach……………………..……………………………..…56 4.7. Case Study data collection for SABIC turnaround scope change analysis….………...…57 4.8. Chapter summary…………………………………………………………………...……58 Chapter 5 - Data Analysis 5.1. Chapter Introduction……………………………………………...………………………59 5.2. Analysis of the Quantitative survey data………………………...……………….………59 5.2.1. Data Interpretation………………………………………….……………..……59 5.2.2. TALLY statistics for Part 1 Questions…………………………………………60 5.2.3. TALLY Analysis of Part 2 Questions……………………………………….…64 5.2.4. TALLY Analysis of Part 3 Questions……………………………………….…71 5.3. Discussion of the Results of Quantitative data analysis……………………………….…82 5.4. Chapter summary…………………………………………………………………..….…84

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Chapter 6 - Discussion of Results 6.1. Chapter Introduction…………………………………………………...…………………84 6.2. Case study of SABIC scope change management and control………………..………....84 6.2.1. Objectives of case study…………………………………………………..……85 6.2.2. Company background……………………………………………………….….85 6.2.3 Executive synopsis of SABIC turnarounds………………………………..……85 6.2.4. The strategies in SABIC turnarounds………………………………………..…87 6.2.5. Areas of Consideration in the case study………………………………………88 6.2.5.1. Current activities in SABIC turnarounds……………………….……88 6.2.5.2. Scope management in SABIC turnarounds……………………..……91 6.3. Statement of the problem observed in this case study……………………….………...…93 6.4. Identification of problem solution and Alternative course of action………..............……94 6.5. Recommended Scope change management solutions……………………………………95 6.5.1. Recommended SCM procedure for initiation of the scope change request……95 6.5.2. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change cost estimate…………...96 6.5.3. Recommended SCM procedure for assessing the impact of the scope change request………………………………………………....…97 6.5.4. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change approval……………..…98 6.5.5. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change tracking………..………99 6.6. Recommendations for SABIC TA SCM based on quantitative survey…...…………....100 6.6.1. Recommendation for how to minimize the changes in turnaround scope of work………………………....……….…………………100 6.6.2 Recommendation for how to minimize the impact of changes on safety, duration, cost & quality……………….……………….…101 6.7. Chapter summary…………………………………………………………………….…101 Chapter 7 - Research Conclusion Conclusion……………………………………………...……………………………102 References……………………………………………………………………………….…..104 Appendices……………………………………………………...……...……………………107

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LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Turnaround Vs Project………………………………...……………..……………13 Table 2.2. Milestones in the Plant turnaround management system…………..……...………17 Table 3.1. A sample template for the scope identification……………………………………28 Table 3.2. A sample template for the scope acceptance and changes…….…...……...………29 Table 3.3. Sample Template for Scope change tracking log……………….…………………38 Table 3.4. Sample Template for Scope Change Request………………...………...…………39 Table 3.5. Sample Template for Scope Change Request approval……………..………….…40 Table 3.6. Sample Template for Scope Change Impact Assessment…………………………41 Table 3.7. Sample Template for Scope Change Cost Assessment……………………………41 Table 6.1. Methods of stream to stream TA duration calculation………………………….…86 Table 6.2. The standard Turnaround stream to stream time duration (in Days) per plant unit based on the TA list and the maintenance……………..…86 Table 6.3. The TA cycle and the Planning period………………………………………….…89 Table 6.4. Performance assessment by critical success factors……………………….………93 Table 6.5. Scope change request template……………………………………………………96 Table 6.6. Change cost estimation template…………………………………………………..97 Table 6.7. Impact assessment template…………………………………………..……...……98 Table 6.8. Change Approval form ……………………………………………………………99 Table 6.9. Scope Change tracking form……………………………………………..………100

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LIST OF FIGURES Fig. 2.1 Total production by the six business units of SABIC for 2008 (SABIC reports and accounts, 2008) …………………………..…..………9 Fig. 2.2. The strategy of including the plant turnaround process in the corporate business plan………………………………………….……15 Fig. 2.3. Factors influencing the operations and activities of the turnaround steering committee……………………………………….....……19 Fig. 3.1. The prominent scopes in a petrochemical plant turnaround process…..........………33 Fig. 3.2. Sample Change request form……………………………………………..........……34 Fig. 3.3. The Sequence diagram for a Scope Change Control Process…………………….…35 Fig. 4.1. The possible Likert scale…………………………………………………...……..…50 Fig. 5.1. Quantitative data interpretation in the Likert scale……………………………….…60 Fig. 5.2. The descriptive statistics of Part 1 questions………………………………………..61 Fig. 5.3. Tally statistics for part 1 question 1………………………………………...…….…62 Fig. 5.4. Tally statistics for part 1 question 2…………………………………...………….…62 Fig. 5.5. Tally statistics for part 1 question 3…………………………………………...….…63 Fig. 5.6. Tally statistics for part 1 question 4………………………………………...…….…64 Fig. 5.7. Tally statistics for part 2 question 1………………………………...…………….…65 Fig. 5.8. Tally statistics for part 2 question 2……………………………………...……….…65 Fig. 5.9. Tally statistics for part 2 question 3……………………………………...……….…66 Fig. 5.10. Tally statistics for part 2 question 4……………………………………………..…66 Fig. 5.11. Tally statistics for part 2 question 5………………………………...…………...…67 Fig. 5.12. Tally statistics for part 2 question 6……………………………………...……...…67 Fig. 5.13. Tally statistics for part 2 question 7…………………………...…………..…….…68 Fig. 5.14. Tally statistics for part 2 question 8………………………………...………..….…68 Fig. 5.15. Tally statistics for part 2 question 9………………………………...…………...…69 Fig. 5.16. Tally statistics for part 2 question 10…………………………………...………….69 Fig. 5.17. Tally statistics for part 2 question 11………………………………………...….…70 Fig. 5.18. Tally statistics for part 2 question 12………………………………………...….…71 Fig. 5.19. Tally statistics for part 3 question 1…………………………..…………...…….…72 Fig. 5.20. Tally statistics for part 3 question 2……………………………..……………....…72 Fig. 5.21. Tally statistics for part 3 question 3………………………………..………...….…73 Fig. 5.22. Tally statistics for part 3 question 4…………………………………..……...….…74 Fig. 5.23. Tally statistics for part 3 question 5………………………………………….….…74 Fig. 5.24. Tally statistics for part 3 question 6………………………………………...…...…75 Fig. 5.25. Tally statistics for part 3 question 7…………………………………………......…76 Fig. 5.26. Tally statistics for part 3 question 8…………………..……………………...….…76 Fig. 5.27. Tally statistics for part 3 question 9……………………..…………...………….…77 Fig. 5.28. Tally statistics for part 3 question 10…………………………...……………….…78 Fig. 5.29. Tally statistics for part 3 question 11………………………………...………….…78 Fig. 5.30. Tally statistics for part 3 question 12…………………………………...……….…79 Fig. 5.31. Tally statistics for part 3 question 13………………………………………...….…79 Fig. 5.32. Tally statistics for part 3 question 14…………………………………...……….…80 Fig. 5.33. Tally statistics for part 3 question 15………………………………………...….…81 Fig. 5.34. Tally statistics for part 3 question 16…………………………………………....…81

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Chapter 1: Research Introduction

1.1. Introduction: The aim of this chapter is to introduce the research background and the research problem statement. Also, this chapter introduces the aims and objectives of the research, the research questions and hypothesis. The chosen research methodologies have also been discussed in detail. The areas under study or the scope of the research and the organization of the research chapters have also been explained in detail. 1.2. Research Background: Petrochemical products have become a part and parcel of our everyday life. These products range form cables, insulators, cloths, plastic products, fertilizers and even toys. In the recent past the demand for these products are seen to be increasing drastically. The base petrochemical products are the intermediates, polyolefin, polyesters and fertilizers. According to Al Mady (2004), Saudi Arabia accounts for nearly 10% of the world‟s petrochemical products. The two industrial cities, Jubail and Yanbu in Saudi Arabia are the home for many petro chemical plants. There are about twenty two petrochemical plants in these cities. These petrochemical products are manufactured by technical procedures in specialized industries or process plants. There may be many related processes associated with the production of these petrochemical products; these may be done in the main process plant itself or in subsidiary plants. The petrochemical projects have to be executed according to the specified standards in adherence to the budget and time duration. Every petrochemical process is seen to be of unique nature as the technical approach and methodologies are different. The issues related to shutdowns, turnarounds and outages in petrochemical plants are crucial as they decide the plant performance and profit. Managing these petrochemical processes and turnarounds needs special care. The present day demands with regard to turnaround and shutdowns in petrochemical plants are such that, the duration of turnaround processes are chosen to be very less so that the production profit could be maximized, thorough and detailed scope identification, realistic shutdown or turnaround plan, execution

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of the activities in the critical path based on Risk Analysis Procedure, delay free start up, innovative safety plans and reduction in scope variations based on risk inspection. Also the situation becomes more complicated when there are work scope changes in these turnaround processes. The scope change again demands special management techniques for overall benefit in terms of cost, risks and time of the petrochemical plant turnaround processes. This research intends to analyze the variations in scope of work in the turnaround processes in SABIC Jubail. The research tries to analyze the causes, impacts and practical solutions of the scope changes in the SABIC plant turnarounds. 1.3. Discussion of the Research Problem: As the research scenario for this research work happens to be the petrochemical plants in Saudi Arabia, the SABIC Jubail United has been chosen. As the Saudi government aims at increasing its production of petrochemical products from 8% to 15% by the year 2015, effective process management and turnaround management have become highly essential. A plant turnaround process has five distinct stages namely strategic planning stage, detailed planning stage, organizing stage, executing stage and close out stage. In reality, these stages may overlap. Shutdowns and Turnarounds in a petro chemical plant cost nearly 30% of the maintenance budgets. Any lag or improper performance or delay in starting this turnaround/shutdown process may lead to severe loss in terms of operating benefit. Hence the shutdowns and turnarounds need to be managed in a professional manner. In such an optimized turnaround process, the rise of work scope change pose a major threat for the overall benefit of the petro chemical plant Turnarounds. The impact of this turnaround scope change could be felt in terms of increased cost, increased time for turnaround completion, and quality of turnaround, turnaround risk and loss of turnaround control. Thus the management of scope change in turnaround seems crucial. The reasons for turnaround scope change could be improper original scope, insufficient history of the equipments in the plant, difference in the type of plant, ageing of the plant and other such aspects. With respect to any plant turnaround process, scope change management is the process of ensuring that all the scope changes in the plant turnaround process are being

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carried out in an authorized and planned manner. Turnaround Scope Change management could also be defined as the formal process of tracking and documenting the scope changes in the turnaround or project. If the scope changes are not tackled efficiently, then these changes would be a threat to the success of the project or turnaround/shut down process. 1.4. Aim and Objectives of the Research: Any research work needs to have a clear aim and specific objectives. These objectives need to be framed such that they satisfy the research phenomenon and thus it has to accomplish the research aim. Thus the aim and the objectives, when defined properly would provide a clear idea about the research phenomenon. The objectives of a research work also aids in the proper choice of the research methodology. The main aim of this research work is to evaluate and analyze the causes, impacts and practical solutions for the work scope changes in petrochemical plant turnarounds in SABIC, Jubail. The major research objectives of this research work could be stated as follows, 

To determine the reasons of increasing changes in SABIC turnarounds scope of work.



Identify the negative impacts of changes in SABIC plant Turnarounds scope of work.



To find out how to minimize the changes in SABIC Jubail turnarounds scope of work to less than ± 5%.



To propose practical solution for minimize the negative impact of changes in turnaround scope.

1.5. Research Questions: In a research work, the research question best describes the research phenomenon and the research hypothesis that support the discussion of the research phenomenon. Any

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research work should have a specific target phenomenon. The aim of this part is to analyze this target phenomenon. To have a more detailed literature survey, specific strategy for research data collection, the target phenomenon has to be described properly. This research phenomenon could be stated in the form of a research question or research statement. If the research phenomenon is in the form of a research statement, the following literature survey and the related discussion should in the form of for and against the concept of the chosen research phenomenon. This approach of research question definition is called as the inductive approach. According to Marike Hettinga (1998), the inductive approach could be described as: “A researcher should not commit himself to one specific theory because then he becomes insensitive and is preoccupied with testing, modifying, and seeing everything form this one angle”. Another method of defining the research phenomenon happens to be the deductive method. In this approach, the research phenomenon is stated in the form of a research question. Here, the deductive approach of the research proceeds to formulate a question that, when answered would describe the research phenomenon. Marike Hettinga (1998) states that this question has to be framed based on: “Statements about what is to be explored, the purpose of the exploration and the criteria by which the exploration will be judged successful”. This research has opted the deductive approach of representing the research phenomenon, where, the major research questions have been detailed as follows: 

What is the reasons of variation in SABIC turnarounds scope of work?

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Is there enough time for turnaround scope development?



What is impact of scope change on turnaround budget and duration?



What can be done to minimize the changes in SABIC Jubail turnarounds original scope of work?

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

How can be the turnaround scope management process modified to minimize the negative impact of scope changes on turnaround process?

1.6. Research Hypothesis: After defining the research phenomenon in the form of a question or statement, the research work has to formulate the research hypothesis which would help in exploring the research phenomenon in more detail. The hypothesis is more closely related to the research question and hence they could help in answering the research question in a better way. Generally, these hypotheses are in the form of statements that are explained elaborately during the research discussion. Most of the research works are driven by more than a single hypothesis, but are usually restricted to not more than three hypotheses. This hypothesis could be explained as the more specific predictions of the nature of relationship between two or more variables in the research phenomenon. Thus the research hypothesis not only aid in the direction of progress of the research, but also aids in analyzing the major factors involved in the research phenomenon. Hence, the research hypothesis could be viewed as the basic building blocks of the research process to acquire the expected research output. The major hypothesis of this research work could be listed as follows: 

Insufficient Time for turnaround scope development process could be a significant cause of unclear and unspecific scope of work.

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Failure and defect in equipment after between scope cut off and turnaround time could be significant reason of changes in the scope.



Poor Scope change management process is significant reason to control changes in the scope.

