Shutdown Maintenance Capacity Planner

How this works

Shutdown crew capacity is headcount times the hours each person can actually work during the window, times a productivity factor for the share of scheduled hours that are real wrench time rather than setup, staging, travel, or required breaks. Comparing that capacity against the backlog's total hours shows whether the window clears it, and if not, exactly how much backlog remains, or how much extra crew or window time would close the gap.

The common overstatement is computing capacity as raw window length times crew size, treating every scheduled hour as productive wrench time. Real shutdown execution loses a share of scheduled hours before any of it lands on the backlog, and skipping that loss can make an infeasible shutdown look feasible on paper.

Key terms

• Crew capacity: the total productive hours the shutdown crew can deliver during the window, crew size times window hours times the productivity factor.
• Productivity factor: the fraction of a scheduled hour that is actual wrench time on the backlog, after setup, staging, travel, and required breaks are accounted for.
• Backlog: the total hours of deferred or planned maintenance work the shutdown is meant to clear.

Assumptions

• One shutdown window, one crew, one backlog figure
• A constant productivity factor applied evenly across the whole window
• Crew capacity is compared to total backlog hours, not routed across individual work orders

Limitations

• Does not sequence or route individual work orders across the window
• Does not model multiple shutdown events or crew shift patterns within the window
• Does not account for parts or material lead time as a separate constraint

Sources

Standard shutdown and turnaround capacity-planning treatment (crew-hours as headcount times available hours times a realistic productivity factor).

Worked example

A 72-hour shutdown window with an 8-person crew has a raw capacity of 576 crew-hours against a 500-hour backlog, which looks comfortably feasible. But real crews rarely turn every scheduled hour into wrench time. At a realistic 75% productivity factor, actual capacity is 432 crew-hours, 68 hours short of the backlog. Closing that gap takes 2 more crew members at the same window length, or extending the window by about 11.3 hours with the crew already planned.

Common use cases

• Sizing crew for an upcoming planned shutdown before it is scheduled
• Checking whether a proposed shutdown window is long enough for the known backlog
• Deciding whether to add contractors or extend the window when a shutdown looks tight
• Planning the shutdown that executes a repair-or-replace decision from Repair vs Replace Equipment