Every industrial plant encounters several shutdowns during its lifetime, be it for scheduled maintenance, replacement of parts, modification or expansion. Whatever the reason, the overriding challenge is to adhere to the most stringent safety standards and keep downtime to a minimum. To achieve that goal, the whole of logistical processes – comprised of the lifting, transport, installation and removal of many components – plays an important and interdependent role. Many plants, however, were not designed with shutdown activities in mind. Adding to shutdown complexity is the fact that in such projects, multiple parties are generally working simultaneously at the same site. These realities call for new and comprehensive approaches that take into account not only the movement of the different components, but also the safe coordination of activities carried out by different subcontractors.
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