1.7. Scope of the Research: The scope or the conceptual areas of this research work include the processes in the petrochemical plants. As the research phenomenon is related to petrochemical plant turnarounds and the scope changes in these processes, the scope happens to be wide. These

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topics include the overview of SABIC Jubail, concepts and the stages in turnaround / shutdown / outage process, proposal for turnaround planning and preparation, scope identification and

planning, quality and safety management in turnaround, cost

considerations, the five phases of turnaround and their

implementation, turnaround

inspections, work scope changes in turnaround processes, concepts of scope management and project management, scope change control, principles of scope change management, different formats or templates for scope change requests, scope change impact, scope change approval, scope change inspection and cost estimates. As this research work intends to analyze the causes, impact and practical solutions for the scope change of work in the SABIC turnaround processes through a thorough case study and quantitative survey, the scope of this research also encompasses concepts related to the quantitative method of data analysis. The survey questionnaire preparation, sampling size of the participants, focus group, ethical issues related to survey method have also been detailed. The other aspects that come under the scope of this research work include the statistical analysis of the quantitative data, the statistical measures for quantitative data, correlation principles and different chart representations of the statistical data. The main scope of the data collection forms a part of the case study of the SABIC Jubail united. 1.8. Research Design and Methodology: Any research work has to be accompanied by valid data collection and valid research methodology. The most important part in any research work is the choice of research methodology and research design. The research design process as described by John W. Creswell, (2003), is “Research is the process of making claims and then refining or abandoning some of them for other claims more strongly warranted”. The research design and the data collection methodology, specifies the process that has to be adopted to achieve the desired research objectives. For this research work, the research aim is to formulate a set of recommendations that would help to manage and

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monitor/control the scope changes in the turnaround process. It is required to come up with an idea and base the research recommendation relative to the practical solution for TA scope change. This recommendation is required to cover the ways of minimizing scope change, ways of minimizing the negative impact of TA scope change and the ways to handle / control / track TA scope change in better way. To accomplish this, the chosen research methodology happens to be the case study of SABIC Jubail and a survey with quantitative questions. The survey has been proposed to be conducted among the focus groups, who are often involved in the turnaround processes in petrochemical plants. The focus group comprises of technicians, planners, engineers, supervisors and team leader or managers, each of them have at least 2 years of experience in the TA process. 1.9. Research Organization: This research has been organized into various chapters. After the introduction of the research concepts in this chapter, the second chapter deals with the literature review. The literature review covers the concepts of turnaround management, project management, petrochemical plant turnaround / shutdowns / outages, turnaround scope of work in petro chemical plants, milestones in the Plant turnaround management system, periodic reviews in turnaround, the five phases in the turnaround process, performance metrics of plant turnarounds,

causes for deviation between final and original scope of work, general

impacts of change in turnaround scope of work and the scope change management and control in turnarounds. The next chapter deals with the concepts of scope change management, the discussion under this chapter includes scope management plan, goals and purposes of scope change management, scope change management and control,

primary

drivers in plant turnaround scope change management. A few sample templates for scope change requests, scope tracking, scope inspection, scope impact and cost assessments have also been presented. The fourth chapter deals with the research data collection and research methodology. The data collection includes a case study for benchmark and a quantitative survey. Hence the fourth chapter deals with the sample space, validity and reliability of the

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data. The fifth chapter has been organized to analyze the data collected. Statistical analyses using Excel and MINITAB have been proposed. The sixth chapter discusses the results of the data analysis and comes out with a set of recommendation for how to minimize the changes in turnaround scope of work and recommendation for how to minimize the impact of changes on safety, duration, cost & quality. The final chapter presents the research conclusion. 1.10. Chapter summary: This chapter has introduced the research background and the research problem statement. Also, this chapter has dealt with the aims and objectives of the research, the research questions and related hypothesis. The chosen research methodologies like quantitative survey by questionnaire and case study of SABIC Jubail have also been discussed in detail. The areas under study or the scope of the research and the organization of the research chapters have also been explained in detail. The research proceeds to the next chapter of literature review. Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1. Chapter Introduction: This literature review discusses about the concepts related to turnaround management. As the research is based on the SABIC petrochemical industry, a brief introduction about SABIC, Jubail has been given in the beginning. The chapter then discusses in detail about the concepts of general turnaround process in any industry. It later correlates the turnaround principles to the plant turnaround, shutdown and outage concepts of process plants including petrochemical plants. The turnaround scope of work has been detailed with respect to a petrochemical plant; the different phases of the plant turnaround processes have been explained. Finally, the scope change characteristics in turnaround processes have been discussed along with an introduction to scope change management and control for change in work scope in the plant turnaround processes.

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2.2. Overview of SABIC: The SABIC is the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is a leading manufacturer of chemicals, plastics, metal and fertilizers. The company operates in many countries like Asia Pacific, Europe, America, Africa and Middle East, whose major stakeholder is the Saudi government (70%) and the remaining 30% by private parties. The company is a high profit making company with revenue of SAR 150,809.6 million during the financial year ended in 2008, this was an increase of 19.5% over the previous year. The operating profit of the company keeps fluctuating and was at SAR 37,335 million in the year 2008, which was a decrease of 12% compared to the previous year. The success of the company has been based on three major principles, which are best technology and research practices, partnership with local investors and ambitious growth strategy. There are seven business units in the company geared by 16 research and technology establishments across the globe. The official site of SABIC states that “These are: Chemicals, Polymers, Performance Chemicals, Fertilizers, Metals, Innovative Plastics and Manufacturing. Each of these is headed by a Vice-President. Six of these business units make four different kinds of products” (http://www.sabic.com/corporate/en/ourcompany/default.aspx) With employee strength of 33,000 in all the hundred countries, SABIC is a fast growing producer of petrochemicals, fertilizers and steel products. According to the annual report for the year 2008, the total production (in MT) of these six business units in SABIC for the year 2008, has been shown in Fig.2.1.

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Fig. 2.1 Total production by the six business units of SABIC for 2008 (SABIC reports and accounts, 2008).

One of the basic and essential goods produced by SABIC is seen to be the Basic chemicals (23,691 MT). The Al-Jubail plant, which is a major petrochemical hub, acts as the main contributor for the basic chemicals. According to the SABIC reports and accounts (2008), “The fifth expansion of the Saudi Methanol Company (AR-RAZI) in the Jubail Industrial City went on stream on May 1, creating the world‟s largest single chemical methanol production complex. The new plant added 1,500 metric tons a day, taking production up to 5,000 metric tons a day. AR-RAZI now produces more than three million tons a year from its four plants.” Apart from this, the plants in Jubail also contribute to the production of Polymers and its feedstock–Ethylene Glycol, Polypropylene, Fertilizers (AL-BAYRONI), methanol (AR-RAZI). In the year 2008, the Linear Alpha Olefins (LAO) technology was implemented at Jubail United. In spite of all the above credentials, the major challenges

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facing the SABIC Petrochemical industry are the rapidly rising global competition, increased cost of projects and long lead times, geo–political issues, disturbance sin the energy environment and economic imbalances. 2.3. Plant Turnarounds: Turnarounds are planned activities in certain process industries like petrochemicals, refinery, pulp and paper mills, electrical power plants and the like. These turnaround activities intend to revitalize the existing operations or in other words, they renew the process units in the plants. Turnaround is one of the general procedures in which the process unit is taken off stream for revamping. This process of turnaround may include many processes like shutdowns, inspection and testing, revamps, debottlenecking the projects, catalyst change out, outages, etc. Turnarounds are planned in the yearly business plan budget and the cost of turnaround is considered as maintenance expense. They are highly expensive as the production would cease. Not only the production losses, but also the expenses for the turnaround process like labor cost, material cost, cost of equipments and tools, cost of heavy materials and other such expenses. These turnaround expenses form a major portion of the plant‟s budget. 2.3.1. Defining Turnarounds and Shutdowns: Turnaround is a planned procedure that is undertaken for the maintenance, inspection and testing of plant units. This process lasts for specified time duration and is essential for plant safety, reliability and efficiency. A shutdown is an outage that exists for a pre – determined time, when the entire plant is shutdown. A shutdown could be a planned or unplanned shutdown or even an emergency shutdown. 2.3.2. Turnaround Management: The management of these turnaround processes requires unique management strategies. If not managed properly, the turnaround process can affect the plant‟s operations in terms of loss of revenue due to delay in turnarounds and increased turnaround costs.

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Turnarounds constitutes to the largest expense for a company in terms of maintenance. Managing the time and cost in a turnaround process are crucial and challenging. The potential to save cost in a turnaround process is large and hence it could directly constitute to the bottom line profit of the company. The management of the turnaround process is done under the leadership of experienced personnel and based on the highly proven systems and procedures. These tested and proven procedures can lead to less failure of the turnaround process and can increase the overall efficiency of the plant. These systems and procedures also improve the information flow within the turnaround operations and that of the organization. Assigning the responsibility is an important task and has to be based on the decisions needed and the decision making capacity of the personnel involved. Thus organizing a turnaround needs rearranging the flow the information and the authority levels. To have fewer delays, few people need to be involved in the information flow path. Generally a turnaround organization chart is prepared and presented to all who are involved in the turnaround process. 2.3.3. The turnaround Process: The actual turnaround process deals begins with the setting of clear goals and objectives, developing the turnaround scope and work list, estimating the budget, planning, scheduling, balancing the man power and man hours, reporting the progress, documenting the activities, auditing , planning for additional work, critical path scheduling, estimating the repair work and preparing the turnaround schedule. The actual field scope of the turnaround process includes requirements for alignment, cranage, scaffolding, NDT, offsite, insulation, equipment, painting, torquing and cleaning. The entire turnaround process is carried out in five different phases. 2.3.4. Turnaround Vs Project: Understanding the difference between the concepts of project and turnaround is highly essential to manage turnaround situations efficiently. The general project management follows Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) for civil projects and the like for other process industries. The demands and characteristics are different for

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turnaround and require a unique management methodology. The differential characteristics of the project management and turnaround management have been outlined in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1. Turnaround Vs Project.

Turnaround Definition of scope is vague and is based on past turnaround experiences, operation requests, inspection reports.

Project Scope is well defined based on specifications, execution plans, and contracts.

Scope changes dynamically based on

The scope is static in nature and very few

inspections.

changes occur while executing the project.

Planning and scheduling could be done only near

The process could be planned in advance and

shutdown, after the approval of scope.

scheduled.

Turnarounds are based on work orders and defect.

Projects are cost / commodity based.

Extensive safety / shift permits are required.

Normal safety / shift permits are sufficient.

Manpower staffing varies a lot due to

Staffing would not vary during the execution of

fluctuations on scope.

the project.

Updates need to be done daily.

Updates could be on a weekly or on monthly basis.

Time management is crucial and hence time is

Time measurement is not so crucial and is in

measured in hours or shifts.

days or months.

Scope could be flexible.

Scope is not flexible but is mandatory.

The schedules are compressed and opportunities

As the schedules are uncompressed, the

to correct failures in the critical path seem to be

slippages could be corrected by schedule

minimum or nil.

acceleration.

Requires a strict scope management control than

Scope management control need not be strict

that of the project management scope control

and it is sufficient if the baseline schedule is

methods.

followed.

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2.4. Petrochemical Plants and Turnarounds: Petrochemical products are very important products in daily life. The different types of petrochemical products range from fertilizers, polyolefin, polyesters, insulators, cable wrap, plastics and others. According to the annual report of Saudi Arabia General Investment Authority, SAGIA (2005), the demand for petrochemical products has been increasing in the past decades. The projects in petrochemical plants need to be carried out with precise quality specifications and budget within the stipulated time. Most of the petrochemical projects are hi - tech projects and are generally patented. Turnarounds in petrochemical or any process plant does not necessarily mean corporate crisis, it could also apply to situations of major maintenance or scheduled process outage. This outage, called as “plant shutdown”, requires specific type of management which is referred to as “Plant Turnaround management”. This process of plant turnaround happens to be continuous from one major outage to another outage. The plant turnaround process begins well before the actual outage (off line) and continues for some time even after the scheduled maintenance work is over. There are many phases in plant turnaround, in that; the plant shutdown stage comes under the execution phase. The main advantages of the plant turnaround process are the reliability of the asset (equipments) increases, reduced risk of unexpected or unscheduled outages, and reduction in catastrophic failure. On the other hand, the drawbacks could be listed as, the turnaround expenses would be high, plant shutdown are time consuming and expensive, shutdowns and turnarounds are generally complex and difficult to manage, turnaround leads to a negative financial impact due to loss in production revenue. The duration of plant turnarounds are generally very short. The plant turnaround cost consumption within four to five weeks could be equivalent to the cost of the yearly maintenance budget. John McLay (www.pmpt.org ) states that plant turnaround

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“Requires the greatest percentage of the yearly process outage days. As the plant shutdown is the major component of plant downtime and maintenance costs, proper plant turnaround management will have a significant impact on the bottom line.” Generally, the management team trades off between the excessive turnaround budget and the plant‟s improved asset reliability due to turnaround. John McLay adds that “Without scheduled maintenance outages, equipment will fail, and an unscheduled outage is up to ten times more expensive than a scheduled outage. The cost is much higher again if the outage is due to a catastrophic failure.” Due to the advantage acquired by this tradeoff the owner / senior management team tend to include the process of plant turnaround in the business plan budget itself. As the business plan budget and the schedules of process outages need to be predicted long before, details of the expected turnaround estimates are derived from plant turnaround support plans and existing maintenance work packages. The strategy for including the plant turnaround process in the corporate business plan is shown in Fig. 2.2. It could be seen that the planning, structuring,

Fig. 2.2. The strategy of including the plant turnaround process in the corporate business plan

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executing and closing of plant turnaround need to be given importance in the business budget of the corporate. It could be said that the philosophy of plant turnaround has to be integrate with the vision and mission of the corporate plan. Integrating the plant turnaround in the corporate business plan would increase the benefit and reduce the cost during outage. The turnaround process begins with the documentation of the procedures, policies and guidelines. The policies and procedures should account for all the key issues like run time, unexpected outages, turnaround frequency and the like. 2.5. Turnaround Scope of Work in Petrochemical Plants: The petrochemical (or any process industry) plant turnaround process has five fundamental phases. These phases are the strategic planning phase, detailed planning phase, organizing phase, execution phase and close out phase. The plant turnaround process is always a continuous process and requires overlapping between turnarounds. When the turnaround overlaps, the budget has to be standardized and appropriate cost control measures need to be adopted, proper training has to be given to improve the skills of the turnaround team. The turnaround team should include personnel from all areas like operations, administration, maintenance, engineering, health and safety environment (HSE), product procurement and planning (PPP), quality assurance (QA) and turnaround supervision. When the complexity of the turnaround process increases, third party contractors could be involved to supplement the existing resources of the company. The selections of these personnel are done in the initial phase of the plant turnaround process. The various stages in the turnaround process could be listed in the form of a milestone listing, called as the “Master Milestone Schedule (MMS)”. This MMS acts as a guideline for the various activities and time schedules for the turnaround team. These milestones are as shown in Table 2.2. These milestones encompass all the stages / phases of the plant turnaround process. The below described milestones help in measuring the rate of progress in the turnaround process compared to the expected progress. This schedule and the measurement of progress would help in future planning of the scheduled outages.

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Table 2.2. Milestones in the Plant turnaround management system.

