Managing Turnarounds at Scale: Control, Coordination, and Visibility During Shutdowns

Turnarounds (TARs) are planned shutdowns of a refinery, plant, or industrial facility. During this time, operations shut completely for inspection, maintenance, repair, or equipment upgrades. Typically, scheduled months or even years in advance, turnarounds hold an important role in maintaining asset integrity and operational reliability. 

Why Turnarounds Are Operationally Challenging:

Unlike routine maintenance, a turnaround concentrates a large volume of work into a short, fixed time window. Equipment is taken offline; energy sources are isolated and re-instated, and large numbers of short‑term contractors enter controlled areas. At the same time, simultaneous operations (SIMOPS) increase significantly, creating a diverse network of interdependencies between tasks.

• Rapidly increasing volumes of permits, isolation management, and work activities
• Multiple work fronts operating in close proximity
• Frequent changes to schedules, priorities, and task sequences
• Limited real‑time visibility of work status and risk exposure

While production is halted, the pressure to complete work safely and return the plant to service on schedule is significant. Because of this intensity, turnarounds are among the most complex operational tasks a facility undertakes.Managing them effectively requires more than detailed planning; it requires discipline throughout execution.

Without these elements, even well‑planned shutdowns can quickly become difficult to manage, increasing safety risks, costs, and delays.

The Gap Between Planning and Execution

It is common for companies to invest significant effort in turnaround planning. Schedules are created, resources are allocated, and risks are assessed well in advance. However, once execution begins, maintaining alignment between plan and reality becomes increasingly challenging, particularly when manual processes, disconnected tools, and siloed communication methods are stretched beyond their limits. Supervisors may struggle to track which tasks are active, which permits are valid, and how risks are evolving across the site, having an impact on decision making.

Effective turnaround management requires bridging this gap by ensuring that control mechanisms remain consistent throughout execution.

At scale, successful turnarounds rely on three interconnected capabilities:

Control: Ensures that work is authorised, sequenced, and executed safely. This includes managing permits, isolations, overrides, and changes in scope as conditions evolve. Strong control reduces the likelihood of uncontrolled SIMOPS and conflicting activities.

Coordination: Turnarounds involve a diverse workforce, often working under different assumptions and timelines. Coordinating tasks across operations, maintenance, contractors, and safety teams is essential to prevent clashes, bottlenecks, and unsafe conditions.

Visibility: Real‑time visibility provides a shared understanding of what work is happening, where it is happening, and under what conditions. Without this visibility, it becomes difficult to identify emerging risks or assess the true status of the turnaround.

The Role of Technology

Using the right digital technology provides a structured way to maintain control, coordination, and visibility throughout these demanding periods. By aligning planning and execution within an integrated Control of Work framework, organisations can enhance their management of permitting volumes, track work status in real time, and maintain consistent safety standards, even as conditions change.

An integrated and intelligent digital solution also helps different teams work from a single, shared view of the turnaround, improving communication between operations, planners, contractors, and safety teams. This enables faster decision‑making, reduces administrative bottlenecks, and supports smoother execution from shutdown through to restart.

To learn more about how Yokogawa’s OpreX™ Control of Work supports safe and efficient turnaround execution, visit our Turnaround Management page.