Even when an outage is planned, the stakes are high. Every hour your plant is offline costs thousands. Labor is at full tilt, resources are stretched, and the window to execute is unforgiving. A single delay like one missing part, one incorrect spec, one communication gap, can send costs soaring and timelines spiraling.
At MMT, we’ve seen it time and again: it’s not the outage itself that causes the most stress, but the chaos that comes from poor planning and material mismanagement.
Why Turnaround Outages Are So Expensive—Even When They’re Scheduled
Planned outages are designed to minimize risk and maximize efficiency, but the reality is they’re still some of the most complex and high-pressure events your operation will face all year. Here’s why:
- Downtime costs stack up fast. Even one hour of lost production during an outage can cost tens (or hundreds) of thousands of dollars, depending on your operation. You may have budgeted for downtime, but you haven’t budgeted for avoidable delays.
- Labor is on the clock. Crews are often working around the clock. Delays in materials or unclear instructions can lead to expensive idle time or rushed, error-prone work when the clock starts ticking again.
- Material issues create a ripple effect. When the right parts don’t arrive on time or aren’t clearly labeled, kitted, or prepped, teams scramble. That scramble costs money, breaks schedules, and increases safety risks.
- The pressure to get back online leads to compromises. When outage windows start to slip, quality and safety often take a hit. That can lead to rework, future failures, and frustrated stakeholders up and down the chain.
Where Things Go Wrong and How to Avoid It
Even well-planned turnarounds can get off track quickly, and it often starts with materials. Last-minute orders, shifting scopes, or incomplete deliveries create a scramble that throws schedules into disarray. Without the right parts on hand and ready to go, crews end up waiting, working overtime, or rushing to make up lost time.
Another major issue is visibility. When materials arrive unlabeled, unorganized, or without clear staging plans, teams waste valuable hours trying to figure out what goes where. Add in multiple vendors with separate timelines and priorities, and it becomes easy for communication to break down, deliveries to show up out of sequence, and important details to get lost.
Lastly, poor documentation compounds the chaos. When changes happen in the field but aren’t captured or shared, teams lose track of what’s been installed, what’s still pending, and what needs to be adjusted. That lack of clarity often leads to rework, confusion, and preventable delays, all of which come with a hefty price tag.
These issues aren’t just annoying—they’re costly. They can push an otherwise well-planned outage off course in a matter of hours.
The MMT Advantage: Precision That Protects Your Timeline
This is where we come in. MMT was built to eliminate chaos from outages by delivering exactly what you need, when you need it, in the exact condition and format your team expects. That means:
- Job-ready custom kits, pre-labeled and staged by area or task
- Climate-controlled storage to preserve part integrity before deployment
- Barcode-based material tracking and documentation
- Seamless coordination across procurement, fabrication, and delivery
- One point of contact, one source of truth, zero guesswork
It’s not just about having the right materials. It’s about having confidence that every bolt, pipe, gasket, and plate will show up ready to go without your team having to chase down pallets or piecing things together on the fly.
Final Thoughts
A planned outage is still a high-stakes operation. You only get one shot to do it right. The cost of doing it wrong? Not just money, but also morale, safety, and long-term trust.
MMT exists to make sure you don’t just survive your next turnaround—you execute with precision.
Let’s make your next turnaround outage the smoothest one yet.