Phase of T/A

1

2

3

4

5

Milestone

Responsible area

Selection of T/A manager

Owner or Senior management

Turnaround kick off

T/A Manager

Set T/A strategy/premises

T/A manager

T/A scope statement (work list)

T/A team

Initial cost estimate

T/A Team

Work breakdown structure

T/A Manager

Cost Control Structure

Administration

Organizational Breakdown Structure

T/A Team

Work list cut-off date

T/A Team

Support plans complete

Support plan rep

Work Package complete

Planning

Master Execution Schedule complete

Scheduling/Planning

Detailed cost estimate

T/A Manager

Procurement of materials

Procurement

Procurement of machinery

Procurement

T/A Readiness Review Audit

T/A Team

Plant feed-out

Operations ( 0 months )

Plant feed-in

Operations

Reports & documents complete

T/A Team

Evaluate plant turnaround

T/A Team

Postmortem meeting

T/A Manager

T/A Summary report

T/A Manager

If the strategic and detailed planning phases are not given enough care, then variations may occur in between, the planned budget and the actual cost, the work progress and the work scope. These variations would be apparent in the execution phase. The turnaround process facilitates the replacement / changes in design / updates the procedures

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of certain critical jobs. A Management of Change (MOC) process would justify and control these changes and hence the turnaround cost. These changes need to be recorded. The MOC process has to begin before any interdepartmental review and authorization. The major players in the plant turnaround process are the planners, technicians, supervisors, engineers, and managers. The scope of work in the turnaround planning and execution phases include formation of the turnaround team, information gathering, preparing the turnaround work list and work order, organizing work order, defining activities, estimating duration of activities, estimating repair work, estimating extra work, contracting bids, critical path scheduling, shutdown scheduling, maintenance scheduling, schedule refinement, daily turnaround scheduling, interpreting a Gantt chart , setting priorities after evaluation, manpower scheduling, manpower leveling, critical mass, assessing the tradeoff between overtime–premium time and time / cost benefit, analyzing the productivity (earned value), daily meeting regarding turnaround progress, managing information flow at various levels of the turnaround process, and measuring and reporting progress. 2.6. Turnaround management in petrochemical plants: The management of the turnaround process in a petrochemical plant is under the control of a steering committee and the activities are carried out by the members of the core team. Regular communication between the steering committee and the core team becomes essential for improved correlation between the scope and the budget. 2.6.1. The steering committee: The steering committee is the team that acts as the senior management team in the turnaround management. This committee coordinates with the TA planning team comprising the maintenance engineers, Equipment reliability technicians and others. According to Rod Oliver (2001), the responsibility of the steering committee is described as

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“The obvious purpose of such a group is to provide direction and guidance to the TA planning team and ensure that the turnaround meets the needs of the business. However, the more important function of the committee is to ensure that the scope and budget for the turnaround are in alignment.” The activities and factors that need to be considered by the steering committee have been shown in the following Fig.2.3.

External constraints (competition, market availabilities, environment, legislation)

Internal constraints (time, money, opportunity, industrial relations)

Steering committee (TA manager, HSE manager, Production manager, engineering manager)

Desired outcome (completion of TA within the targets for cost, safety, time, quality)

Issues (timing, safety, work scope preparation, resources, communication, marketing, alignment, quality, contractors)

Group members (stake holders, decision makers, fund providers)

Fig. 2.3. Factors influencing the operations and activities of the turnaround steering committee.

2.6.2. Periodic reviews: To ensure that the activities of the turnaround process are being executed according to the planned scope, there has to be periodic reviews or audits. Practically these audits are done at the end of each stage in the turnaround process. The individuals involved in the audit or review process should not be involved in the turnaround stage and hence the desired choice is to bring people from outside. This selection of the auditors has to be done by the

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steering committee. The two most important audits in the turnaround process are the audit after the conceptual development stage and the audit after the detailed planning phase. The first one after the conceptual design audits the basic resources and the turnaround procedures. The later one reviews the preparedness of the plant for the turnaround process. These audits compare the turnaround progress with the planned milestones by conducting site visits, group discussions and meetings. Each turnaround process has a unique milestone schedule that details the time and tasks in each stage. Thus audits are the prime means of measuring the planned progress and ensure that the individuals are committed towards the tasks, supply of data and information are proper, tasks are progressing as per the turnaround plan. 2.6.3. The phases in plant turnaround process: As mentioned earlier, the long range business plan of the plant should account for the turnaround process and the deliverables like an annual turnaround schedule, a long term (five year) rolling turnaround schedule, turnaround budget for the next five years, long range improvement plans and the like. Due to the varying nature of the market and the supply of resources, the long term plans become flexible and hence the turnaround should also be flexible. 2.6.3.1. The conceptual phase: The first phase of the turnaround–the conceptual phase begins immediately after the post turnaround of the previous turnaround process. In this stage the functional members for each of the core area need to be selected and their meeting with the steering committee should be conducted. This meeting would clearly define the philosophy for the upcoming turnaround. Care has to be taken to define the type of turnaround, activities like significant capital items, catalyst change, time till next turnaround, etc. When the turnaround philosophy is defined, the core members start the relevant activities and the outcome of this phase is seen to be

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“Turnaround philosophy, Preliminary work list, Basic cost estimates (± 30 per cent), Estimated duration, Turnaround preparation milestone plan, Manpower forecast for turnaround planning resources, Organization structure, QA/QC requirements, Stage report and the audit schedule, The milestone plan.” (Rod Oliver, 2001). The time required to complete this phase must be two to three months after the previous turnaround. 2.6.3.2. Work scope development: The second phase of the turnaround management involves the work scope development. After defining the work, the critical path schedules need to be developed for cost effective turnaround. The major deliverables of this phase include “An integrated plan (schedule, equipment and resources), Preliminary critical path schedule, Refined budget estimate (±20 per cent), Updated preliminary and approved work list, Long lead materials ordered, Critical lift plans, An additional work approval process, Work scope closed, Stage report, Review or audit report.” (Rod Oliver, 2001). The timing for this phase has to be 12–15 months before the shutdown stage of the plant. 2.6.3.3. Detailed Planning: This phase has to be managed by specific application of certain tools to ensure that all the turnaround activities are incorporated into the plan. This work integration is highly essential as it would lead to budget and time overrun. The major activities in this phase include, finalizing the work list, scheduling the critical path, detailing the execution and safety plan, preparing final estimate, finalizing the material procurement plan, defining the format and frequency of the reviews. The outcome of this phase as described by Rod Oliver (2001) has to include,

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“Integrated execution plan (finalized on critical and sub critical work), Final budget estimates (±10 per cent), Final work list, "What if" scenarios, Lifting plans, Mobile equipment requirements, Detailed shop loading plans, Review or audit report.” The timing for this phase has to be fixed at four to six months before turnaround. 2.6.3.4. Pre Turnaround Work: This phase is just before the execution. The primary activities are orientation and training, mobilization, final execution plans. The major deliverables of this stage include, “Execution plan finalized, Pre shutdown turnaround work completed, Execution team trained Turnaround organization charts, Reporting plan, Field mobilization complete, Shutdown meeting procedures finalized, Communications / alignment meetings, Review or audit report.” (Rod Oliver, 2001). This process has to be done three months before turnaround. 2.6.3.5. Turnaround execution: The actual execution begins in this stage as the feed is reduced. The major activities include; shutdown, schedule audits, cost tracking, tracking additional work and changes in the scope, documentation of findings. The deliverables include turnaround execution, meeting the objectives, safety reviews, start up, and release to operation. The two major aspects in the execution include added work requests and the scope growth of the items in the work list. This scope growth of the work list plays a major role in the turnaround process. The additional work requisition has to be approved and reviewed on a daily basis. In some situations, all the scope growths have to be documented for the purpose of cost control but it is not needed to go through the approval process. The daily schedule meetings of the core members have to be short and needs to concentrate more on the changes in the work scope and the ways to resolve them efficiently.

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The time for completion of this turnaround execution, is on the start up of the product production. 2.6.3.6. Post Turnaround: This is the last phase in the plant turnaround process. The major activities include the documentation, de–mobilization, preparation of cost reports, reports of the lessons learnt from this turnaround and opportunities to improve. These activities would be highly useful for the next turnaround. The other activities in this phase are post turnaround MOC requirements, disposing the excess material, inspection of report history, updating the history turnaround database, issuing the final cost report, freezing the turnaround accounts . 2.6.3.7. Measuring the success of the turnaround performance: Measuring the turnaround performance has to be done by a defined set of metrics as prescribed by Rod Oliver (2001), include “Duration: oil out to on-specification product in days. Total costs: for both turnaround shutdown and routine maintenance, Turnaround costs: both actual and annualized by plant function, Frequency: run length in months, Predictability: actual versus planned work hours, duration and cost, Safety: accident numbers and rates, Startup incidents: days lost due rework, Unscheduled shutdown: days lost per year during the run, Mechanical availability: time available as a percentage, Additional work: actual versus contingency, Environmental incidents: impact of those attributable to the shutdown, Savings: money saved resulting from changes to these metrics.” The success of the turnaround specifies that the tasks had been adhered to. Today there are many web based computer software to plan and execute the multitude of tasks, issues and data flow in the plant turnaround process.

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2.7. Deviation between final and original scope of work: As described above the effective execution of turnarounds in the stipulated short span of time is highly essential. Also, it is important to note that the turnaround execution depends greatly on the growth of the work scope. In actual practice, there may be many variations in the original planned work scope. The reasons, impacts, practical solutions for these scope variations have been discussed as follows. 2.7.1. Causes of big changes in turnarounds scope of work: Though the plant turnaround process has been devised with great care, there may be situations when the turnaround scope of work has to be changed. The reasons may be unclear original scope, scope changes based on the ageing of the plant, sufficient details are not provided in the existing scope, intermediate audits have proposed some changes in the scope, end user does not agree with the final scope, scope change may be due to unclear implementation cost of the proposed scope, scope is not defined fully, scope variations based on type of the plant and type of the turnaround, proposed scope has hidden assumptions, the proposed scope does not satisfy the objectives of the turnaround, defect in plant equipment after the proposed scope but before the turnaround execution and lack of clear purpose for the proposed scope. 2.7.2. Impacts of change in turnaround scope of work: The change in scope of work in the plant turnaround process my have both positive and negative impact on the turnaround process. The negative impacts may be due to addition of scope in each phase of the turnaround process, removal of scope work from each or any turnaround process. The factors that may be affected by the turnaround scope change include turnaround cost, turnaround duration, turnaround safety, turnaround quality and turnaround sequence control. A few practical solutions to reduce the changes in the scope turnarounds would be maintaining a good history of all the equipments, providing sufficient time for scope

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development, well defined scope approval procedure, finding out the alternatives to do the change. 2.7.3. Scope change management and control in turnarounds: The greatest challenge in plant turnarounds is the management and control of scope. The management of this scope change has to be done efficient scope change management strategies.

The major scope management strategies include scope planning, scope

definition, scope verification and scope change control. A simple scope management procedure would include the following phases Change Request Form, Change Review and Evaluation, Change Priority and Classification, Change Approval, Change communication and Change implementation. The concepts of the scope change management and control have been detailed in the next chapter along with specific application to the turnaround scope of work. 2.8. Chapter summary: This chapter has introduced the concepts related to the turnarounds, shutdowns and outages in petrochemical plants. The different phases in the turnaround process have been explained along with few discussions about the change in turnaround scope of work.

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Chapter 3: Scope Change Management and Control 3.1. Chapter Introduction: In any turnaround, scope defines the features that need to be included in the turnaround and the features that are not a part of that turnaround. In the initial stage of the turnaround, the turnaround management team has to describe the scope of the turnaround. Managing the scope of the work is highly critical for any turnaround in terms of cost and duration. Thus scope management and the related change processes need to be taken care of. This chapter intends to detail the concepts related to scope management, scope management plan, goals and purposes of scope management. Also the scope change process, change requests, change tracking and change control are to be discussed in detail. 3.2. Defining the scope: Defining the scope of the work forms the basis for any turnaround management. The written scope statement becomes the agreement for all the turnaround related activities and turnaround related decisions. The scope definition also prescribes the objectives of the turnaround, supporting details for the turnaround, the scope management strategy and the turnaround deliverables. The requirements for a complete and an accurate scope definition would be,  Understanding the actual turnaround requirement.  Understanding and identifying the work processes and the flow of work.  Identifying the support processes,  Working out a detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), to know the gap between the expected work and the actual work status. The scope definition acts as the base for assessing the potential changes in the scope and for measuring the performance of the turnaround.

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3.3. Project Scope Management: The major activities in the scope management plan include planning, definition, work breakdown structure creation, verification and control. The planning of the activities results in the creation of the turnaround scope management plan. As explained above, the plan gives the definition of scope, its verification and control. It also describes the work breakdown structure. The definition of scope forms the basis for all the decisions related to the turnaround. The creation of Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), divides the deliverables of the turnaround into highly manageable work packages. The verification process creates formal procedures for the acceptance of the turnaround deliverables. The control activity, defines the way in which all projected changes would be processed. These include the procedures of submitting the proposal, review of proposals and the subsequent approval. Scope has to be defined clearly as part of the turnaround management plan. At the starting stage of turnaround, the scope defines the turnaround in terms of the deliverables and the way in which the turnaround will operate. At this stage, the turnaround manger has to consider the factors that may cause the scope changes, the related effects due to the changes and the potential costs due to the changes. The scope changes that may lead to overall turnaround benefit need to be allowed. Also any change that is acceptable has to be allowed in the earlier stage itself, any change at a later stage would lead to increased loss in terms of duration, turnaround cost and other risks. Hence potential changes need to be exercised at the earlier stage itself by the change control procedure. 3.4. Scope Management Plan: The turnaround scope management plan is a part of the entire turnaround management plan. The scope management plan is the main document that gives the turnaround scope definition, method of managing, controlling and verifying the scope of the turnaround. It also gives the entire work requirement for the turnaround, the work that is out the work scope and those that are within the work scope of the turnaround. According to the needs of the turnaround, the scope management plan could be either a formal or an informal method of communicating the work scope of the turnaround amongst senior management

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and the turnaround team. Thus the scope management plan is expected to define and implement the scope changes in formal steps (PMBOK). The scope management plan and implementation has to be under the control of the turnaround manager. While devising the scope management plan, the following aspects need to be foreseen. 1. The approach regarding change control: The changes in the scope need to be authorized by the change control board or the steering committee in case of a plant turnaround process. The change management consists of different stages like the change request, clarification for change of scope, scope change review and evaluation, response and consent for change. 2. The stability of the scope: The possibility of the changes in the scope, the amount of scope change and the nature of scope change (big or small) need to be considered during the scope management plan. Also, the strategy for prioritizing the changes, need to be thought about. 3. The mechanism for change control: The authoritative persons who could identify a change need to be defined, the criteria for change control have to be based upon the severity and impact of that particular change. Mechanism for change acceptance and change implementation .A sample template for the scope management plan could be as shown in Table. 3.1. and Table 3.2. Table 3.1. A sample template for the scope identification.

Scope Identification Turnaround Name:

Turnaround Description:

Turnaround ID:

Date:

(an organizational name for the turnaround)

(a brief description of the turnaround)

(an unique ID for the turnaround)

(date on which the scope doc was created)

Strategic goals: (goals of the turnaround that support the goals of the organization)

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Table 3.2. A sample template for the scope acceptance and changes.

