What does poor maintenance shutdown management really cost?

Blog Series: Challenges in Maintenance Shutdown Management | Part 4/5

The maintenance stop budget is usually prepared carefully. Work, resources, materials, and contracts are estimated in advance, so their costs are well known.

However, the real costs are not solely comprised of planned maintenance tasks. Significant additional costs often only arise during downtime, when schedules change, work teams are waiting, or the start-up of production is delayed.

A single delay might seem small, but during a maintenance shutdown, its effects can quickly compound across the entire project.

1. Every extra hour costs

In the process industry, the value of production can be thousands or even tens of thousands of euros per hour.

If the value of production is, for example 15,000 €/h and the maintenance shutdown is extended by eight hours, the lost production value is already 120,000 euros.

This will be in addition to all maintenance and contracting costs.

The larger the production facility, the more significant the impact of each additional hour.

2. Waiting increases maintenance costs

A large number of own employees, contractors and sub-contractors often work during a maintenance shutdown. In addition, cranes, aerial work platforms, special equipment and other rented equipment are in use.

If the work cannot commence due to, for example, missing materials, unfinished preceding work, work permits, or inadequate communication, waiting will occur.

A typical situation is that several work groups are waiting for the same work phase. At the same time, the costs of machines and equipment also increase, even though work is not progressing.

One delay can cause a chain reaction that is quickly reflected in rapidly increasing maintenance costs.

3. Delays are cumulative

Maintenance standstill tasks are rarely isolated.

Most work stages are dependent on each other. When one critical task is delayed, the subsequent work stages are also pushed back.

In the final stages of a schedule, attempts are often made to catch up by doing multiple jobs simultaneously. This increases the pressure, burdens the supervisors, and raises the risk of errors.

The effects of errors can be particularly severe during production ramp-up. Even minor deficiencies or hastily made decisions can lead to disruptions, additional repairs, or even new shutdowns right at the start-up phase.

4. Starting is not always successful on the first attempt

A maintenance shutdown does not end when the final maintenance task is completed. It only ends when the plant can be safely and as planned started up.

If critical work is left unfinished, errors are only detected during the startup phase, or equipment does not function as expected, the commencement of production may have to be postponed. In some situations, startup may have to be interrupted and restarted after faults have been rectified.

Every failed startup attempt increases costs, ties up personnel, and delays the start of production. At the same time, the risk of new errors also increases as schedule pressure mounts.

5. Maintenance stop errors can appear long after startup.

Although the maintenance shutdown has officially ended, its effects may be visible for a long time in the plant's operational reliability, production efficiency, and operating costs.

If the equipment is not adjusted correctly, it will not function as intended, or if all tasks are not completed according to plan, the process may not return to its normal state. Stabilising and optimising it may take days or even weeks.

This can be seen, for example:

half the production capacity
as increased energy consumption
as higher chemical consumption
as greater raw material waste
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in terms of quality deviations
as additional adjustment and repair measures.

The true success of a maintenance shutdown is not measured solely by when production restarts, but by how quickly the process reaches normal capacity, quality, and resource efficiency.

6. A well-managed maintenance shutdown builds safety, operational reliability, and profitability.

A well-managed maintenance shutdown is concretely visible in the operation of the entire factory. It's not just about completing the work on schedule, but about the entire maintenance shutdown progressing as planned and production returning to normal operations as quickly as possible.

In a well-managed maintenance shutdown

Workgroups and contractors can work safely without unnecessary waiting.
Critical work stages are completed in the correct order
production starts as planned and reaches target capacity as quickly as possible
Consumption of raw materials, chemicals and energy returns to normal levels
extra repairs and new stops are reduced.

A well-managed maintenance shutdown is not merely an expense, but an investment in the facility's safety, operational reliability, and long-term profitability.

Summary

The true costs of a maintenance shutdown are far greater than the costs of the maintenance work itself.

Delayed start-up, pending work groups, increasing maintenance costs and a slow production ramp-up can increase overall costs considerably more than a single maintenance job.

This is why maintenance shutdown management is not just a maintenance task. It is a collective effort of the entire factory, where production, maintenance, contractors, and partners work together to achieve a safe startup, good operational reliability, and profitable production.

Organisations with multiple production facilities also emphasise the utilisation of common working methods and lessons learned from maintenance shutdowns. A unified operational model helps to improve the quality of maintenance shutdowns across the entire group.

This article is part of a blog series

This writing belongs Challenges in maintenance shutdown management -blog series where we will be discussing the most common challenges related to the planning, management, and execution of maintenance shutdowns.

In the following section:

What makes a successful maintenance shutdown? 5 key factors

What successful maintenance shutdowns have in common and what practical lessons each organisation can utilise when planning the next shutdown.

Would you like to identify the biggest bottlenecks in your maintenance downtime?

Tool4pro's experts will help identify the biggest bottlenecks in your maintenance shutdowns and assess how they can be reduced through better planning, information flow, and a shared situational picture.

Contact Us, then let's discuss how the next maintenance shutdown can be made safer, smoother and more cost-effective.