Thomas Industrial Library

Completion

Want to get confused? Ask a tradesperson if they have finished a job. Then ask operations if the job is complete. Then ask the planning department if it is closed. The problem is that the meaning of complete is different to different people. When the job is substantially done, the tradesperson considers it complete (there could still be some work left but the machine starts and seems to run). For operations, the job is complete when they lift the clearances and accept the item for production. For the planner, the job is complete when the paperwork is fed back into the system and the work order is closed. In other areas, completion is declared by degree of safety or quality. A completion and approval form may be attached to the job package:

Imagine the complexity of trying to find out what exactly is going on if there are hundreds of jobs running, with hundreds of people involved. Consider some accepted definitions for the stages

of completeness (feel free to use your own but just be sure they are well known to all stakeholders in the shutdown including the contractors).

Done- The job is completed but there is still some buttoning up and cleaning to do.

Finished- The job is mechanically complete, buttoned up and the area is clean.

Accepted- The job is finished and the clearances have been lifted, the item is ready to go.

The completion of a major shutdown is really a three-step process.

Step 1: The first step of job completion is at the end of phase three. There is a time when the area bosses declare the jobs in their area substantially complete (or are not going to get completed in this shutdown). They start to create lists to be completed. In construction these lists are called punch lists. They are made up of all the little things that need to be done or have been left undone.

This preparation for completion also ends phase three and begins phase four. There are hundreds or thousands of details that have to be managed, and completed. Safety issues dominate at this time.

This time is also dangerous because pressure, steam, heat, and chemicals are reintroduced to the systems. Is the plant safe to operate with reduced safety vigilance (when compared to the vigilance needed during the shutdown)? Safety vigilance will still need to be heightened while the shutdown is being cleaned up and barricades are removed in the next step.

Step 2: is completed when the punch list work is finished and the customer is satisfied. This is the core of phase four and could also be called the clean-up phase. This phase might last only a few days or a few weeks at the most (Phase 4 lasts a year on an Aircraft Carrier). One of the most important things is complete cleanup of all shutdown debris, wastes, and the disassembly of scaffolding, barricades, and fencing, and return of all rentals. All unused materials are returned to the stock room, then returned to the vendor if possible (or if desirable). Full, standard, safety practices are resumed on the site.

In a successful plant start-up- although the paperwork and contracts are very important the shutdown is not complete until good product is flowing again. Full, high quality production is one of the three ways a shutdown is closed out. In short, the plant is back to profitable and safe operation.

Step 3: Internal closeout or Administrative Closeout- This closeout includes collection of all bills, time information, final drawings, etc. All raw data from the shutdown is collected. Once all the time sheets, contractor bills, and vendor bills are in, a final shutdown budget is prepared. The packaging, indexing, and filing of information is the concern of phase five, which encompasses the completion of paperwork and the preparation of a historical document.

External closeout or Contract closeout- only when all work is either done or declared that it will not be done can the contractor submit all the final bills. The initial contract should have required that all bills be submitted within 4 weeks of the completion of the work, ensuring timely submission of all external paperwork. As part of the external closeout process, a team member has to read the contract and verify that all the work contracted for is completed, or in some way accounted for. When all aspects are complete the contract can be settled.

In any construction project there might be a retainage held for some agreed amount of time. In other instances, an amount might be held in lieu of a warrantee. The third step is also resolution of all outstanding issues with the contractors, including claims, change orders, mistakes, and payment of bills within the terms of the contract.

The third step of completion is also the compilation of all information, bills, closed out contracts, reports, and finalization of spreadsheets, into the shutdown narrative book.

§ The shutdown narrative book is intended to tell what happened, and can be many volumes. .

§ A post mortem is conducted 3 to 6 months later. It also includes the results of a follow-up meeting, when the team has had a chance to move some distance from the event and gain some perspective.