Scope Acceptance Role

Turnaround Steering Committee:

Turnaround Manager:

Date:

(Senior Management)

(any authoritative manager)

(date on which scope management plan was accepted)

Signature : Change description

3.5. Scope Change Management and Control: This section intends to discuss the concepts of change management in any turnaround scope. 3.5.1. Scope Change: In any turnaround or process, change happens to be inevitable. During the course of the turnaround or process, there may be a need to change the scope both for reasons that are good and bad. In many situations, scope change happens to be a defensive act to avoid any fault conditions. In a few cases, the scope changes may be seen to have an aggressive behavior, where the contractor may wish to expand the turnaround size and hence the time with an intention to achieve cost benefit. There is also the practice of acquiring the turnaround for a lower bid, and then the contractor may try to gain profit by going for many scope changes. In all the situations, the management of the scope changes needs to be done properly for efficient turnaround management. 3.5.2. Change Management: In an organization, change management would refer to implementation of best strategic plans that best deals with the business opportunities. With respect to any turnaround or process, Change management is the process of ensuring that all the scope changes in the turnaround or process are being carried out in an authorized and planned

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manner. Change management could also be defined as the formal process of tracking and documenting the scope changes in the process or turnaround. If the scope changes are not tackled efficiently, then these changes would be a threat to the success of the turnaround or process. According to Colleen Mills (2008), every organization or turnaround needs a specific plan and methodology for scope management. He adds a set of best practices that could suit the scope change management in most of the situations, these are; 

Involvement of the team members to encourage changes that is beneficial.



Timely and clear communication.



Training which emphasizes conflict management, stress management, priority setting, systematic problem solving.



Inspection of the change progress and recognizing the change outcome.

3.5.3. Goals of scope change management: The goal of scope change management is to identify the baseline for the scope and to manage the changes. The other major goals of the scope change management include the following: 

To match the turnaround requirements and the organization‟s resources.



Handle the gap between the procedures of the institution and the procedures of the turnaround under implementation.



Assist in limiting the scope changes to the baseline system.



Encouraging the scope changes before the turnaround implementation.



Adherence to the vendor requisitions, like changes in the order specifications.



Communicating the turnaround changes as and when appropriate.

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3.5.4. Purpose of scope change management: The purpose of the scope change management process is to identify the requested changes that would change the turnaround deliverables. Apart from this the other major purposes of scope change management include: 

Efficient management and control of changes in the scope during the implementation of the turnaround.



To ensure that the implementation of the turnaround is according to the approved budget, time and scope.



Prioritize all the changes by evaluating them.



Prescribe a procedure for implementing the requested and approved changes in the work scope.

3.6. Scope Change Management in Petrochemical plant Turnarounds: In a plant turnaround process, there are chances that the scope may vary drastically. For example, in an overhaul situation, when the equipment is opened for cleaning or inspection, the amount of repair work needs to be planned. Every additional work has to be defined with a procedure for approval after sufficient evaluation. As in all turnaround scope management, turnaround scope management also follows the stages of scope planning, scope definition, scope verification and scope change control. Turnaround scope planning, definition and verification are quite different form the EPC projects in that, the lead times for these turnarounds are not long and their scope may be changing till the last minute. According to Bernard Ertl of Interplan systems (http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/ApplyingPMBOKtoShutdowns.shtml),

the

several reasons for the drastic changes in the turnaround scope could be 1. “Market conditions (plant profitability) can cause variability in considerations for the budget (requiring scope adjustments), window (squeezing or relaxing the time frame

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available for executing the turnaround) and start date which may affect the decisions on what scope to include, the ability to plan the work, or material availability). 2. Planning input is usually derived with input from Operations, Inspection, Safety, etc., and Operations may continue to identify potential scope for the turnaround until the last minute. 3. The availability of specialized tools, materials, equipment and/or resources may affect decisions on how to approach portions of the scope (i.e. plans may need adjusting to accommodate a different method or scenario to accomplish the same goal).” Most of the turnaround budgets are based on the experience of the past turnarounds, approximate estimations. Some budgets could be based on incompletely planned scopes. In practice, it is highly essential to review the cost estimates and adjust the scope and the budget so that there is alignment between the budget and the scope of work. Regarding scope change control, Bernard adds that “Operators and supervisors or superintendents must buy in to the add-on approval procedure and field hands must be directed to work only on approved scope as directed by their supervisors.” Also the management has to take care that for changes in scope, that not critical, the work scope could be accommodated within the available resources and time. When there is a constraint in the resources, the additional or change in work scope could be balanced by culling the original scope. This effort may give both safety and time gain. The general practice is to classify the scheduled work scope or the progressing work scope into the following categories, namely – Approved scope or Cancelled scope or unapproved scope or Original scope or Add – On scope. Apart from this scope change management, the turnaround procedures need to have efficient time management, cost management, risk management, human resource management, quality management and communication management. According to Kentz Engineers and Constructors, the prominently identified field scopes in a petrochemical plant are as shown in Fig. 3.1.

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Alignment requirement s

Cleaning requirement s

Carnage requirement s

NDT requirement s

Torquing requirement s

Field scope identification

Scaffolding requirement s

Insulation requirement s

Offsite requirement s

Painting requirement s

Equipment requirement s

Fig.3.1. The prominent scopes in a petrochemical plant turnaround process.

A well management turnaround scope management process should consider the following. 

The strategy for change approval.



The members who should be in the change control board (scope change management team).



The procedure and the forms for eh change request, approval, etc.



The levels of approving authority.



Linking the change management procedure to other procedure like cost management, time management.



Methods to communicate the scope change to all the participants.

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3.7. Primary Drivers in Plant Turnaround Scope Management: There may be many reasons that instigate changes in work scope in plant turnaround processes. Some of them are a need to adopt newer technologies in maintenance, the changes in organizational policies, demand for new business or production needs, the priorities of the organization have been changed, new standards need to be adopted, the present scope affects the

other projects, improper turnaround management plan,

insufficient history about the equipments in the plant, the original scope happens to be unclear, the periodic reviews have proposed certain changes, change in needs, the demand in change due to plant ageing and other factors. 3.8. Scope Change Requests and Change Process in plant turnarounds: Any plant turnaround process needs to have a defined set of procedure like change request form, request management procedure and change deployment management. Any request for scope change has to be put up in a prescribed format. A sample change request form as prescribed by http://www.epmbook.com/changeform.gif and is shown in Fig .3.1. Turnaround Name :

Change request no. :

Requestor Name : Requestor designation : Requestor department : Equipment No. :

Add

Delete

Modify

High

Medium

Low

Scope change description :

Priority : Fig. 3.2. Sample Change request form.

After receiving any change request, the turnaround manager, has to ensure that the change request has been captured or identified and the change request has been reviewed and appropriate action needs to be taken. The steering committee of the plant turnaround process is the designated authority to review the change request and approve the same. The

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examination of the change request and approval could be based upon the following, minor changes could be approved by the turnaround manager, scope change that affects the turnaround cost or duration need to be reviewed scope change management team and then approved by steering committee. If the scope change will affects the external contractor, it has to be discussed and reviewed with the consent of the contractor, and it should be finally approved by the steering committee or any other authority as agreed authority level. The turnaround or plant turnaround manager and the steering committee has to follow a set of pre defined principles for the change decisions. An example of the process in a scope change process has been shown as a sequential flow diagram in Fig.3.2.

Fig. 3.3. The Sequence diagram for a Scope Change Control Process.

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Once the change request has been agreed, the work is assigned for scope change action, controlled by the turnaround manager. The work in the scope change could be at any stage of the turnaround process. It could be in the initial stages of the turnaround process, in the mid of the process or even at the end stage. The turnaround manager has to be informed of any uncontrolled changes. An article in http://www.epmbook.com/ states that “In the Change Request there is more attention to the exact nature of the changes, whether they are scope changes, where they lie in the turnaround lifecycle, which specific document or deliverable references need attention, etc. Specific attention is paid to the cost and implications, identifying where work will be required and what its impact will be in terms of cost, risk and timescale. In particular, a benefit case will be prepared to summarize why the change should be made. The Turnaround Manager, Change Control Board or Steering Committee will use this Benefit Case in making a decision, in line with the pre-established guiding principles”. The change in work scope could be accepted by the steering committee, based on certain change approving logic. These decision making criteria for the steering committee could be listed as follows; 

Can the change be avoided? or not.



Will the change lead to overall benefit in terms of cost, time and other risks?



Does the change need to be attended immediately?



Can the change be postponed to a later stage?



Is the change doable in the current turnaround?



Is there any different way to do the change, so it can be done outside the turnaround?

3.8.1. Key Personnel and their Responsibilities: The following are the key personal who are involved in the scope change management process.

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Team Leads: Is capable of originating the change requests by issuing the forms. Any scope change requisition has to be discussed with the team leader. Turnaround management team: This team includes Planner, Technician, Engineer and Supervisor. They attend to and control the completion of the change request process. Implementation team: This team receives the updates regarding the completed or pending change requests. Scope change management team: The responsibility of this team is to evaluate and recommend approving the scope change request, communicating the message of the steering committee to the turnaround management team. Thus managing the change process is a crucial stage in the scope change management process in any plant turnarounds. 3.9. Scope Change and Tracking form: Once a scope change request has been approved and proper actions issued to the turnaround process team, the progress has to be tracked and monitored. The tracking of work scope change and its progress is generally assisted by the change request database, data logs, management reports and others. Generally, the change control process is continuous throughout the turnaround process and sometimes specific tracking or verifications are done at the end of each phase of the turnaround process. This inspection at the end of the ensures that change action has been accomplished in the specified time and hence the impact on the following phase could be streamlined and regularized. In some situations, the scope changes may be deferred, as that change implementation would lead to overall delay of the turnaround process. Such deferred scope changes need to be carried to the next phase of the turnaround process. It is the responsibility of the turnaround manager to track and verify that the scope changes have been accomplished. These details have to be documented along with the other deliverables.

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Scope change requests and their

management often become the basic lessons for the next turnaround processes. Table 3.1. shows a sample template for scope change tracking. Table 3.3. Sample Template for Scope change tracking log.

3.10. Template for Scope Change request, impact assessment and cost assessment: The management and control of work scope change in plant turnarounds need to have prescribed formats for scope change request, assessment of the scope change impact, assessment of the cost, addition / deletion of work scope, scope status progress and the like. A few of the sample templates for such scope assessment and control have been shown in Table 3.2 to table 3.5.

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Table 3.4. Sample Template for Scope Change Request.

Scope Change Request Form Date of Submitting the request: Investigator: Focus Area: Product or Process: Department: Turnaround or Organization Role: Scope definition and impact on other projects and programs Benefit of the Scope change Major scope change drivers Possible Implications if the scope change is deferred Possible Implications if the scope change is rejected Cost estimate for the scope change

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Table 3.5. Sample Template for Scope Change Request approval.

Scope Change Request and Approval Form Date of Submitting the request: Investigator: Focus Area: Product or Process: Department: Turnaround or Organization Role: Scope definition and impact on other projects and programs Benefit of the Scope change Major scope change drivers Possible Implications if the scope change is deferred Possible Implications if the scope change is rejected Cost estimate for the scope change Scope approval details Is the Scope change approved?

YES / NO

Who is the Team Manager? Responsible Authority to approve: Date of scope change request approval: Specific comments:

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Table 3.6. Sample Template for Scope Change Impact Assessment.

Sample for Scope Change Impact Assessment Scope change submission date: Investigator: Specific issues: Associated risks: Specific Impact of this scope on other projects: Skill set required: Cost estimate: Schedule impact: Cost plan:

Document that has been impacted:

Resource plan: Time schedule: Specifications: Comments of the scope change management team:

Table 3.7. Sample Template for Scope Change Cost Assessment.

Scope Change Cost Assessment Role of the turnaround: Department: Area of Focus: Process or Product: Task of the Scope change: Labor cost: Material cost: Travel cost: Miscellaneous cost: Total cost:

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Such a systematic method of scope change management and control would lead to overall benefit of the turnaround or process turnaround. 3.11. Chapter summary: This chapter has discussed the concepts related to turnaround scope management. Specific emphasize has been given to scope change management and control for plant turnaround process. The goals and purpose of the scope change has been explained along with the sample templates for scope change request, scope change approval, scope change impact assessment and cost assessment. Chapter 4: Research Methodology 4.1. Chapter Introduction: The aim of this chapter is to investigate the commonly used research methodologies. The chosen research methodology has to aid in answering the defined research question in a more relevant manner. The quantitative method and the case study method have been chosen for this research work. Hence, this chapter deals with the research strategy, research data collection, primary data representation, details of the questionnaires and a few sample questions. Concepts concerning the validity and reliability of the data collected limitation of the collected data and also about the reliability of the collected data. 4.2. Research Approaches: According to Kumar. R. (1999), the basic purpose of any research work is to understand and analyze the chosen research phenomenon. There are many methods of communication research methodologies like qualitative research, quantitative research, case studies and many more. These communication research methodologies try to acquire the actual scenario of the research phenomenon by methods of interviews and surveys. The qualitative methodology happens to be based on the interpretative paradigm, while the quantitative methodology follows the positivist paradigm of knowledge. This research has chosen the quantitative research methodology as one of the research approach. Another

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research methodology chosen for this research includes the case study method. According to McMurray et al. (2004), when these two methods are used together, provides triangulation, which is expected to increase the validity and reliability of the research data collected. 4.3. Research Strategy: The strategy chosen for this research work comes under the two approaches; they are the quantitative method of data collection followed by statistical analysis and the case study approach which follows an empirical inquiry of a research phenomenon in real life situations. The quantitative method of data collection seems to follow the positivist paradigm that assumes that the participants are aware of the research concept and thus they intend to answer a defined set of questions in a predetermined scale. Here, the questions and the answers are defined by the researcher and the participant just chooses a specific option that suits his opinion. Thus the opinion of the participant in the research is generally limited to the set of answers and any other relative opinion of the participant seems to be suppressed. The case study method of research is one, in which the case or the research event is examined by an in – depth analysis. This provides a longitudinal analysis of the single or the multiple cases chosen. This method provides a systematic way of looking at events, processes that enable in effective data collection, analysis of the collected data and finally a systematic approach for reporting the results. This provides the researchers with a more sharpened understanding of the instance and situation. Thus the research strategy with a case study approach leads to generating and analyzing the research hypotheses. Robert K. Yin. (2009) states that case studies could be combined with quantitative research methodology to give actual inferences of the research phenomenon. 4.4. Quantitative Data Collection: This section intends to detail the concepts of the qualitative research approach and principles.

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4.4.1. The basics of the Quantitative research methodology: As stated by Kumar. R. (Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide For Beginners, 1999), any research work has to understand and analyze the chosen research phenomenon. If the chosen phenomenon happens to be some social behavior, then the chosen research approach is expected to give proper justification by collecting opinions of real life situations. The collection of data for such social behaviors could be by interviews or by means of a standard questionnaire. According to Mc Murray et al (Research: A Commonsense Approach, 2004), the research methods involving data collection by opinions based on survey questions or interviews are generally considered to have an anti – positivist epistemology and a subjective paradigm. The most widely accepted method of data collection and survey method happen to be the qualitative interviews and or the quantitative surveys done by a set of questionnaire. This research proposes to adopt the quantitative survey method for data collection and the relevant statistical analysis. In general, the quantitative research methodology could be explained as “A research technique in which scientific, concrete, and project able numerical data that can be statistically analyzed is gathered, often from large samples; also called hard

data.”

