Brazilian Turnaround Roundtables

In August 2006, IPA promoted two, 1-day roundtable events on turnarounds in Brazil. The first roundtable took place in São Paulo on August 25, 2006, and the second took place in Vitória on August 28, 2006. Lynn Dickey and Ricardo Borges represented IPA. Attendees at the roundtables represented more than 50 facilities throughout Brazil.

The main objective of the roundtables was to introduce IPA’s methodology and to present Best Practices that IPA has correlated with successful turnarounds. In addition, the best timeline for turnaround planning and contracting was discussed, as well as the link between turnarounds and capital projects. IPA also presented its turnaround-related products and services.

The sessions included a facilitated discussion involving all participants. The main topics of the discussions included the following:

• Labor productivity in Brazilian turnarounds
• Scope definition issues
• Contracting under the current Brazilian economic scenario

One outcome of the roundtables was the proposed development of a “national turnaround calendar“ containing information about all the turnarounds planned in Brazil for a calendar year. The objective of this calendar would be to help companies plan turnaround events so that resources and timing are better coordinated. The São Paulo group proposed the idea, and the Vitória group accepted it. The groups also suggested that access to the available information should be restricted to those companies participating in the initiative. Currently, IPA is evaluating the feasibility of hosting and maintaining such a calendar on our Web site.

In addition, IPA collected important turnaround-related information from all participants through a questionnaire that was distributed prior to the roundtables. These data will be analyzed, and the results will be delivered back to the group by the end of October 2006.

If you need more information about IPA and turnarounds in Brazil, please contact Ricardo Borges (or + 1 [703] 726 5487) or Jose Hung (or +1 [703] 726 5322).