Bureau Veritas' Lean Project Management Helps Refinery Unit Operations in Petrochemical Industry Move towards "One Overhaul Every Five Years"

2021 China Petrochemical Equipment Maintenance Technology Conference was held by the Chinese Society of Chemical Industry in Dalian from May 24 to 25, 2021. Experts from the equipment management departments of Sinopec, PetroChina, CNOOC, Sinochem, China National Energy Group and other oil refining, coal chemical and chemical enterprises jointly conducted exchanges and discussions under the theme of "Continuously strengthening technological innovation in petrochemical equipment management and promoting unit operations to the advanced level of one overhaul every five years". 

The safe, stable and long-cycle operation of the production units of petrochemical enterprises is a concrete manifestation of their comprehensive capacity as well as a direct reflection of the level of equipment management. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the operation level of refining and chemical units in China's petrochemical industry will advance to the international advanced level of "one overhaul every five years" through the combination of the most advanced international management concepts with the experience and characteristic practices accumulated by domestic petrochemical enterprises for many years. While digesting and absorbing the international advanced concepts, China's petrochemical industry will further summarize and refine the domestic practical experience, so as to achieve "safety, stability, longevity, fullness and excellence" in petrochemical plant operations.

Mr. Yang Zhigang, OPEX Leader of Oil, Gas & Chemical Business Group at Bureau Veritas, shared the application practice of Bureau Veritas' inspection and maintenance project management at the conference with the topic of "Helping enterprises achieve high-quality and high-efficient inspection and maintenance with lean management". 

Mr. Yang said:  "An inspection and maintenance project has a wide range and high complexity, and raises high requirements for the quality, safety, timelines and costs.  In response to these challenges, project management should focus on the planning of the whole process of an overhaul, including the decision-making stage, planning stage, implementation stage, and evaluation stage, to make sure the time is under control; at the same time, the overhaul project should be decomposed at different levels to make sure the scope of overhaul work is under control; systems and standards of quality management such as quality witness card system need to be established to make sure the quality is under control; contractor management should be strengthened to make sure the implementation subjects and process are under control; the weak links of the overhaul should be considered in an integrated manner to make sure the weak points of the overhaul are under control. "

At present, Bureau Veritas has formed a set of mature "major overhaul project management" concept and system. By applying international advanced management means and innovative management modes, through lean planning and management, the system can achieve the best balance of cost control, quality, safety and efficiency of major overhaul projects, and help refinery unit operations in China's petrochemical industry move towards the international advanced level of "one overhaul every five years".