At a Glance
- An oil refinery wanted to reduce its operating costs and increase throughput across its operations.
- Renoir was engaged to conduct an analysis to assess and identify the deficiencies and cost saving measures, resulting in a 45-week Continuous Improvement Accelerator project.
- A task force and several management action teams were formed in key areas and initiatives were implemented in maintenance, procurement and supply chain, and operations and inspection.
Key results
A reduction in maintenance break-in work from
40% to 11%
An increase in maintenance compliance from
65% to 86%
34%
improvement in throughput loss during crude changes
38%
reduction in inventory
Background
Our client is an oil refinery with a capacity to produce over 100,000 barrels per day for the domestic market. Since its commissioning, the plant has undergone a number of modifications and improvements.
The Challenge
At the time of engaging Renoir Consulting, our client wanted to reduce operating costs and increase throughput across its refinery operations. Renoir conducted an analysis to assess and identify the deficiencies and cost saving measures to help our client achieve its objectives and realise the desired benefits.
Analysis
The Renoir team started with an initial analysis of the oil refinery. Based on the findings, we launched a 45-week Continuous Improvement Accelerator project. It kicked off with Renoir’s Focus Process, where we worked with department managers to assess, identify and set targets for improvement.
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Preventive maintenance compliance soars with new way of working
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Ready for a change in your organisation?
Project Approach
A taskforce was formed under the guidance of Renoir’s full-time consultants. With the participation of the client’s staff, the taskforce identified areas for improvement, evaluated cost saving measures and set targets for achievement.
In addition, Management Action Teams (MATs) were formed in key areas, led by the respective department managers. Each MAT consisted of a cross-functional team with a taskforce team. These teams were tasked with achieving hard dollar cost reductions through improved control and execution.
The following initiatives were implemented throughout the project:
A rigorous management control system has been implemented to address issues that have caused inefficiencies in the day-to-day execution and delivery of work. Through this system, improved planning and scheduling can maximise available man hours, leading to more proactive staff management, short interval controls and daily reporting of target achievement.
Procurement/Supply Chain
Procurement processes have been strengthened to ensure compliance with policies and procedures. In addition, supplier and contract ownership was rationalised, while stock levels were reviewed to free up ‘locked’ working capital. These initiatives ensured corrective action for all spend activities and improved the procurement function by developing supplier relationships, moving away from a purely transactional role. Rationalising stock levels through a standardised approach resulted in a greater percentage of stock being moved to consignment models, reducing carrying costs and overall liability for the organisation.
Operations/Inspection
We identified and standardised best practices for ‘crude change’ procedures across all shifts. This included the implementation of after-action reviews to conduct a thorough root cause analysis whenever performance falls below expectations. The aim was to significantly reduce throughput loss during crude changes by establishing and implementing these best practices, while also addressing any underlying issues identified through the root cause analysis.
Results
A new planning process, tools and key performance indicators (KPIs) for inspections were introduced. The department was also restructured, and a RACI matrix implemented to improve role clarity and team working.
A web-based Electronic Management of Change (eMOC) system was configured and installed. This enabled the development of automated reporting with meaningful KPIs to support continuous improvement and timely assessment of MOC requirements.
*We have intentionally omitted client-specific details to maintain strict confidentiality.
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