Shutdown software
Refinery and Petrochemical Turnaround Software
Refinery turnaround software keeps the owner in control of a multi-unit stop. In MaintWiz every change after scope freeze is logged with who raised it and its approval, SIMOPS and shared cranes show by zone and day, the PMC's plan loads as Microsoft Project XML or Excel and works with Primavera P6, and seven readiness gates and the restart readiness agent hold the start-up. Executives see decisions in days and money.
How MaintWiz helps: MaintWiz is a comprehensive turnaround solution for refineries and petrochemical plants. The owner runs scope, SIMOPS, permits, spares, cost and restart readiness in one plan over the PMC's schedule.
- Scope, plan, schedule, execution and close-out in one module
- Critical-path Gantt with float and baselines
- Seven readiness gates, signed off by name
- Integrated ePTW: permits and LOTO isolations on every work order
- Earned value: planned, earned and actual, with cost and schedule indices
- Spares needed, in stock and short, with SAP status
- Mobile work orders, offline on transaction screens
- 15 AI agents propose each day; your people approve
By Jai Balachandran · Technical review: Murali Nerur Pasupathy · Published · Last reviewed
What MaintWiz adds:Scope change log after freezeSIMOPS by zoneOwner view of the PMC planSeven readiness gates
The turnaround
What makes a refinery turnaround hard to control?
Thousands of jobs, many contractors and one restart date: control slips in four places.
Scope growth after freeze
Findings on opening add work faster than the plan can absorb it.
SIMOPS and shared cranes
Crews, cranes and permits collide in the same zones on the same days.
The PMC's plan
The schedule sits in the PMC's tool; the owner sees reports, not the plan.
Long-lead parts
Catalyst, bundles, valves and gaskets decide what can start.
US refineries plan routine turnarounds on key units every 3 to 5 years, keeping a unit offline for several weeks to several months after 1 to 2 years of advance planning. 1,2 Where OSHA's process safety management standard applies, a pre-startup safety review is required for new facilities and for modified facilities when the change requires a change in process safety information. 3
MaintWiz
How does MaintWiz run a refinery turnaround?
The owner's questions, answered from one plan.
| Your problem | What MaintWiz does |
|---|---|
| Scope growth after freeze | Scope funnel to the freeze, a change log with who raised each change and its approval, findings straight to the planner, and an emergent-work agent that proposes and a person approves |
| The PMC's plan | Microsoft Project XML or Excel in, interoperable with Primavera P6, with the owner's layer of gates, permits and spares on top |
| SIMOPS and shared cranes | 72-hour look-ahead by crew, shared tool pools, availability by week, and permits shown against their work windows |
| Readiness at restart | Seven readiness gates, the restart readiness agent, handover and close-out records |
| Executive control | Executive view with decisions in days and money, earned value and S-curves |
| Long-lead parts | Spares status with the SAP request or order behind each short part, and what each part blocks |
Petrochemical and chemical
How does MaintWiz handle petrochemical and chemical plant turnarounds?
Crackers and chemical units add a rolling programme and partial shutdowns to the turnaround itself.
Rolling programme
Furnace decokes through the year and the full turnaround sit in one portfolio, each as its own project.
Partial shutdowns
Permits and isolations on each work order show which equipment is out while neighbours run.
Look-ahead by crew
Compressor, furnace and cold-section crews see the next 72 hours and what is blocked.
Restart readiness
The restart readiness agent checks the gates before start-up, for a person to approve.
For unit-level guidance on chemical plant stops, read chemical plant shutdowns.
Measures
What should you measure in a turnaround?
A few measures tell you whether the turnaround went well; MaintWiz reads them from the same plan the field updates.
Duration against plan
Days from shutdown to start-up against the baseline.
Cost against budget
Spend and forecast at completion, from the live plan.
Scope growth after freeze
Hours added after the freeze, from the change log.
Recordable incidents
Incidents and near misses through the event.
First-time start-up
Units started without a repeat, and trips or leaks in the first weeks.
Worked example
Worked example: a bundle finding on day 20
ILLUSTRATION: a 45-day crude-unit turnaround with eleven contractors, a shared crane pool and a PMC schedule in Primavera.
- 1Finding raisedBundle opens with unlisted tube damage
- 2Change loggedAdded scope with hours, cost and approval
- 3Parts expeditedShort parts show SAP request or order
- 4Windows checkedPermits and crane slots against the new dates
- 5Restart dateFloat and decision in days and money
One system
Why run the turnaround inside the CMMS?
