# Shutdown and turnaround

> A shutdown (turnaround, TAR or outage) is a planned period in which a plant or unit is taken out of service so that inspections, maintenance, repairs and modifications that cannot be done during operation are completed on a compressed schedule.

- Source: https://amps.global/glossary/shutdown-and-turnaround/
- Type: Glossary
- Published: 2026-09-05
- Tags: operations, asset integrity

## Key facts

- Many teams, assets and jobs on one site at once; every day of outage costs production
- Problems named in the AMPS case study: asset location, communication, past asset documentation, personnel and equipment documentation, organisation, performance metrics
- Work packs change daily and must reach everyone; certificates and calibrations are checked at the gate
- Post-shutdown, owners want the reports per asset and the cost and time per job

Also known as: turnaround, TAR, plant shutdown, outage.

## What goes wrong

People cannot find the asset, the latest work pack is in someone's inbox, last year's report is on a laptop, a technician's confined-space certificate expired last week, and nobody can say which of the fifty jobs are finished.

## Shutdowns in AMPS

Create the assets (a tank farm with tanks as sub-assets) so everyone can navigate to them with Google Maps; keep the current work pack on each job page with real-time notification on update; scan the asset QR code for its history; track working-at-heights, confined-space and calibration documents with one-month expiry flags; group the jobs into a job group for the shutdown; read job statuses per asset; and compare shutdown performance, costs and time in Power BI.

## Related pages

- [How to manage a shutdown with AMPS](https://amps.global/case-studies/03-shutdown-management/)
- [Shutdowns and turnarounds (industry page)](https://amps.global/industries/shutdowns-and-turnarounds/)
- [API 653](https://amps.global/glossary/api-653/)
- [Asset register](https://amps.global/glossary/asset-register/)