Ahead of the 9th Chem/Petrochem & Refinery Shutdowns and Turnarounds conference, we spoke with Mr. Chris Why, Vice President of Operations, Kildrummy, on cost management, and improving the turnaround process.

ME: For introductory purposes what is your background and how did you and or your firm get into the Refining and Petrochemical vertical?

CW: My background is a varied one, having started my career in Accountancy. I quickly realized that wasn’t for me, I moved into Oil & Gas in Project Controls in the early 90’s.  I spent ~10 years learning how projects are delivered and how cost management and project control plays a key role in the process of delivering success. 

I then decided to leverage that knowledge in roles where I worked for companies that offered Cost & Project/Information Management solutions.  Having been a ‘user’ myself, it allowed me to better understand client’s challenges and then tailor solutions to meet those needs. 

Now as VP of Operations for Kildrummy, we as a team strive to do exactly that!

Kildrummy was formed by our CEO, Ken Beer. At the time he worked at the largest oil terminal in Europe, Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands, at the height of the development of North Sea Oil and Gas. In the summer of 1986 Ken was invited to write a desktop project cost management tool by BP who subsequently used the software and its future developments, on projects throughout the world.

 In the early 1990s BP asked Ken to join up with former BP staff to form an independent company which would deliver high-quality professional support to those projects. That company was Kildrummy, founded on November 11, 1992 and since then has delivered best in class cost management solution to the Refining & Petrochem vertical and indeed the energy sector as a whole

ME: What do refining and petrochemical firms find most useful about your cost management product for improving their turnaround processes?

CW: Clarity!

The fact that our solutions deliver standardization & best practice in cost management processes while respecting the fact companies have significant investments in other systems like ERP, Maintenance Management/CMMS, Scheduling, etc. 

Whilst working with almost every major blue-chip oil & gas company over the last 25 years, we have continually updated our solutions to support this ethos and we do so without forcing organisations to ignore the actual project’s real needs.

We do not compel customers to adopt specific processes which suit our applications – our applications aspire to be totally flexible, such that they can be tailored to fit the customer’s processes. We can, and often do, recommend clearer and faster ways to do things.The customer remains in control of his or her processes and we configure our solution to mirror those processes.

We work with the project teams to deliver the solution that benefits them, not restricts them!

ME: How do you assist with the challenges of timeline and cost overruns?

CW: Kildrummy® Turnaround CostMANAGER is enabling faster, proactive decision making, based on accurate and timely cost, progress, performance and productivity information from the site.  Rapid access via customisable dashboards alerts users to key ‘warning signs’ and empowers the management and supervisory teams to focus on where there are issues and allows them to action decisions to rectify those quicker.  

ME: What do you think will be a key take away from your session on Delivering Shutdown Project Excellence – But at Any Cost? at the upcoming 9th Chem/Petrochem & Refinery Shutdowns and Turnarounds Conference?

CW: Cost Management should be just as important as Safety & Schedule.  We can deliver excellence, we can do so safely and we can also, using a correct cost management strategy, look to better control and even reduce cost in an integrated way for the project.

In the post-project phase we enable cost professionals to troubleshoot contract and billing anomalies and easily create reports which enable bench marking of turnaround projects and capture ‘lessons learnt’ data for continuous process improvement.

For More Information Contact:
Kirill Pokotilov
Kirillp@marcusevansch.com

For the last 8 years, this annual conference has been one of the most anticipated STO meetings in the industry, bringing together Professionals & Plant Managers to discuss key fundamentals for achieving the utmost efficient shutdown /turnaround operation. The conference provides attendees with proven solutions in timely maintenance planning/scheduling and improving communication between O&M.

Maximize asset and human performance throughout the entire outage process. This end-user driven event will enable you to achieve a successfully executed turnaround through optimal scope management, planning and scheduling, budget forecasting, cost tracking, and workforce labor quality.

About the Conference

Kildrummy provides cost management solutions for projects of every size and complexity, from cost-conscious mega-projects to schedule-critical Turnaround projects. 

We have been in the cost management business for more than 25 years. Practically all tier one corporations on the planet have used our solutions to manage mission-critical projects.

In addition, the Kildrummy team includes expertise with 'real-life' project experience that will work with your teams to ensure your goals for a cost management solution are achieved. 

About the Company:

An interview with:

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Chris Why

Vice President of Operations