(Marketing

Research,

www.glencoe.com/sec/busadmin/marketing/dp/mktg_resrch/gloss.shtml ). This quantitative method adopts the logic of positivist paradigm, while the other social research method of qualitative method uses the interpretative paradigm. The positivist paradigm that forms the basis for the quantitative research has been defined by Marshall, G (The concise Oxford dictionary of sociology, 1994, p. 405–6.) as “Positivism is, above all, a philosophy of science. As such, it stands squarely within the empiricist tradition. Metaphysical speculation is rejected in favor of „positive‟ knowledge based on systematic observation and experiment. The methods of science can give us knowledge of the laws of co-existence and succession of phenomena, but

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can never penetrate to the inner „essences‟ or „natures‟ of things. As applied to the human social world, the positive method yields a law of successive states through which each branch of knowledge must pass: first theological, then metaphysical, and finally positive (or scientific).” The data collection methods in the quantitative research could be of different categories. They fall under three categories, namely, the most popular survey method, the tracking of data occurrence, collection of experimental data. According to Wimmer & Dominick (Mass media research: an introduction, 2003), the experimental method of data collection seems to be the most valid and accurate data regarding the true situation of the research phenomenon. For researches that involve the behavioral studies and the social studies, the method of mass opinions by survey method seems to be the most appropriate and has been proved to be the best choice as it explains the chosen research scenario in the best manner. In this method of survey, the chosen people have to be statistically suitable set that is relevant to the research background and those who have sufficient knowledge and experience about the research phenomenon and its variations. This chosen set of people form the sample space for the research and are interviewed in person or questioned over by telephone or are made to take up a same set of questions that are pre determined. This pre – determined questions are said to be of structured nature as the same set of questions are thrown to each participant. These questions have multiple choices for answers and the participant is expected to answer only one question that seems more relevant to their view. The questionnaire has to be prepared well before the conduct of the interview. 4.4.2. The Principles of Quantitative Research Method: The characteristic features and the principles of the quantitative method of research could be describes as follows. This method uses numerical data representation for mass opinion; the quantitative survey methodology uses a sufficiently large size of sample space so as to be valid and more accurate. This research method chooses to adopt the inductive generalization of the data. For the analysis, this quantitative method uses statistical measures and probability theories so that the data interpretation and evaluation would lead to more

45

accurate outcomes. This method seems to be less biased and hence is more reliable. The choice of a large sample size leads to a confidence interval of about 90% - 95%. This quantitative method could opt for different types of sampling techniques to identify the sample space. This method facilitates the statistical analysis of the data by measures of mean, median, correlation and other measures which would produce more accurate data analysis. Also, the data collected could be subjected to some formal mathematical procedures that are complex but highly reliable. The parameters chosen by this research are measurable and fixed. This method could be slightly costly than the qualitative method, but is more fast to complete and analyze. The time required to complete the research by this quantitative method is seen to be very less and is dependent on the sampling technique used to choose the sample space. The natures of the collected data are quantifiable and could be made objective and as discrete data. 4.4.3. The Quantitative approach for this research work: A research work needs to have a proper research design methodology and research approach. The process of research design as stated by John. W. Creswell (Research Design Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Approaches, 2003, pp.7), could be defined as “Research is the process of making claims and then refining or abandoning some of them for other claims more strongly warranted”. This research intends to analyze the causes and impact of the variation in turnaround scope in SABIC petrochemicals plants. The research data collection starts with a quantitative questionnaire design that has the survey questions related to the different reasons and impact of scope variations in SABIC petrochemical plant turnarounds. These questions have been framed for a quantitative survey and the data need to be collected form specific sample group. The data collected needs to be statistically analyzed and some critical factors need to be derived. According to the inferences from these critical factors, the recommendations for the research are to be proposed. These recommendations are expected to pave way for reduced changes in turnaround scope of work, reduced impact of scope

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changes on the safety, duration, quality and cost of the turnaround processes in SABIC Jubail. 4.4.4. The quantitative questionnaire: The main tool for this quantitative survey happens to be the research questionnaire. Ian Brace (Questionnaire design. How to Plan, Structure and Write Survey material for Effective Market Research, 2004, p.4), describes this research tool as “The medium of communication between the researcher and the subject, in the questionnaire, the researcher articulates the questions to which he or she wants to know the answers and, through the questionnaire, the subjects‟ answers are conveyed back to the researcher.” These questions need to be planned and designed before the survey and specific rules need to be adopted while designing these questions. The questionnaire design, when based on the following specific rules is considered to be highly valid. These questionnaire guidelines could be stated as follows. 

There must be multiple questions to focus on the various aspects of the research phenomenon.



The questions need to be ordered or sequenced properly.



There need to be confined number of questions; the length of the questionnaire has a direct impact on the response of eth participants.



The questions in the questionnaire need to have specific instructions.



The questions need to be as simple as possible and they need to be understandable.



The questions need to be more relevant to the research context and thus would lead to valid and reliable research outcome.



The choice of eth options have to be more relevant so that the opinion obtained is exact.



The scale items need to be randomized properly.

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The questionnaire needs to be structured in nature, such that the same set of questions is answered by the participants. Ranjit Kumar (Research methodology – A Step by Step Guide for beginners, 2005, p.126), explains the aspects of structure questionnaire as “Structured interviews... in a structured interview the researcher asks a predetermined... Note that an interview schedule is a research tool/instrument for...One of the main advantages of structured interview is that it provides uniform information, which assures the comparability of data”. For this research, the questionnaire is proposed a structured one that asks the same set of questions to all the participants. 4.4.5. The Sample space for the Quantitative research: The selection of the sample size seems to be a crucial task as it highly influences the quality of eth research. Sample size is the actual number of people who attend the survey. Shein-Chung Chow, Jun Shao, Hansheng Wang, (Sample size calculations in clinical research, 2003, p. 1) describe the sample size as “How many subjects are needed in order to have a desired power for detecting a clinically meaningful difference”? And David. L. Morgan, (1997 Focus group as qualitative research, Qualitative research Methods Series 16, 1997, p.2) explains the sample group as “Focus groups are basically group interviews, although not in the sense of an alternation between a researcher‟s questions and the research participants‟ responses. Instead, the reliance is on interaction within the group, based on topics that are supplied by the researcher who typically takes the role of a moderator.” If the chosen sample group is not appropriate, then the analysis of the data may be inaccurate and may go for many cycles. The requirements of the sample size may differ for different sampling techniques in the quantitative research. For the common sampling

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techniques like multi–stage sample, panel sample, cluster sample, area sample, multi – phase sampling, simple random sample, the Confidence Interval required has to be 90% 95%. 4.4.6. The interpretation of Quantitative data: The quantitative method of data collection and analysis chooses to use variables that are easily measurable. The variables involved in this method could also be termed as parameters. The definition of these parameters or variables should be such that they support the formulation of the research hypotheses. This demands that the responses to the questionnaire need to be measurable and hence the common standard is to use a numerical format for the data representation. Thus the objects or the research events could be associated with some numbers that are measurable. The most commonly accepted and used formats include the, Interval format, Nominal format, Ratio format and the Ordinal format. These formats mostly differ from each other in various levels of complexities. The common scales that are used to measure these quantitative variables include the Semantic Differential Scale and the Likert Scale. This research opts to use the Likert scale to measure the parameter responses. Richard M. Perloff, (The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and attitudes in the 21st century, 2003, pp.103) describes this Likert scale as “Series of opinion statements … individuals to indicate their agreement or disagreement with each statement along a numerical scale ... assumes that each item taps the same underlying attitude and there are significant interrelationships among items”. This Likert scale varies between the maximum extreme values possible to the most least extreme value that is possible. Examples could be something like Does not influence, Slight influence, Considerable influence, Strong influence, Very high influence. The most probable Likert scale sequence for any quantitative research could be framed as shown in Fig. 4.1.

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Fig. 4.1. The possible Likert scale.

4.4.7. Reliability and Validity of the data collected: The chosen research methodology has to be valid and reliable to prove the research work. Validity of the quantitative research method has been defined by Joppe, (The Research Process, 2000, p.1) as “Validity determines whether the research truly measures that which it was intended to measure or how truthful the research results are. In other words, does the research instrument allow you to hit "the bull‟s eye" of your research object? Researchers generally determine validity by asking a series of questions, and will often look for the answers in the research of others.” The quantitative method cares for good sample selection and is based on the positivist paradigm of knowledge, hence the data collected by this method could be considered as valid. Reliability, of the quantitative research as defined by Joppe, (The Research Process, 2000) is “The extent to which results are consistent over time and an accurate representation of the total population under study is referred to as reliability and if the results of a study can be reproduced under a similar methodology, then the research instrument is considered to be reliable.” Since the data representation and analysis are in numerical format for the quantitative research method, they could be claimed to be reliable. Also, the subsequent

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statistical analysis opted for the results seem to be reliable and consistent over time. As this research work utilizes the quantitative methodology, it can be claimed that the reliability and validity of the data collected are good. 4.5 Quantitative data collection for SABIC turnaround scope change analysis: This section deals with the chosen sample group, the actual questions for survey and the issues related to reliability and ethical considerations. 4.5.1. The survey questionnaire: The structure survey questionnaire for this research consists of three parts. The first part deals with the demographic details of the participants and their experience, their role and involvement in the plant TA process. Part two of the questionnaire has been designed to address the issues related to the reasons and causes for the TA scope change. The third part addresses the issues related to impact of the TA scope change on TA quality, TA duration and TA cost. Also opinions about the ways to reduce the scope change have also been considered in the questionnaire. A few SAMPLE questions are as follows, Part 1 Q1. Your experience in TA business

1. 2. 3. 4.

Less than 2 years Between 2 years and 5 years Between 5 years and 10 years More than 10 years

Q2. How many TAs did you involve / participate 1. 2. 3. 4.

less than 2 TAs between 3 and 5 TAs between 6 and 10 TAs more than 10 TAs

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Part 2 No.

Question

1

Original scope is unclear

2

Scope is not detailed enough to avoid changes

3

Final scope is not agreed by end user

4

Requirements and cost of implementing proposed scope is not clear for scope requester

5

Relation between plant type / process and amount of change in the scope of work

… …

………

No Slight Moderate Strong Very influence influence influence influence strong at all influence

Part 3 Q1. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA cost? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Less than 5% 5% •- 10% 10% - 15% 15 % – 20% More than 20%

Q2. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA duration? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Less than 5% 5% •- 10% 10% •- 15% 15 % –– 20% More than 20%

……

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Q5. Does the scope change increase the overall benefit to the organization (taking in account impact of cost? 1. 2. 3. 4.

Does not increase the benefit. Slightly increases the benefit. Moderately increases the benefit. Highly increases the benefit.

….. Q9. A well defined scope would lead to minimized scope change. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disagree. Uncertain. Agree. Strongly agree.

Q10. Providing sufficient time for scope development would lead to minimized scope change. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disagree. Uncertain. Agree. Strongly agree.

…….

Q13. A well defined criteria for accepting scope change would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disagree. Uncertain. Agree. Strongly agree.

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Q14. Considering if the change is doable in TA would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disagree. Uncertain. Agree. Strongly agree.

…………. 4.5.2. The sample space: The focus group chosen for the data collection related to the SABIC plant TA process involves the planners, technicians, engineers, executives and the team leaders and TA mangers. The method of selecting the participants from a large sample space is called as sampling. For quantitative survey, there are different types of sampling like simple random sampling, systematic sampling, stratified random sampling, multi stage sampling, multi phase sampling, cluster sampling, area sampling and other. For this research work, the method of sampling chosen is the Cluster sampling. In this Cluster sampling method, the sample participants are chosen from different groups. The chosen people are from various categories like planners, technicians, engineers, executives and the team leaders and TA mangers. Cluster sampling has the advantage that it has participants from a wide set of group; hence the data collected may have opinion from all categories of participants. The size of the focus group has to be chosen carefully based on statistical calculations. James.E.B., Joe.W.K., Chadwick.C.H. (2001) have formulated a method for determining the sample size for any survey research methodology. They propose a sample size determination for both continuous and categorical data. This sample size determination is based on the amount of risk that is acceptable by the researcher called as the margin of error and the level of risk called as the true margin. After basing the discussion on error estimation and variance estimation, they propose a table for sample size determination. Generally, the sample size can be determined in terms of the margin of error, confidence level, population size and response distribution. The formula for calculating the sample space (n), based on normal distribution assumption, can be described as

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n = Nx/ ((N-1) E2 + x), where x = Z(c/100) 2. R (100-r) is the critical value of confidence interval „c‟. and E = sqrt [(N-n) x / n (N-1)] is the margin of error. Now considering this research work, the following calculation would work out to determine the sample size required. This research considers the margin of error (E) to be 10%, the confidence interval to be 90%, the population size is 2000 and the response distribution as 30%. The corresponding value of sample size is 56. Thus the size of this focus group was proposed to be more than 50 and the actual respondents were more than 50 in number. The actual sample space was 56. Most of the participants were engineers and TA managers and hence the data collected form them could be claimed to be reliable and valid. Also the identity of the participants have not been revealed and this accounts for the ethical considerations of the data collected. The participants had been informed that their participation is purely on a volunteer basis and none of them were forced to take up the survey questionnaire. 4.6. Case Study as a research methodology: Case study is one of the most common approach methods of research methodologies. The key aspects that need attention in a case study research include the selection of the case and the basic assumptions. Michael Patton, (Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods) states that “Case studies are particularly useful in depicting a holistic portrayal of a … program. For example, to evaluate the effectiveness of a program's processes, including its strengths and weaknesses, evaluators might develop cases studies on the program's successes and failures. Case studies are used to organize a wide range of information about a case and then analyze the contents by seeking patterns and themes in the data, and by further analysis through cross comparison with other cases. A case can

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be individuals, programs, or any unit, depending on what the program evaluators want to examine through in-depth analysis and comparison.” The case selection could be based as a single subject study or multiple subject study. The method of selecting the cases may be based on sampling techniques like random sampling or information oriented sampling says Bent Flyvbjerg, (Five Misunderstandings About Case Study Research, April 2006, pp. 219 – 245). The information oriented sampling may be of three types namely, critical cases, extremely deviated cases and paradigmatic cases. The sampling by random method leads to selection of average cases and the information collected from these random cases seem to be of less value and is not rich. The typical cases, when chosen for the study reveal more rich information, as they would activate more actors and many basic mechanisms related to eth situation under study. The choice of the case has to be more understanding oriented as well as action oriented. This enables a deeper clarification of the causes and reasons behind the chosen research phenomenon. This presents an in depth analysis of the situation rather than just providing the symptoms and the frequency of the problem under consideration. Generally a case study might go for some basic assumptions, explained as follows; Case selections are truly based on depth and dimensions of the problem under consideration. The generalization of the results does not go beyond a population that is similar to the one under study. Conclusions are based on model elimination methods and not by model validation methods. There may be many alternative theories that seem consistent with the data collected from the case under study. The evaluations of the less probable casual paths in a chosen model are difficult with case studies that fail to display such paths, even though such a path exists in a larger potential case. 4.6.1. The Case Study approach: The formal structure of a case study or the approach for a case study may involve the following steps,

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

All the data relevant to the case under study needs to be gathered. The methods of data collection may include documented histories, records, applications, interviews, questionnaire and observations.



