4-week turnaround in March and April - additional tasks tackled - safety ensured. During a 4-week refinery turnaround at MiRO (Mineraloelraffinerie Oberrhein) in Karlsruhe, Voith Industrial Services demonstrated planning precision and flexibility regarding the employment of personnel.

As one of the major mechanical partners, Voith’s turnaround team was responsible for mechanical assemblies, i.e. heat exchanger, containers, columns and reactors from March to April.

There was a particular challenge regarding the turnaround planning. All systems were scheduled for different shutdown and restart dates. One has to bear in mind: a system being shut down or restarted can not be accessed. Therefore, the scope of work and the number of employees needed had to be determined very precisely in advance.

An extensive planning and preparation phase together with the customer led to the result that the turnaround would require 50,000 working hours and approximately 250 employees (refinery fitters and project management). Unexpected additional work arising during the project execution caused an extension of the scope of work compared to the original planning. Hence, 50 additional employees were needed and the number of persons involved rose to 300.

Unpredictable additional work like damage to appliances is quite common during turnarounds because it is only detected after shutdown. The management of additional resources that are needed promptly is often difficult and complex. The industrial service providers successfully mastered the situation and, thus, gained the customer’s recognition.

After four weeks the turnaround could be completed in April 2015 and, as project manager Uwe Lindner points out, “without one single incident”.

About Voith Industrial Services:
Voith Industrial Services, a Group Division of Voith GmbH, is one of the leading providers of technical services for key industries such as the automotive, energy, chemical and petrochemical industries as well as mechanical engineering. In 2013/2014, the company generated sales of € 1.18 billion at its more than 170 locations worldwide.

About MiRO:
MiRO employs 1,000 employees and is a joint venture of Phillips 66 Continental Holding GmbH, Hamburg (18.75 %), Esso Deutschland GmbH, Hamburg (25 %), Ruhr Oel GmbH, Gelsenkirchen (24 %) and Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH, Hamburg (32.25 %). The refinery produces approximately 14 millon tons of mineral oil products like petrol and diesel fules, fuel oil, bitumen and propylene each year. One out of four liters of petrol consumed in Germany comes from the Karlsruhe plant.