Your shutdown duration estimate.
Where did it come from?
Most shutdown estimates are built on past experience, contractor contingency, and an inflated number everyone knows will get squeezed under pressure. That’s not a plan. That’s a negotiation. The Critical Path Method gives you the number the work actually demands, before the pressure starts.
During one recent engagement, a single decision informed by the Critical Path Network prevented $250,000 in lost production. That’s not an outlier. It’s what happens when shutdown planning is built on engineered logic instead of contractor estimates.
What Proper Planning Actually Looks Like
Many industrial facilities finish their shutdowns on time. The problem isn’t that the shutdown ran long. It’s that “on time” was measured against an estimate. An estimate built on inflated durations and built-in contingency. No one ever sees what the schedule could have been. That gap is invisible without CPM discipline. And invisible gaps are expensive.
During a recent cement plant shutdown, a field supervisor wanted to reverse the sequence of two refractory shotcrete jobs. His reasoning was sound. Shooting from a higher elevation downward would reduce the risk of plugging the pump. With conventional planning tools, the supervisor makes that change in the field in about five seconds. No one sees it. No one understands the consequences. The shutdown gets longer and nobody ever connects the dots.
The Critical Path Network showed immediately that making this change would consume all remaining float in the clinker cooler path and add 20 hours to the shutdown. $250,000 in lost production at $12,500 per hour. The sequence was preserved. The delay never happened. And no one ever knew what it would have cost.
saved from a single CPM sequencing decision
contractor time saved through network-identified method change, recurring annually
That’s not a lucky catch. That’s what a properly constructed Critical Path Network does.
Every day, on every project, for every decision.
Conventional planning tools show you a Schedule. A Critical Path Network, built with CPM discipline, shows you the Plan and helps you see what a field decision will cost you before it happens.
Built on the same methodology that earned James Lindsey and Bernie Sherin 1st Place Paper at the 2023 IEEE-IAS/PCA Cement Industry Technical Conference
How We Work With You
Shutdown Planning & Execution Oversight
Eliminate the invisible timeline padding that inflates your budgets and extends your shutdowns.
We embed alongside your team months before your next shutdown to build an efficient and mathematically sound Critical Path Network. By establishing strict logical relationships, activity sequencing, and accurate durations we provide a realistic shutdown timeline. One that provides a detailed roadmap for execution. Additionally, a Critical Path Network provides real-time visibility to calculate the financial impact of field changes before they happen, safely preventing lost production days and budget overruns.
Critical Path Method (CPM) Training — Beginner to Advanced
Build an elite internal planning team capable of protecting your margins on every subsequent shutdown or capital project.
Equip your planning team to transition beyond the structural limitations of conventional planning tools and adopt rigorous Critical Path Methodology. This practical, field-grounded curriculum teaches your planners how to isolate resource conflicts, map realistic task logic, and leverage float to give managers clear business choices instead of default contractor schedules.
MONEY WELL SPENT
“Lindsey Consulting is next level when it comes to outage planning. James trained our team in all aspects of major maintenance outage management — with real examples, practical exercises, and a pace that matched our team’s ability.
As the outage planner, I received additional training in building network diagrams in Microsoft Project, managing contractor resource conflicts, and executing the outage from start to finish.
James taught us that it all starts with detailed job scopes and accurate RFQs. Adjusting for found work during execution is effortless with the network diagrams. Lindsey Consulting is money well spent.”
— Aaron Utterback, Outage Planner, Quikrete Cement
“I have known and worked with Lindsey Consulting for many years, both during plant outages and through the project management training James has provided to our team over the past 3 years.
“I am consistently recommending James and his training to many of our customers. His depth of knowledge, practical experience, and ability to relate project management principles to real-world applications make his training extremely valuable. Over the years, our team has consistently benefited from his expertise in critical path thinking, MS Project utilization, and simple task prioritization.
A properly planned and scheduled outage is no longer just a competitive advantage, it is the standard for success. James equips project teams with the knowledge and tools necessary to plan effectively, manage critical paths, minimize delays, and execute outages more efficiently.”
— Marty Sheffield, Executive Vice President, K&G Industrial Services
GET IN TOUCH
Stop Negotiating Your Shutdowns. Start Engineering Them.
Don’t let built-in contingencies dictate your plant’s availability or remain an invisible cost. Let’s evaluate your upcoming scope and determine the precise timeline and resources your physical work actually demands.
Or view our available training courses