The collected data need to be organized in a formal way to highlight the research phenomenon that is under study. This organization of the data could be in chronological order or in the order of a particular process or procedure.



A case study narrative needs to be developed. This narrative provides the key information that is related to the case under study. The narrative is the main description about the actual features of eth case being studied. This may include geographic information, financial information, information related to the procedures, etc.



Validation of the narrative. This may be done by experts or by the researcher himself.



Cross comparison with related cases so as to isolate any strengths or weaknesses in the chosen case.

The general template or the format that has to be followed for a case study preparation could be detailed as follows. The background of the case under study that includes the environmental, financial, technical and geographical background. Specific project goals like metrics for success, requirements of end user, financial requirements, service requirements, long term / short term commitment and the like. The time line of the organization under study and the time line for the case study work. The business scenario, technology used, competitors, partners, awareness and training and maintenance issues. The long term and short term goals of the business, sustainability issues, scalability of the project or process under study, future requirements and lessons learned form the case study. 4.7. Case Study data collection for SABIC turnaround scope change analysis: This section concerns the data collection for the SABIC TA scope change analysis. The proposed details under the study include the following, background of SABIC Jubail, general turnaround procedures, turnaround scope identification like carnage requirements,

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alignment requirements, scaffolding requirements, insulation requirements, equipment requirements, torquing requirements, cleaning requirements, painting requirements, flange management. The case study also plans to discuss the aspects related to TA estimating format, quality control efforts, TA indicators, cost and manpower tracking, safety management, scope change control, scope change management plan, scope change request plan, scope change approval strategies, change impact and tracking strategies. 4.8. Chapter summary: This chapter has dealt with the concepts of research methodologies like quantitative, qualitative communication surveys and interviews and case studies. As the chosen research design for this research work is quantitative survey and case study of SABIC, the principles and characteristics of the quantitative research method and the case study approach have been discussed in detail. The application of these research method in collecting data for this research have been explained in detail with respect to the survey questionnaire, sample size, focus group, ethical and validity aspects. The case study intends to analyze the parameters relevant to the TA processes in petrochemical plants and more specifically the reasons and impact of the scope changes in the turnaround in SABIC, Jubail united. The detailed data analysis and detailed case study have been described in the next chapter.

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Chapter 5: Data Analysis 5.1. Chapter Introduction: The aim of this chapter is to analyze the quantitative data by statistical methods and to analyze the data collected from the case study. The statistical measures for the analysis of quantitative data have been introduced, these include the descriptive statistics of the data, mean calculation, frequency and percentage occurrence, histograms. Initially the chapter presents the primary data representation in the Excel format and proceeds to analyze them using the statistical analysis software, MINITAB, version 11.2. This statistical software is a sophisticated tool for data analysis. Based on the results of the data analysis, the research hypotheses and the research questions need to be discussed. Also a set of recommendations for reducing the impact of TA scope changes in SABIC plant TA and the methods of minimizing these changes are to be formulated. Apart from the statistical analysis of the quantitative data, the analysis of the SABIC TA scope changes by the case study approach is expected to support data analysis and the recommendations. 5.2. Analysis of the Quantitative survey data: This section deals with the quantitative data interpretation and the relevant statistical analysis. 5.2.1. Data Interpretation: The first step in the quantitative data analysis is to represent the text data in the EXCEL format that is in the suitable format for statistical analysis. This representation gives the primary data in the form of numbers over which statistical methods could be used. Each question in the quantitative questionnaire has multiple choices and these are represented in the Likert scale format. This process of converting the text data into numerical format is called as the data interpretation. The data interpretation of the quantitative questions of this research has been shown in Fig. 5.1.

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Fig. 5.1. Quantitative data interpretation in the Likert scale.

Here, the questions (p1q1, p1q2…) are taken along the columns and the participants (S1, S2…) are taken along the rows. The options chosen by each participant for each question are shown as numbers ranging form 1 to 5. The complete questionnaire showing the options are shown in Appendix A. The questionnaire has three parts that has 32 questions in total. 5.2.2. TALLY statistics for Part 1 Questions: As mentioned already, the statistical package called MINITAB has been used for this research analysis. The most common statistical measures that are used for the analysis of the quantitative survey data include the calculation of mean, standard deviation, frequency plots and percentage counts. In MINITAB, the calculation of mean and standard deviation are done by the descriptive statistics option. The descriptive statistics for the part 1 questions has been shown in Fig. 5.2.

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Fig. 5.2. The descriptive statistics of Part 1 questions.

This part has four questions that are related to the nature of the participants chosen. Hence the analysis of this part describes the chosen sample space. The mean analysis shows the extent to which that particular question has been answered in a positive sense. Apart from the general descriptive statistics, the Tally statistics gives a good analysis of the frequency and percentage of the participants who have chosen a particular option. The first question is concerned about the experience of the participants in the TA processes. The Tally statistics of this question has been shown in Fig. 5.3.

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Fig. 5.3. Tally statistics for part 1 question 1.

From the Tally statistics for part 1 Question 1 (p1q1), it could be inferred that 38% of the people have around 2 to 5 years experience and again another 38% of them have 5 to 10 years experience. Only 1 person (1.85%) has very less experience that is less than 2 years and 20% of the participants have more than 10 years experience. The second question is - How many TAs did you involve / participate, for this question, the Tally statistics has been shown in Fig. 5.4.

Fig. 5.4. Tally statistics for part 1 question 2.

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This shows that 40% of the participants have chosen option 3 which corresponds to 6 to 10 TAs. And 38% of the participants have chosen the second option that relates to 3 – 5 TAs. The third question corresponds to the specific phase of TA in which the participant had involved. The Tally statistics shows that 55% of the participants had chosen option 5 that corresponds to all phases of TA process. This has been shown in Fig. 5.5.

Fig. 5.5. Tally statistics for part 1 question 3.

It could be seen that most of them have involved in the TA execution phase and are aware of the TA scope and TA management. The fourth question relates to the role of the participant in the TA process. From the Tally statistics in Fig. 5.6., it could be seen that 50% of the participants are managers, 25% of them are planners and a few are supervisors and a very few of them were engineers.

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Fig. 5.6. Tally statistics for part 1 question 4.

5.2.3. TALLY Analysis of Part 2 Questions: The second part of the survey questions intends to obtain opinion about the reasons for the TA scope change. The questionnaire prescribes certain reasons and collects the opinion on a Likert scale varying from No influence at all, slight influence, moderate influence, strong influence and very strong influence. This could be interpreted into a numerical scale ranging from 1 to 5. There are 12 questions in this section, the analysis of these are as follows, The first question considers the reason as - Original scope is unclear – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.7.

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Fig. 5.7. Tally statistics for part 2 question 1.

This shows that 41% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 30% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 23% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence. The second question considers the reason as - Scope is not detailed enough to avoid changes – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.8

. Fig. 5.8. Tally statistics for part 2 question 2.

This shows that 66% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 17.86% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 8.9% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence. The third question considers the reason as - Final scope is not agreed by end user – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.9.

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Fig. 5.9. Tally statistics for part 2 question 3.

This shows that 23% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 23% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 37% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 14% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The fourth question considers the reason as - Requirements and cost of implementing proposed scope is not clear for scope requester – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.10.

Fig. 5.10. Tally statistics for part 2 question 4.

This shows that 39% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence, 53% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 7% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change.

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The fifth question considers the reason as - Relation between plant type/process and amount of change in the scope of work – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.11.

Fig. 5.11. Tally statistics for part 2 question 5.

This shows that 34% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence, 20% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 40% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The sixth question considers the reason as - Effectiveness of the existing change management process – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.12.

Fig. 5.12. Tally statistics for part 2 question 6.

This shows that 33% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence, 41% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 21% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change.

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The seventh question considers the reason as - Unavailability of historical information about the equipments in each plant – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.13.

Fig. 5.13. Tally statistics for part 2 question 7.

This shows that 32% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 10% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 42% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 14% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The eighth question considers the reason as - Unclear purpose of specific scope – for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.14.

Fig. 5.14. Tally statistics for part 2 question 8.

This shows that 19% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 21% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 19% of them

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have said that this reason has moderate influence and 35% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The ninth question considers the reason as - Unknown Inspection findings - for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.15.

Fig. 5.15. Tally statistics for part 2 question 9.

This shows that 33 % of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 26% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 21% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 16% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The tenth question considers the reason as – Failure and defect in plant equipment between scope signoff and execution time - for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.16.

Fig. 5.16. Tally statistics for part 2 question 10.

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This shows that 50% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 14% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 32% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 1% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The eleventh question considers the reason as – The defined scope doesn‟t adequately address the objectives of the TA or its expected benefits - for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.17.

Fig. 5.17. Tally statistics for part 2 question 11.

This shows that 31% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 3% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 23% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 37% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. The twelfth question considers the reason as – Relationship between the age of plant and amount of scope change - for this the Tally statistics is as shown in Fig. 5.18.

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Fig. 5.18. Tally statistics for part 2 question 12.

This shows that 10% of the participants have chosen option 4 that is Strong influence. 16% of them have said that this reason has very strong influence, 17% of them have said that this reason has moderate influence and 55% of them have said that this reason has slight influence on the TA scope change. 5.2.4. TALLY Analysis of Part 3 Questions: Question numbers 1 to 4 of part 3, intends to gather opinion about the negative impact of TA scope change on all TA process. The options for the first four questions aims to analyze the impact of scope change on a Likert scale of 5, with options as follows, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Less than 5% 5% - 10% 10% - 15% 15 % – 20% More than 20%

The first question of this section intends to analyze the impact of TA scope change on TA cost. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.19.

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Fig. 5.19. Tally statistics for part 3 question 1.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 35% of the participants have chosen option 3, 33% of them have chosen option 2, 16% of them had chosen option 4 and 14% of them have chosen option 5 and none of them had chosen option 1. This shows that the negative impact of the most of TA scope change on TA cost is 10% to 15%. The second question of this section intends to analyze the impact of TA scope change on TA duration. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.20.

Fig. 5.20. Tally statistics for part 3 question 2.

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From the tally statistics it could be seen that 37% of the participants have chosen option 2, 23% of them have chosen option 4, 14% of them had chosen option 5 and 12% of them have chosen option 1 and 7% of them had chosen option 3. This shows that the negative impact of the TA scope change on the duration of TA is 5% to 10%. The third question of this section intends to analyze the impact of TA scope change on TA quality. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.21.

Fig. 5.21. Tally statistics for part 3 question 3.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 39% of the participants have chosen option 2, 26% of them have chosen option 1, 16% of them had chosen option 5 and 10% of them have chosen option 3 and 7% of them had chosen option 4. This shows that the negative impact of the TA scope change on the quality of TA work is 5% to 10%. The fourth question of this section intends to analyze the impact of TA scope change on TA safety. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.22.

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Fig. 5.22. Tally statistics for part 3 question 4.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 50% of the participants have chosen option 1, 19% of them have chosen option 4, 16% of them had chosen option 2 and 10% of them have chosen option 3 and 3% of them had chosen option 5. This shows that the negative impact of the TA scope change on TA safety is less than 5%. Question numbers 5 to 8 of part 3 intends to analyze the impact of scope change in increasing the overall benefit to the organization. The fifth question intends to analyze the impact of scope change as - does the scope change increase the overall benefit to the organization (taking in account impact of cost?). The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.23.

Fig. 5.23. Tally statistics for part 3 question 5.

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From the tally statistics it could be seen that 50% of the participants have chosen option 2, 26% of them have chosen option 3, 18% of them had chosen option 4 and 3% of them have chosen option 1. This shows that TA scope change in increasing the overall benefit to the organization in terms of cost is a slight increase in the benefit to the organization. The sixth question intends to analyze the impact of scope change as - Does the scope change increase the overall benefit to the organization in terms of risks? The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.24.

Fig. 5.24. Tally statistics for part 3 question 6.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 45% of the participants have chosen option 2, 33% of them have chosen option 3, 16% of them had chosen option 1 and 3% of them have chosen option 4. This shows that TA scope change in increasing the overall benefit to the organization in terms of risk is a slight reduction in risk to the organization. The seventh question intends to analyze the impact of scope change as - Will Scope change cause a loss of control of the team‟s planned work? The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.25.

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Fig. 5.25. Tally statistics for part 3 question 7.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 66% of the participants have chosen option 3, 30% of them have chosen option 3, 3% of them had chosen option 1 and none of them have been chosen option 4. This shows that the impact of the TA scope change in the loss of control is a considerable loss of control. The eighth question intends to analyze the impact of scope change as - What is the impact of the changes addressed in a later stage of TA process? The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.26.

Fig. 5.26. Tally statistics for part 3 question 8.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 53% of the participants have chosen option 4, 25% of them have chosen option 5, 21% of them had chosen option 3. This shows that the impact of the TA scope change in the later stages of the TA process has high impact.

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Questions 9 to 16 of part 3 intend to analyze ways of minimizing scope change. The opinion are collected on a Likert scale of 4 as below, 1. 2. 3. 4.

Disagree. Uncertain. Agree. Strongly agree.

The ninth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing scope change as - A well defined scope would lead to minimized scope change. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.27.

Fig. 5.27. Tally statistics for part 3 question 9.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 71% of the participants have chosen option 3 and 28% of them have chosen option 3. The other options have not been chosen. This shows that a well defined scope would lead to minimized scope change. The tenth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing scope change as Providing sufficient time for scope development would lead to minimized scope change. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.28

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Fig. 5.28. Tally statistics for part 3 question 10.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 50% of the participants have chosen option 4, 35% of them have chosen option 3 and 14% of them had chosen option 2. The other options have not been chosen. This shows that providing sufficient time for scope development would lead to minimized scope change. The eleventh question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing scope change as Maintaining a good history of all the equipments would lead to minimized scope change. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.29.

Fig. 5.29. Tally statistics for part 3 question 11.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 60% of the participants have chosen option 4 and 39% of them have chosen option 3. The other options have not been chosen. This shows that maintaining a good history of all the equipments would lead to minimized scope change.

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The twelfth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing scope change as Developing an effective process for scope challenge would minimize the scope change. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.30.

Fig. 5.30. Tally statistics for part 3 question 12.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 67% of the participants have chosen option 3 and 26% of them have chosen option 4. The other options have been opted by very less people. This shows that developing an effective process for scope challenge would minimize the scope change. The thirteenth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing impact of scope change on TA process as - A well defined criteria for accepting scope change would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.31.

Fig. 5.31. Tally statistics for part 3 question 13.