The turnaround uses the same equipment, spares and permits as everyday maintenance; keeping them in one system removes the re-keying between tools.
Work orders and history
Every turnaround job is a work order on the same equipment record, so findings and repairs stay in the asset's history.
Spares and SAP
Needed, in stock and short come from the same stores data, with the SAP request or order behind each short part.
Permits and isolations
ePTW permits and isolations sit on each work order, and a package cannot close while one is open.
AI agents with an approver
AI agents review scope, estimates and the schedule and write daily summaries; each proposal has a named person who approves it.
Who uses it
Who uses MaintWiz in a turnaround?
Each role sees its own part of one plan, so nobody works from a copy.
| Role | What they see | What they decide or record |
|---|---|---|
| Refinery manager and executives | Project health and decisions waiting | Approvals in days and money |
| Turnaround manager | Scope, schedule, readiness and cost | Scope changes and recovery actions |
| Owner planners | The PMC's plan with gates, permits and spares on top | What is ready to start |
| PMC and contractors | Their packages, crews and permits | Progress and findings from the field |
| Operations | Permits, isolations and handback | Release and acceptance of each unit |
Getting started
How do you start with the plan your PMC already has?
Bring the schedule in as it is; the owner's controls go on top.
- 1
Load last stop's job list
Import the PMC's job list from Excel, or the schedule as Microsoft Project XML; MaintWiz is interoperable with Primavera P6.
- 2
Fix the restart date
Set the date that cannot move and let the critical path, float and baselines show what drives it.
- 3
Set the gates
Configure the seven readiness gates to your rules: materials, resources, predecessors, tools and scaffold, permits and isolations, scope and engineering, and go.
- 4
Bring the crews in
Planners, supervisors, technicians and contractors get role menus and the native mobile app, with offline work on transaction screens.
- 5
Close and keep it
Close-out records handover, lessons and deferred items, so the next stop is planned against this one.
MaintWiz is shutdown management software built into an AI CMMS, so the stop shares work orders, spares, ePTW permits and maintenance history with the rest of the plant. For the sector background, read refinery turnaround planning.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What does refinery turnaround software do?
It plans and controls a refinery or petrochemical turnaround: scope to the freeze and changes after it, the schedule and critical path, SIMOPS, permits, spares, readiness gates and restart, with an executive view of decisions.
Can MaintWiz take the PMC's Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project schedule?
Yes. MaintWiz imports and exports Microsoft Project XML, takes Excel task lists and is interoperable with Primavera P6, so the owner works on the PMC's plan rather than a copy of a report.
How does MaintWiz track scope growth after the freeze?
The scope funnel shows the frozen scope, and the change log records every addition with who raised it, its hours and its approval status.
How are SIMOPS and shared cranes coordinated?
The 72-hour look-ahead by crew, shared tool pools and weekly availability show clashes by zone and day, and permits are shown against their work windows.
Which readiness gates does MaintWiz hold before start-up?
Seven configurable gates: materials, resources, predecessors, tools and scaffold, permits and isolations, scope and engineering, and go, with the restart readiness agent checking them for a person to approve.
Does it handle petrochemical rolling furnace decokes and the full turnaround together?
Yes. The rolling programme and the turnaround sit in one portfolio as separate projects, with permits and isolations on each work order.
How are permits and isolations tied to turnaround work?
ePTW permits and LOTO isolations sit on each work order, and a package cannot close while a permit or isolation on it is open.
How do executives follow the turnaround?
The executive view shows project health, decisions waiting with their effect in days and money, earned value and S-curves from the same plan the field updates.
How is MaintWiz priced?
MaintWiz is a subscription that grows with your users, sites and modules, with a fixed implementation fee; ask for a written quote at a demo.
Can MaintWiz use the equipment records we already have?
Yes. Equipment lists and job lists load from Excel, schedules from Microsoft Project XML, and where the plant runs SAP, assets and their codes sync from SAP PM or MM.
Sources
Sources
Public sources read on 7 November 2026. Worked examples are for illustration.
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, Refinery Outages: Description and Potential Impact on Petroleum Product Prices
- American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, Refinery turnarounds 101: What are turnarounds and why do we need them? (17 October 2023)
- OSHA, 29 CFR 1910.119, Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals
Put the owner back in control of the turnaround
Book a demo and bring the PMC's last schedule. We will load it and show scope changes, SIMOPS and restart gates on your own units.