Introduction

John McLay, a Canadian born Professional Engineer, with 38 years of experience in heavy industry, including refinery, heavy oil extraction and upgrading, pulp and paper and food processing. He has chaired 2 international conferences on shutdown management and is a frequent speaker on the subject with both national and international experience in educational presentations. His largest conference as a presenter was in Naples, Florida, USA which featured 860 participants representing 36 countries. John is also the author of the international best selling technical manual, “Practical Management for Plant Turnarounds.”

Biography

I started in construction 38 years ago as a Boilermaker apprentice welder with a wonderful career until in 1979 when the Canadian construction industry went through a serious downturn. Being inquisitive of the plants and equipment that I had constructed, I went into process and utility operations as a power engineer, attaining a First Class Power Engineering Certificate from the Alberta Boilers Branch. In 1989 I registered at the University of Alberta and received my Mechanical Engineering Degree in 1992. With 20 years of experience and my degree I was fortunate in being able to work in every facet of turnaround management and the supporting positions. Therefore the technical manual “Practical Management for Plant Turnarounds” is written from a combination of theory and experience. Previous senior management positions include working as a Western Canada Manager for an international construction company, site engineering manager, technical coordinator (assistant project manager), owner representative for turnaround coordination and as a quality assurance manager covering over 2 billion dollars of new construction and maintenance projects.

Shutdown History

My first shutdown was in 1972 as an apprentice since then I have been involved in close to 100 shutdowns ranging from 1 day to 6 week outages. My responsibilities have grown as I have gained experience. It is due to this progressive experience that I can say that I am well rounded in all areas.

As a consultant, for major shutdowns you are brought in as part of a team. These will be defined in the areas of responsibility

For smaller projects an inspection activity may result in a repair requirement and I would then be responsible for facilitating that repair and the reporting procedures. The size of this would include several contractors, usually under 75 people and be completed within 7-10 days.

As the cover of the book indicates there are 9 areas of responsibility required to effectively plan, organize and execute a shutdown. I have experience in all of these areas.

Quality Assurance

This is my specialty and I carry international qualifications to do this work. It includes the quality control of  building to drawings and specifications, inspection, repair procedure, receive, accept and control procured material, productivity tracking, government and code legislation and as-built turnover documentation. It involves me with every aspect of the shutdown and it is where I have my greatest impact. I am well compensated and well respected for what I can bring to the table.

Working for the contractor the client had to parachute in a client QA representative (my boss so to speak).

“I know you mentored Jude and brought him up to speed in a new area very quickly”
   John Moiseshyn, Reliability Engineer – ASE.

Engineering

As a professional mechanical engineer I have had the opportunity to plan, organize and manage the execution of maintenance engineering packages. With my background I can also analyze packages that I have received, when working for the contractor, for mistakes or constructability problems which has saved owners countless hours and greatly reduced budget expenses. I have completed over 200 engineering packages in my time. I also have 2 ½ years of experience as the engineering manger on $1kkk worth over several projects.

Maintenance

This type of maintenance is not a plant facilities day to day maintenance. You bring in large manpower volume or specialty contractors to complete work during shutdowns. I have risen from the level of apprentice to superintendant in the maintenance stream.

Operations

I carry an internationally recognized First Class Power Engineers Certification (Alberta) and rose through the ranks, which requires both practical experience and theory examination. On the Solvex site I was the senior field engineer in designing the heavy oil extraction facility (7 months) and was given the opportunity to become the Operations Manger for the commissioning and start up of this facility (3 months). This entire operation required the input and over 500 persons of which I was directly responsible for 125.

Turnaround Supervision

This is my second choice and specialty. Many times I would be hired as a consultant for one area and then given a short duration task of mobilizing contractors, over seeing their work and demobilizing them. My toughest assignment was 13 contractors, completing the construction of a 220 foot high by 16 foot diameter vessel shipped in two sections, plus internals. This work was completed 11 days, well ahead of schedule. I was given this task 4 days before the first contractor was mobilized to site and had to maintain my QA manager’s position with 880 persons in the construction of a 100kk expansion. This was the third time that I had been contracted by this plant facility.

“If we had know what you could really do we would have paid you any rate you wanted”
   John Parfaitt, Maintenance Manager, AEF. It was a tough negotiation for the rate that I did get.

Administration

I was the Manager for Western Canada business unit of an international construction company for 2 ½ years. This was the baptism to dealing with contracts and subcontracts. My 3rd day on the job was to encourage the owner to pay $500k in extras, which we did receive. This unit is one of the most successful in Canada and has several standing maintenance contracts for the repair of API 650 storage tanks.

“You taught me how to be efficient and make money when I thought I was good before”
   Ron Proctor – Senior Superintendant, TIW Steelplatework

Procurement

I had been brought in as senior inspector for a routine inspection. The contractor was a junior in the field as no work other than routine was anticipated. The vessel internals had to be replace and it was my responsibility to procure, receive and accept this material. The loss prevention and control of material is a major component of QA.

Planning and Scheduling

When first starting in the shutdown consulting business a smaller plant handed me 130 name and equipment numbers to develop the planning of their inspection and repair. I had 6 weeks before we mobilized contractors. They had developed a great archive of all of this equipment so I was able to complete the development of these packages in time. I then carried on as client representative with the major mechanical (who is still the contractor of choice) and supporting contractors.

“We should have given you your own radio channel”
   Paul Christensen-Facilities Engineer, AEF

HSE & Security (S-Safety)

A shutdown had been planned and was within days of starting and the person slated for this work was not available. I was asked to fill this role. In one week I had three major incidents, all non threatening or not work related. The non work related did happen on site (seizure) and therefore required a paper work process. I learned that these types of incidents were put into a cost perspective and was informed that the refinery could have been run for 3 weeks on the cost of these safety issues.

Training

Fairview College: Developed the Power Engineering department for 3rd and 4th Class Power Engineering by computer delivery. 2 ½ years senior instructor

Cuba: Trained the senior engineers for CUPET on the maintenance (1week) and (was requested to come back and teach) the construction (2 weeks) of API 650 storage tanks. I wrote the material and delivered it through a Spanish interpreter.

Cuba: Trained CUPET plant operators on the operation and maintenance of a heavy oil facility. I wrote 3 different courses each of 2 week duration and they were taught through a Spanish interpreter.

Conferences

2002 – Helped the Canadian Institute to develop and chaired an International Conference on Shutdown Management in Calgary, Alberta, Canada 6 delegates and 7 exhibitors

2003 – Chaired the 2nd International Conference on Shutdown Management in Calgary, Alberta, Canada 138 delegates and 18 exhibitors
 The technical manual “Practical Management for Plant Turnarounds” was début at this conference and sells all over the world

2004 – Presenter: Maintenance Forum, Naples, Florida 860 delegates from 36 countries and presented as “the most knowledgeable and enthusiastic person on shutdown management” Terrance O’Hanlan