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From the tally statistics it could be seen that 64% of the participants have chosen option 3, 32% of them have chosen option 4 and only 3% of them had chosen option 2. This shows that well defined criteria for accepting scope change would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The fourteenth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing impact of scope change on TA process as - Considering if the change is doable in TA would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.32.

Fig. 5.32. Tally statistics for part 3 question 14.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 60% of the participants have chosen option 3, 10% of them have chosen option 4 and 14% of them had chosen option 2 and 1. This shows that most people agree that - considering if the change is doable in TA would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The fifteenth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing impact of scope change on TA process as - Setting restrictive criteria for approval process would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.33.

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Fig. 5.33. Tally statistics for part 3 question 15.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 53% of the participants have chosen option 3, 25% of them have chosen option 4 and 14% of them had chosen option 1 and 7% of them opted for option 2. This shows that most people agree that setting restrictive criteria for approval process would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope. The sixteenth question intends to analyze the ways of minimizing impact of scope change on TA process as - Studying the best alternatives to do the change would minimize the impact of TA scope change. The Tally statistics of this question is shown in Fig. 5.34.

Fig. 5.34. Tally statistics for part 3 question 16.

From the tally statistics it could be seen that 48% of the participants have chosen option 3, 28% of them have chosen option 4 and 23% of them had chosen option 2. This shows that most people agree that studying the best alternatives to do the change would minimize the impact of TA scope change.

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5.3. Discussion of the Results of Quantitative data analysis: The discussion of the results of the statistical data analysis could be as follows. The results of Part 1 questions reveal that 

Most of them have 2 - 5 years experience and 5 – 10 years experience.



Most of them have involved in 3 – 6 and 6 – 10 TA processes.



Most of them have experience in all phases.



Most of them are in the role as team leaders or managers. The results of Part 2 questions reveal the influence of reasons on the TA scope

change and are listed as below, 

The reason - Original scope is unclear has a strong influence on the TA scope change.



The reason - Scope is not detailed enough to avoid changes has strong influence.



The reason - Final scope is not agreed by end user has moderate influence on the TA scope change.



The reason - Requirements and cost of implementing proposed scope is not clear for scope requester has moderate influence.



The reason - Relation between plant type / process and amount of change in the scope of work has slight influence on the TA scope change.



The reason - Effectiveness of the existing change management process has moderate influence.



The reason - Unavailability of historical information about the equipments in each plant has moderate influence on the TA scope change.



The reason - Unclear purpose of specific scope has slight influence.



The reason - Unknown inspection findings has a strong influence.



The reason - Failure and defect in plant equipments between scope singe off and the execution time has a strong influence on the TA scope change.

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

The reason - The defined scope doesn‟t adequately address the objectives of the TA or it‟s expected benefits, has slight influence.



The reason - Relationship between the age of plant and amount of scope change has slight influence on the TA scope change. The results of Part 3 questions reveal the impact of the TA scope change on the

organization, and are listed as below, 

The negative impact of the TA scope change on the cost of TA process is 10 % to 15 %.



The negative impact of the TA scope change on the duration of TA process is 5 % to 10%.



The negative impact of the TA scope change on the quality of TA process is 5 % to 10 %



The negative impact of the TA scope change on the cost of TA process is less than 5 %.



The impact of the TA scope change in increasing the overall benefit to the organization in terms of cost is a slight increase in the benefit to the organization.



The impact of the TA scope change in increasing the overall benefit to the organization in terms of risk is a slight reduction in risk to the organization.



The impact of the TA scope change in the loss of control is a considerable loss of control.



The impact of the TA scope change in the later stages of the TA process has high impact.



Most of the participants feel that a well defined scope would lead to minimized scope change.



Most of the participants feel that providing sufficient time for scope development would lead to minimized scope change.



Most of the participants feel that maintaining a good history of all the equipments would lead to minimized scope change.

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

Most of the participants feel that developing an effective process for scope challenge would minimize the scope change.



Most of the participants feel that well defined criteria for accepting scope change would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope.



Most of the participants feel that considering if the change is doable in TA would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope.



Most people agree that setting restrictive criteria for approval process would minimize the impact of changes in TA scope.



Most people agree that studying the best alternatives to do the change would minimize the impact of TA scope change.

5.4. Chapter summary: This chapter has dealt with the concepts related to statistical analysis of the quantitative data. The statistical analysis includes the Tally table that gives the frequency and or percentage of occurrences of the data under a specific question. Chapter 6: Discussion of Results 6.1. Chapter Introduction: This chapter exclusively deals with the case study of SABIC and the corresponding scope change management and control procedures required. Initially the chapter deals with the case study and later the change management procedure, recommended steps of approving scope change, the recommended form that will be used to control and track scope change, the recommended process or technique of requesting, reviewing, approving, communicating and implementing any scope change have been discussed. 6.2. Case study of SABIC scope change management and control: This section deals with the main case study of SABIC with respect to scope change management and control in the plant turnarounds.

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6.2.1. Objectives of case study: The objective of this case study is to evaluate and analyze the causes, impacts and practical solutions for the work scope changes in petrochemical plant turnarounds in SABIC. The study aims to find the causes of increase in scope turnaround work in plant turnarounds. The impacts and some practical solutions for the changes in turnaround have to be identified. Based on the identification of the work scope changes, an appropriate scope change management has to be formulated along with the procedures and sample templates for scope change management and control. 6.2.2. Company background: SABIC was incorporated in the year 1976 to utilize and convert the Natural gas, which is the by – product of oil extraction into useful petrochemical products. Today SABIC is a global leader in petrochemical and steel products. With employee strength of 33000 in more than 100 countries, the net profit was SR 22 billion during the year 2008. With the products ranging from innovative plastics, fertilizers, basic chemicals, metals, polymers and intermediates, the corporate culture is based on dynamic growth and collaborative management. With a consistent record of success, the major challenges as stated by the annual report of SABIC include, “There were major challenges too: creating a regular, dependable and uninterrupted supply chain, maintaining reliability and performance of facilities and avoiding delays in expansion turnaround s are all high priorities for our management.” (Dynamic Growth through Collaboration, 2008). SABIC is a founding member of the Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association and has prominent operations in Jubail and Yanbu. 6.2.3 Executive synopsis of SABIC turnarounds: There are different plants in SABIC and each of them has different stream to stream duration. The stream to stream duration is calculated from the time when the product is

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switched from the product tank to the flare/off spec tank to the time till the product becomes available for the customers/product tank. The methods of stream to stream TA duration calculation are shown in Table 6.1. and the standard Turnaround stream to stream time duration per plant unit based on the TA list and the maintenance list have been tabulated for some plants in Table 6.2.

Table 6.1. Methods of stream to stream TA duration calculation.

Plant type

Method of TA duration calculation

Styrene

From the time when the feed is cut to the time when the feed is resumed

Ethylene

Time when product is switched from product tank to flare, till the time when product is back on spec.

MTBE

Time when product is switched from product tank to off spec., till the time when product is back on spec.

CIE

Time between ethylene feed cut and resumption .

Table 6.2. The standard Turnaround stream to stream time duration (in Days) per plant unit based on the TA list and the maintenance

Plant type

Shutdown duration

Maintenance duration

Startup duration

EDC MTBE SP MINING SP BRINE STY I STY II ETHYLEN E

7 7 1 1 4 4 7

29 34 12 12 16 16 16

4 7 1 1 3 3 7

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Total stream to stream TA duration 40 48 14 14 23 23 30

The SABIC TA team has the following members, Planning team, Steering committee team, Startup team, Execution team, Schedule, Network and Packages Review team, Core team, Turnaround Leader, Problem solving team, Planning Supervisor, Planning Group Leader, Material & Services Supervisor, Material & services Planner, Document Controller, TA Planner, Stationary Equipment Inspector, Electrical Engineer/specialist, Rotating Equipment Engineer/Specialist, Tools and Materials Coordinator, TA Technician, Analyzer Engineer / specialist, Control System Engineer / specialist, Engineering & Project Management Engineer, Health, Safety & Environmental Representative, Field outside Services Coordinator (Inside SABIC works), Stationary Equipment Engineer, Operation Representative, Mobile Equipment Coordinators, Project Development Department Engineer, Field Safety Representatives, Warehouse Coordinator, TA Field Area Maintenance Supervisor, Production Engineer/specialist, Cost Engineer / estimator / Tracker, Shops superintendent, Major Special Engineer, Finance representative, SMO representative, Maintenance superintendent, Shops out Side services Coordinator (Outside SABIC works), LO&D rep (general services, IT, catering), Reliability Engineer – SABIC. 6.2.4. The strategies in SABIC turnarounds: During the case study, it was observed that the SABIC turnaround process has the following strategies, 

The process units are shut down for catalyst change and repairs to ensure reliability and regulatory requirements.



The TA steering committee is responsible for setting the premises for the TA management, planning and implementation.



The TA planning team has members from all departments and is responsible for the TA processes.



The success factors that measure the TA performance are HSE issues, effectiveness of the PSSR, quality goals, cost within budget, schedule attainment.



The TA procedure is provided by the maintenance department.

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

The aspects of maintenance, technical, project, reliability and operations have equal importance in the TA.



The technical organization has the responsibility to integrate work related to rotating equipment, stationary equipment, electrical equipment, analyzers, civil and structural equipments, catalyst and desiccants.



The TA work list is limited to works related to plant shutdowns due to cost and man power constraints.



The operations department has the responsibility to develop the work list, approve the scopes of TA, preparing for maintenance, decommissioning and start up procedures.



The planning and execution of the field work, plant change projects are under the care of the maintenance department. This department also maintains the database for planning, scheduling and tracking of the TA work.

6.2.5. Areas of Consideration in the case study: In this part we will present and discuss the current activities in SABIC turnarounds and scope management in SABIC turnarounds. 6.2.5.1. Current activities in SABIC turnarounds: The major activities of the TA process go under the leadership of different departments that has a leader who is highly knowledgeable about that activity. Accordingly, the turnaround cycle is divided into 10 phases, as listed below, 1. Strategic and Business Planning Phase – The Planning, Logistics & Economics Department (P, L&E) decides upon the duration, schedule, performance premises for all SABIC‟s TA processes. It is also responsible for publishing and updating the turnaround schedules. By taking inputs from different sources, the production manager of the respective TA area, gives feedback to the PL and E about the due date and duration.

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2. Initialization TA development Phase – This phase deals with the premises and milestone. With the consultation of the production and maintenance mangers, the TA leader develops the goals and premises in the areas like Safety, Environmental and Health, Scope Sign-off date, Inspection Criteria, Shutdown and start dates, Unit values for Planning, Productivity, Duration of run length cycle and reliability expectations, Quality Performance, Work list due date, Scope Management & Control, Contractors Performance, TA package due date, Cost Management. The cycle for some production plant and the planning phase are shown in Table.6.3.

Table 6.3. The TA cycle and the Planning period.

Plant unit EDC

TA cycle 2 years

Planning phase 18 months

Styrene I

2 years

18 months

Styrene II

2 years

18 months

Ethylene

6 years

30 months

CIE finishing

5 years

18 months

Salt Plant Brine

2 years

10 months

Salt Plant Mining

1 year

10 months

MTBE

2 years

18 months

According to this phase planning and TA cycle, the TA leader develops a TA milestone. 3. Scope development and Freezing Phase - This phase of the TA process, has three main activities, which are work list and scope of work development, scope challenge, sign off - cut off date. The work list scope is issued by the central planning team to all disciples, they in turn develop the new TA work list and scopes based on the inspection requirement data,

manufacturers recommendations, past experiences, process efficiency and

approved enhancement RIK (replace in kind). Priorities are assigned based on the shutdown requirement.

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The TA leader conducts a careful analysis of the and decides the challenges for a scope. The SABIC has provided guidelines for the scope challenge processes; these are utilized to meet the TA scope challenge approval and TA premises. The sign off, cut off date are under the concerns of the respective production managers. They hand over the approved scope challenge action list to the TA manager. 4. Planning, Scheduling and Control Phase – This phase deals with the planning of activities like HSE plan, readiness review, quality plan, etc. The major activities in this phase are preparation plans, risk assessment, TA execution and scheduling optimization, readiness review, familiar and awareness session. The key activities under the preparation planning includes work plan that deals with initiation of material requisitions, identifying the critical path schedules, identify the required tools, initiate quality assurance plans, locating places for turnaround materials, safe auditing plans, progress tracking plans, associate the decommissioning and commissioning plans, detailed cost estimates and TA permit procedures. 5. Pre TA Phase – This phase prepares for the shut down phase. The key activities of SABIC, in this phase include Fabrication and installation of all temporary piping, moving materials to work spots, scaffolding, mobilize man power, ensure safety preparations and installation of temporary shelters. 6. Shutdown (Decommissioning) Phase – This phase deals with the safe shut down of the unit, safe disposal of the process material. The operations include shutdown procedures, work permits, equipment decontamination, waste water disposal. The key activities are implementation of the unit decommissioning plan, hydrocarbon free systems, issuing safe work permits, preparing the equipment for maintenance. 7. Field Execution Phase – This phase is under the responsibility of the maintenance department, this phase accounts for the actual implementation of the defined work and additional work due to scope changes. This phase actually implements the work scope changes, tracks them and ensures that they are completed in time. Also, this phase involves the development of safe, healthy, cost effective work activities by the central planning department. Other activities include updating the plan and tracking

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the progress, conduct review meetings, give the progress report, update daily work schedule, resolve field problems, QC / QA audits, manage man hours. 8. Startup Phase - The production department holds the responsibility of the commissioning phase or the start up phase. A Pre Startup Safety Review (PSSR) is conducted according to operation procedures. The major activities include, implementation of commission plan, conduct PSSR, ensure that all blinds are removed, testing for oxygen free systems, stabilized operations, specifying the manufacturing products. 9. Post TA Phase – The maintenance department is responsible for the post TA activities. The major activities include demobilize man power, replace the insulation, cleaning, remove scaffolds, supplying man power for start up. The central planning group is responsible for ensuring the accountability of this phase. 10. Closeout and Documentation Phase – This phase is controlled by the Central maintenance Department. The key activities include 

Feedback (critique) about all phases from Planning Team members.



The closeout report by 3 months by the planning supervisor that tells about critical path items, safety, critical success factors, major work scope, duration, critiques and cost.



Look back session.



Technical reporting.



Documenting the details of the TA. The library folders at SABIC, include history, TA approval schedule, TA work scope, critique, material order report, service report, SAP Work Order, history data in SAP, RBI data update. The Central planning group controls this phase of TA.

6.2.5.2. Scope management in SABIC turnarounds: The turnaround work list is reviewed by the TA team for cost and duration and is approved by the TA steering committee. This approved TA estimate is used for cost tracking and control during the execution.

