FMCG & Beverage Plant Shutdown Planning Checklist

SCOPE IT PROPERLY. START UP ON TIME.

A shutdown is the most expensive window on your production calendar. Every hour is paid for twice, once in labour and parts, and again in the production you are not running. The difference between a shutdown that restarts on schedule and one that drags into the following week is almost never effort on the day. It is the quality of the scoping and planning done in the weeks before anyone picks up a tool.

This checklist is built from more than 25 years of shutdown and project work in Australian beverage and FMCG plants, covering electrical, mechanical and automation scopes. Use it as a working document. Print it, mark it up, and argue about it in your planning meetings. That is what it is for.

8 to 12 Weeks Out: Scope and Prioritise

Lock the work list while there is still time to change it

• Build a single master work list covering mechanical, electrical and automation scopes, not three separate lists owned by three different people.
• Rank every job by production risk, not by who shouted loudest. Ask: what happens to the line if this is not done?
• Review breakdown history and maintenance records for the last 12 months to catch repeat offenders that belong on the list.
• Identify jobs that need engineering design, drafting or fabrication lead time, and start those now, not four weeks out.
• Flag any control system work: PLC changes, HMI updates, drive replacements, safety circuit modifications. These need programming and testing time, not just installation time.
• Check PLC and drive hardware against manufacturer lifecycle status. A shutdown is the cheapest window you will get for obsolescence swaps.
• Confirm the shutdown window with production and lock the date. A moving date quietly destroys planning quality.

Watch out: scope added after this point should need sign off from someone senior. Late additions are the single most common cause of overrun restarts.

2 4 to 6 Weeks Out: Parts, People and Engineering

Long lead items decide your critical path

• Order all long lead parts now: PLC hardware, drives, gearboxes, specialist bearings, stainless fittings, HMI screens. Confirm delivery dates in writing.
• For fabricated items, get drawings approved and fabrication started. Custom guarding, chutes, frames and change parts take longer than anyone budgets for.
• Confirm contractor availability and lock in crews for electrical, mechanical, welding and controls work. Good tradespeople book out around shutdown season.
• Verify every contractor’s licences, insurances and site inductions are current before the week of, not on the morning of.
• For any safety system work, confirm who is doing the functional safety design and validation, and that they are qualified to sign it off.
• Have PLC and HMI code changes written and bench tested before the shutdown. The shutdown window is for installation and commissioning, not development.
• Back up every PLC, HMI and drive parameter set on the affected lines, and store copies off the plant network.
• Book any crane, forklift, scaffold or EWP hire, and check access routes for large item movement.

3 1 to 2 Weeks Out: Final Readiness

Walk the job before the job

• Walk every job on the list at the machine with the person doing it. Paper scopes hide surprises that a ten minute walk exposes.
• Physically sight all delivered parts against the work list. A part on a purchase order is not a part on the shelf.
• Publish the shutdown schedule hour by hour for the critical path jobs, with named owners for each.
• Confirm isolation points, lockout procedures and permits for every job, including any hot work permits for welding and cutting.
• Agree the recommissioning and test plan for each modified system, including who witnesses and signs off.
• Brief production on the restart sequence and any operator facing changes, especially HMI or procedure changes.
• Set the rule for scope creep during the shutdown: who can approve additions, and what gets bumped to make room.

4 During the Shutdown

Protect the critical path

• Run a short toolbox meeting at the start of every shift covering progress, blockers and any scope changes.
• Track critical path jobs against the hourly schedule, and escalate slippage the moment it appears, not at the end of the day.
• Photograph and document anything found mid job that changes scope, and record the decision made about it.
• Keep as built markups going as work happens. Redlined drawings done on the day beat memories reconstructed a month later.
• Test safety functions as they are reinstated, not in one rushed batch at the end.

5 Restart and Handback

The shutdown is not over until the line holds rate

• Follow the agreed recommissioning plan system by system: dry runs, water runs where relevant, then product.
• Verify every modified control loop under real load, including alarms, interlocks and safety functions.
• Have electrical and controls people on the floor for the first production run, not on call from the carpark.
• Capture every restart fault, however small, in a single punch list with owners and dates.
• Get formal sign off from production that the line is handed back and holding rate and quality spec.

6 Afterwards: Review and Capture

Make the next one easier

• Hold a review within two weeks while memories are fresh: what overran, what was missed, what was scoped well.
• Update drawings, PLC program archives and maintenance records with everything that changed.
• Move any deferred or discovered work onto the plan for the next window, with lead time items flagged now.
• Record actual hours and costs against estimates to sharpen the next shutdown budget.

PLANNING A SHUTDOWN?

BevTech Engineering and Automation is a family owned Brisbane business that has kept beverage and FMCG plants running for more than 25 years. Electrical, mechanical and automation under one roof, with an in house machine shop, TUV certified functional safety engineering, and deep experience on Allen Bradley and Siemens PLC platforms. We scope, engineer and deliver shutdown work, and we answer the phone at 3am when something breaks.