The structure of an organization can shape operator performance!

Performance-Shaping Factors Series

NEWSLETTER ARTICLE

Operator performance is a function of numerous interacting variables. This series of newsletters examines each of these variables, or performance-shaping factors (Figure 1). 

Lesson 5 - Organization

Think of an organization as a network of functions, with people—the nodes—carrying out tasks and passing information to one another. A simplified version of this network and the nodes is shown in Figure 2. What information is being exchanged? How is it being exchanged? Is there time lag involved in that exchange? Is the exchange efficient? Optimizing these exchanges is essential for optimal performance.

We have encountered numerous examples where these exchanges hampered or degraded performance.

• One mid-size refinery has a single radio frequency for all of operations. This was adequate for routine operation but totally failed in an upset. The result was that the field operators had to run to the control room after each task in the upset to find out what needed to be done next.
• At a morning meeting the operations manager asked the head operator over the crew unit to increase rates (the unit had been running rough). On our way back to the unit, I asked if he was going to raise rates, “Oh, heavens no!” was his reply.
• A recent conversion to a remote central control room required the first line supervisor to choose between being at the unit or in the control room. Regardless of the choice, they were always in the wrong place when needed.
• Front line supervision at a different plant spent three hours every morning assembling the information needed for the 9 AM operations meeting with senior management. This consumed over 30% of the supervisors’ time at yet another facility.

Contrast these examples with cases where information flow is fast and directed to the right individual.

• The console responsible for the distillate pool was sitting with the product scheduler, discussing anticipated production over the next few days. What had once moved up and down the organization was now accomplished by the two individuals responsible for the production and sale of distillates.
• In a central control room, one operator stood up and asked, “WHO’S FLARING?!” Rather than having to call each unit twice (“they really don’t mean it until they call twice”), one operator with a legitimate shock to his voice replied, “Oh, hey, that’s me. I got it.”
• One console operator walked over to another to ask, “Can you take another 500 barrels?”. While this could have been done via phone, there is a cost to picking up the phone to call (“Is the other operator busy?” “Is this really enough to bug him about?”). Some threshold exists to make the call worthwhile. How much is it costing the company, however?

In optimizing operator and plant performance, the context—the organization in which the individual work is accomplished—needs to be evaluated and optimized. This is particularly true with any disruption to the current operation, such as changing job duties or personnel location (e.g., central control room).

Plant modernizations can pay tremendous dividends, but only to the degree that the individual people have the right information, at the right time, and in the right form to do their job.

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