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To have control, any additional scope change after the work scope sign off, has to get approvals from the required authority. The scope change requester has to fill out the required forms to get the approval. If the change is a deletion, then the requester gets the approval of eth TA leader alone. For additional work, the scope change process is based on the following guidelines of SABIC, 1. If scope change is within TA budget and stream to stream duration, then the approval from the TA leader is sufficient. 2. If the scope change is within budget but above the stream to stream duration, then the requester has to get the approval of TA Leader, Production Manager, Maintenance Manager, PL&E Manager, GM-Production, GM-Technical. 3. If scope change is above TA budget but within stream to stream duration, then the approval of TA Leader, Production Manager, Maintenance Manager, Finance Manager, GM-Production, GM-Technical, and President are needed. 4. If the scope change is above the budget as well as the stream to stream duration , then the requester has to get the approval of TA Leader, Production Manager, Maintenance Manager, PL&E Manager, Finance Manager, GM-Production, GMTechnical, and President . These additional changes would be incorporated in the TA process, only after the approval. The Planning supervisor has the responsibility to ensure that any addition, deletion or change scope to the T/A scope meets the above requirements and he incorporates them into the overall plan and cost. The performance and success of the SABIC turnarounds are being measured against certain critical factors. The weighting of these factors have been shown in the following Table 6.4.

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Table 6.4. Performance assessment by critical success factors.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR

STANDARD

%CONTRIBUTION

1. Safety

T/A Premise

15

2. Environmental

T/A Premise

10

3. Personal Exposure

T/A Premise

10

4. PSSR Effectiveness

T/A Premises

5

5. Schedule attainment

T/A Plan

10

6. Estimated Hours Vs. Actual

“Primavera”/SAP

5

7. Work Scope Completed

Work list

5

8. Quality Goals

S/U Delays

10

9. Productivity Goals

T/A Premise

10

10. Cost Within Estimate

Estimate

5

11. Cost within Budget

Budget

5

12. Planning Accuracy

Primavera

10

TOTAL

100

6.3. Statement of the problem observed in this case study: Based on the available details of management strategies of SABIC, it could be seen that the turnaround management is being managed only to a minimum satisfactory extent. Thus any scope changes in the turnaround process could depend on the overall change management program alone as there is no specific evidence that there is a separate management strategy for turnaround scope changes. This leads to a variety of challenges for the SABIC in terms of turnaround scope variations. The problems associated with the scope variations include defining the scope or activities, differentiating critical activities and deferrable activities, planning and developing a scope work list, issues related to safety and quality, time keeping policies, emergency procedures and evacuation procedures, managing cost variations due to scope change, technical fault management facilities, work scope change request management, database management for enquiring previous experiences, documentation or database records of

equipment histories for quick references, scope

estimating formats, scope change approval procedures, scope change impact assessment

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procedures, time management in the turnaround process as the scope variations may lead to extended duration for turnaround completion and finally a most effective communication procedure between departments and personnel to speed up with the scope changes. 6.4. Identification of problem solution and Alternative course of action: The requirements for an efficient turnaround management and the prescription of an alternative course of action related to scope change management and control could be best understood by considering a benchmark system. This benchmark system would act as the basis for the recommendations to SABIC for effective scope change management in turnaround processes. An excellent TA procedure accounting for scope changes needs to have the following key features like Planning: Based on work order, TA codes, scope change procedures and permits. Schedule: Based on Critical Path activities, to prevent loop prevention. Tracking: by updating every shift, earned value, lap books and productivity. Control: Critical mass analysis, timely updates, objective updates, total visibility. Planning scope changes: develop new scope ID, schedule the extra work, document or report this extra work, record the increased man hours and its impact. These processes need to be carried out in two phases, namely the planning phase and the management phase. The activities under planning of an alternative solution has to include, identifying work scope, identifying information resources, preparing turnaround work order, estimating duration of activities, estimating repair work, planning for additional scope of work, critical path schedule, shutdown schedule, daily scheduling, lap books for recording events, documenting the turnaround. The management phase has to considers for communication procedures, budget estimation, progress reporting, evaluating and setting priorities, scheduling and balancing the man power, criteria for overtime and premium time and time - cost tradeoff, measuring the performance, earned value or productivity analysis,

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accounting for extra work flow, scope change request formats, scope change approval formats, scope change cost estimate procedures and change impact assessment procedures. 6.5. Recommended Scope change management solutions: The scope change management has to follow a change procedure that may consist of change activities like change request initiation, change request review, evaluation of change request and change request approval. The request for change may arise due to additional scope, modification of scope or deletion of scope. 6.5.1. Recommended SCM procedure for initiation of the scope change request: The change in scope of turnaround may be initiated by any member of TA planning team or steering committee, senior management personnel. The proposed change request initiation has to have all change requests in a standard written format that specifies the need for turnaround scope change, clear description of the scope change, name of the person initiating the turnaround scope change, the materials related to the change. The change request form is recommended to indicate the priority level of the change, which can be high priority or low priority or medium priority. The TA manager has to give acceptance for the initiation of the change request and then the central planning is recommended to estimate the time, cost, resource requirement and other details.

Finally these change request

specifications have to be authorized by a change request manager. Based on all these concepts, the recommended change request format can be as shown in table 6.5.

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Table 6.5. Scope change request template.

6.5.2. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change cost estimate: In the TA scope change procedure, the major impact is expected to be from financial aspects. Hence, the SABIC TA SCM is recommended to have a cost estimation and assessment format as shown in Table 6.6.

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Table 6.6. Change cost estimation template .

6.5.3. Recommended SCM procedure for assessing the impact of the scope change request: The TA scope change requests have to be scrutinized for its impact on the overall time, cost, duration of the TA process. It is recommended that impact assessment is also accompanied by the analysis of alternatives. The assessment should also consider the risk of implementing or not implementing the changes. Based on all these assessments the scope change may be recommended for acceptance or rejection or deferred to a later time. All these have to be authorized by the scope change management team leader. The recommended template for such a scope change impact assessment is shown in Table. 6.7.

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Table 6.7. Impact assessment template.

6.5.4. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change approval: After the initiation of the scope changes, they need to be approved by the TA manger. There has to be specific categories under which the changes can be classified. The authority to approve the scope change may differ according to the type of change request. For example, if it just a scope deletion, the approval of the TA leader is alone is sufficient. If the scope change is more complex, then the approval from authorities like production manager, CMD manager, finance manager, GM and the president may be required. Based on these criteria, the recommended scope change approval form can be as shown in table.6.8.

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Table 6.8. Change Approval form.

6.5.5. Recommended SCM procedure for the scope change tracking: Apart from the change initiation and change approval form, the SABIC turnaround has been recommended to have a change tracking format to check the status of the change at any stage in the SCM. One such recommended from has been shown in Table.6.9.

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Table 6.9. Scope change tracking form

6.6. Recommendations for SABIC TA SCM based on quantitative survey: Based on the discussions of the results of the quantitative data, the following recommendations could be formulated so that changes in turnaround scope of work could be minimized in SABIC. 6.6.1. Recommendation for how to minimize the changes in turnaround scope of work: 1. Original scope has to be clear and defined properly. 2. Failure and defect in plant equipments between scope singe off and the execution time has to be recorded immediately for immediate and necessary action. 3. Historical information and every turnaround experiences need to be documented for future reference. 4. The strategy for accepting scope changes has to be appropriate so that number of scope changes could be minimized.

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5. The TA scope objectives have to be addressed properly to reduce scope changes in future. 6.

A proper database system to store historical data would help in reducing the scope changes.

6.6.2. Recommendation for how to minimize the impact of changes on safety, duration, cost & quality: The following recommendations could be formulated for SABIC so that the impact of changes in turnaround scope of work on safety, cost, quality and duration could be minimized. 1. The scope changes at later stage have to be attended immediately or deferred to next TA if possible so that TA duration is not affected. 2. Sufficient time for TA scope development has to be given so that scope changes at later stages could be avoided. 3. If a change could be done immediately, it has to be completed and not deferred so that TA quality is not affected. 4. If the scope changes could be accomplished by alternative methods, it has to be opted for so that additional costs could be reduced. 5. Pre defined formats for scope change requests and approval could reduce the duration of processing. 6. A fine combination of these scope change principles and the existing change management principles has to be adopted for reducing the impact of work scope changes on the turnaround processes. 6.7. Chapter summary: This chapter has dealt with the case study of SABIC TA process and many recommendations have been made for scope change management and control.

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Chapter 7: Research Conclusion Conclusion: This research has discussed the depth and breadth of petrochemical plant turnarounds and the related scope change of work in these processes. Every petrochemical process is seen to be of unique nature as the technical approach and methodologies are different. The issues related to shutdowns, turnarounds and outages in petrochemical plants are crucial as they decide the plant performance and profit. Managing these petrochemical processes and turnarounds demands is special care. The present day demands with regard to turnaround and shutdowns in petrochemical plants are such that, the duration of turnaround processes are chosen to be very less so that the production profit could be maximized, thorough and detailed scope identification, realistic shutdown or turnaround plan, execution of the activities in the critical path based on Risk Analysis Procedure, delay free start up, innovative safety plans and reduction in scope variations based on risk inspection. Also the situation becomes more complicated when there are work scope changes in these turnaround processes. The scope change again demands special management techniques for overall benefit in terms of cost, risks and time of the petrochemical plant turnaround processes. This research work had chosen the SABIC Jubail plants for conducting the research related to petrochemical plant turnarounds and the scope changes in this process. The research had discussed the details of the SABIC as a petrochemical giant and also the literature related to turnaround processes in the petrochemical plant. Apart from the petrochemical plant turnarounds, the theory and principles of scope change management have also been discussed in detail. The main part of the research was the data collection by quantitative survey methodology and the case study. The questionnaire and the case study were designed to collect information regarding the reasons for work scope changes in the petrochemical turnarounds and the possible impact of these work scope changes on the duration, cost, safety, quality and risks in these turnaround processes. The collected data have been statistically analyzed for mean and frequency tables or tally tables using the statistical package, Minitab.

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From the results of the quantitative data analysis and the case study parameters, the reasons and impact of work scope changes in SABIC plant turnaround processes have been identified. Based on discussion of the results, a set of recommendations have been formulated for SABIC. These recommendations include a fine combination of these scope change principles and the existing change management principles has to be adopted for reducing the impact of work scope changes on the turnaround processes, historical information and every turnaround experiences need to be documented for future reference, the TA scope objectives have to be addressed properly to reduce scope changes in future, a proper database system to store historical data would help in reducing the scope changes, the scope changes at later stage have to be attended immediately or deferred to next TA if possible so that TA duration is not affected, if change could be done immediately then it has to be completed and not deferred so that TA quality is not affected, if the scope changes could be accomplished by alternative methods then it has to be opted for so that additional costs could be reduced, pre defined formats for scope change requests and approval could reduced the duration of processing and a few others. Also based on the benchmark chosen for the case study, set of templates or formats for the implementation of the scope change requests, change approvals, change impact assessment and change cost assessment have also been recommended. Thus the research design adopted by this research work has addressed the main research aim and the research objectives. The research questions have been answered by the chosen research methodology by the discussion of the research hypotheses.

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Appendix

Survey Questionnaire

Date and Time of Interview: Name of Interviewee: Location of Interview: Position of Interviewee: Company/Department/Section: Years of Services: Dear Sir/Madam, My name is ____________, and I am a student currently writing my Dissertation titled “Variation between Original and Final Scope of work in SABIC Turnarounds, Causes, impacts and practical solution”. Therefore, I would very much appreciate if you would have the kindness to answer some of my questions. It will not take a very long time. Thank you very much for taking the time from your schedule to work on this questionnaire.

Part 1 - General information Kindly choose the option that best describes you. Q1. Your experience in TA business 1. Less than 2 years 2. Between 2 years and 5 years 3. Between 5 years and 10 years 4. More than 10 years Q2. How many TAs did you involve / participate 1. Less than 2 TAs 2. Between 3 and 5 TAs 3. Between 6 and 10 TAs

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4. More than 10 TAs Q 3. In which Phase of TA you usually involve 1. Initial phase 2. Planning phase 3. Execution phase 4. Post TA phase Q 4. What is your role in TA? 1. Planner 2. Technician 3. QA/QC 4. Supervisor 5. Leader/Manager

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Part 2 - Opinion about reasons for the TA Scope Change Below are the reasons for the TA scope change (addition and/or deletion). Kindly give your opinion (out a tick mark), about the influence of the reasons for the TA scope change process.

Question Question No. 1

Original scope is unclear

2

Scope is not detailed enough to avoid changes

3

Final scope is not agreed by end user

4

Requirements and cost of implementing proposed scope is not clear for scope requester

5

Relation between plant type / process and amount of change in the scope of work

6

Effectiveness of the existing change management process

7

Unavailability of historical information about the equipments in each plant

8

Unclear purpose of specific scope

9

Unknown Inspection findings

10

Frailer and defect in plant equipments between scope singe off and execution time

11

The defined scope doesn‟t adequately address the objectives of the TA or its expected benefits

12

Relationship between the age of plant and amount of scope change

No Slight Moderate Strong Very influence influence influence influence strong at all influence

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Part 3 - Opinion about impact of TA Scope Change and some practical solutions This part of the questionnaire intends to gather opinion about the negative impact of TA scope change on all TA process. Kindly choose the opinion that best suits your opinion.

Q1. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA cost? 1. Less than 5% 2. 5% - 10% 3. 10% - 15% 4. 15 % – 20% 5. More than 20% Q2. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA duration? 1. Less than 5% 2. 5% - 10% 3. 10% - 15% 4. 15 % – 20% 5. More than 20% Q3. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA quality? 1. Less than 5% 2. 5% - 10% 3. 10% - 15% 4. 15 % – 20% 5. More than 20% Q4. What is the impact of TA scope change on TA safety? 1. Less than 5% 2. 5% - 10% 3. 10% - 15% 4. 15 % – 20% 5. More than 20% Q5. Does the scope change increase the overall cost benefit to the organization? 1. Does not increase the benefit. 2. Slightly increases the benefit. 3. Moderately increases the benefit. 4. Highly increases the benefit.

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Q6. Does the scope change increase the overall benefit to the organization in terms of risks? 1. Does not increase the benefit. 2. Slightly increases the benefit. 3. Moderately increases the benefit. 4. Highly increases the benefit. Q7. Will Scope change cause a loss of control of the team’s planned work? 1. Does not cause loss of control. 2. Causes considerable loss of control. 3. Causes more loss of control. Q8. What is the impact of the change address in a later stage of TA scope change process? 1. Low impact. 2. Moderate impact. 3. High impact. 4. Very high impact What is your opinion about the ways of minimizing scope change? Kindly choose the appropriate option. Q9. A well defined scope would lead to minimized scope change. 1. Disagree. 2. Uncertain. 3. Agree. 4. Strongly agree. Q10. Providing sufficient time for scope development would lead to minimized scope change. 1. Disagree. 2. Uncertain. 3. Agree. 4. Strongly agree. Q11. Maintaining a good history of all the equipments would lead to minimized scope change. 1. Disagree. 2. Uncertain. 3. Agree. 4. Strongly agree.

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Q12. Developing an effective process for scope challenge would minimize the scope change. 1. Disagree. 2. Uncertain. 3. Agree. 4. Strongly agree Q13. Well defined criteria for scope change would minimize the scope change process. 1. Disagree. 2. Uncertain. 3. Agree. 4. Strongly agree.

Once again, thank you very much for your co-operation and patience.

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