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What's a good operator like you doing in a refinery like this?

NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

Most oil companies in the past few years have undertaken efforts to enhance operator performance. Many of these programs hope to create "good" or "super" operators through selection and training. Consistent with the general industry use of benchmarking, oil companies often look to the most profitable refineries to define the characteristics of what constitutes a good operator.

We at Beville often react when someone says they want to model themselves after the operators at a particular pace-setting facility with, "You've got to be kidding! Why would you want to be like them?" While many "pace setters" have good operators, the correlation between operator ability/performance and refinery profitability appears to us to be weak. Some of the best operators we have encountered are at refineries I would describe as a "dump". Some of the best refineries have "bozos" for operators. [Of course, some "dumps" have "bozos" for operators.] While good operators can enhance a refinery's performance and profitability, good maintenance, modern technology, and proper market placement likely overpower the impact of operator performance. Jeff Gordon in a Yugo is not going to win the Daytona 500.

Should refineries even try to enhance the caliber and capability of their operators? Yes, of course. Improving the quality of the operators should provide a good return on investment through better operation. Higher caliber operators will enable (1) greater spans of responsibilities, (2) more proactive refinery operation, (3) more self-reliance in operations, and (4) fewer disruptions/incidents as a result of process disturbances. Just don't assume that pace-setter refineries have the best operators nor that improving operator performance will by itself move a refinery from a fourth to first quartile performer. Enhancing operator performance optimizes within the other constraints of the man-machine system.

Copyright 1999 Beville Operator Performance Specialists Inc.

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BEVILLE NEWS

The 2024 Spring Meeting of the Center for Operator Performance will take place on April 16-18, 2024, in Pine Bend, MN/Hybrid. For more information on this and future meetings, please contact Lisa Via. Guests are always welcome!

Our most recent newsletter is now available. Click here!


David Strobhar's book, "Human Factors in Process Plant Operation," is now available in both hardcover and Kindle e-book.

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