Every company wants predictable operations, shorter turnarounds, and safe and environmentally friendly plants. Unfortunately, many of the most skilled are now reaching retirement age, effectively taking your intellectual property with them. Automation and advanced controls essentially run most plants today, providing few opportunities for new operators to learn on the job. In the end, they never develop the level of understanding they need to monitor, troubleshoot, and optimize their units.
A study by RWD of over 450 operators reveals the average competency level of operators is about 30%, and significant action is required to reduce operators' learning curve time and increase their trouble-shooting competency.
RWD TOPS® (Technical Operator Performance Support) training workbooks and workshops establish a solid knowledge and skills foundation that console operators need as a first step toward improving their troubleshooting and optimization skills. These inexpensive generic materials allow you to quickly improve your operators' competency by up to 30%, preparing them for more advanced and comprehensive development.
RWD will also customize our standard courses to reflect your actual plant configurations, supporting advanced training to raise competencies even further, typically above the 70% level.
RWD is unique in its ability to deliver an effective, comprehensive and cost-effective approach to training and documentation by focusing on the end-user, developing logic-based problem-solving capabilities, and using experience-based exercises.
RWD TOPS® for Startup/Shutdown Best Practices
Startup and Shutdown (SU/SD) procedures concentrate specifically on unit turnarounds, but are applicable to recovery operations that have gone to a park safe operation.
RWD applies industry best practices to create tools and procedures for all kinds of operational startup and shutdown scenarios. These tools and procedures reduce SU/SD times by as much as 40%, resulting in more production days and added capacity. Safety is enhanced and environmental compliance is improved.
Troubleshooting and Optimization
The competency of the average refinery or petrochemical control operator ranges between 30% and 40%, meaning he or she is mostly task-oriented. Those few operators exhibiting over 70% competencies generally have 7 to 10 years of experience. With normal attrition, companies must train operators more quickly and with more assurance of success.
RWD TOPS® accelerates the competencies of your operators from the 30-35% range to more than 70% in only a few months, allowing you to stay in front of the operating performance curve. RWD TOPS® accelerates training to higher competencies while instilling sustainable and repeatable high performance.
Emergency Response Matrix
The RWD Emergency Response Matrix (ERM) provides a visual map of your emergency response procedures. Operators easily facilitate predictable and assured responses to upsets, accidents and environmental events within your plant.
The RWD ERM coalesces lengthy procedures into nine easy-to-memorize steps. These are coded, indicating whether they are manually or automatically completed, and whether they must be done immediately or can wait until after stable operations are reached. Critical paths are also clearly delineated, and each step references detailed procedures.
TOPS Dynamics for the Energy Industry
Troubleshooting and Optimization Solutions
RWD's TOPS Dynamics simulation solution uses unit-specific empirical models developed from in-plant tests to train console operators and those who are training to become console operators.
The dynamic simulator is a valuable learning tool when integrated with the TOPS training program to improve, measure and maintain operator competency that meets or exceeds the 70-percent competency level. It also has the advantage of providing an on-line advisor to help operators with operational decisions.
RWD is unique in its ability to deliver an effective, comprehensive and cost-effective approach to training and documentation by focusing on the end-user operator, developing logic-based problem solving capabilities, and using experience-based exercises. TOPS Dynamics provides an integrated solution of proven training and dynamic simulations.