How Timenow’s QA/QC Approach Helped Avoid 139 Hours of Unplanned Downtime During a Pulp and Paper Shutdown
During a major shutdown at a pulp and paper facility, Timenow coordinated QA/QC activities across 269 work orders and audited more than 10 contractors involving over 100 field personnel. The engagement helped avoid 139 hours of unplanned downtime and delivered $6.1 million in cost avoidance.
Timenow’s work included developing plant-specific standards, training internal and third-party teams, and supporting the resolution of nonconformities identified when refurbished parts and equipment were received. The project illustrates how early quality planning and coordinated field execution can protect operational continuity.
Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) are critical to managing outages in heavy industries such as pulp and paper, oil and gas, and other process industries. QA establishes the standards and procedures for quality execution, while QC verifies that completed work meets those requirements. Together, they help operators address issues before production resumes.
Building inspection, testing, and sign-off checkpoints into a master outage schedule can flag readiness and maintenance issues that would otherwise slow or stop operations. Establishing a dedicated QA/QC baseline schedule enhances predictability, especially when paired with contingency planning and forecasting based on inspection findings.
CREATING AN ALIGNED SCHEDULE
Thorough QA/QC planning starts with a master schedule that combines operations, process, and maintenance activities and is approved by the appropriate team leaders before the outage. Early alignment establishes clear checkpoints, responsibilities, and timelines before operations halt and field execution begins.
Every activity on the QA/QC list needs an assigned owner and duration. Timenow’s approach includes real-time schedule updates, cross-referencing, proactive hold-point tracking logs, and daily alignment reports for stakeholders. It also includes start-up readiness dashboards and contingency planning to mitigate risk. Microsoft Project or Primavera P6 can serve as the master scheduling platform, with the schedule tailored to the customer’s maintenance window.
Timenow integrates the outage master schedule with Inspection and Test Plans (ITPs), inspection windows, and QA/QC-defined hold points. Each inspection, test, and sign-off activity is linked to the relevant execution tasks, making dependencies and potential impacts on the critical path visible. This alignment reduces the risk of missed inspection windows and schedule slippage caused by late-stage quality holds.
QA/QC TESTING
During outage testing, daily reports log readiness while plant managers gain a clearer understanding of asset conditions and potential pitfalls. Effective planning and communication are essential for accurate inspection results. If outage plans are not communicated to contractors and crews, delays are inevitable. Alignment with vendors, workers, and technicians is critical, and leadership engagement prior to the outage helps prevent execution issues and supports smooth daily reporting.
Daily schedule‑quality alignment reviews cross‑check field execution progress against QA/QC readiness, flagging conflicts between execution pace and inspection availability before they affect the critical path. Hold‑point tracking logs document each inspection step, creating a defensible compliance trail essential for audits and regulatory requirements.
Key benefits of a QA/QC‑aligned outage include:
• Fewer surprises through structured inspection and hold points
• Faster start‑up readiness with baseline benchmarking
• Real‑time visibility from a single source of truth
• Proactive forecasting to avoid bottlenecks
• Defensible compliance trail through documented hold‑point logs
• Better contractor coordination
• Less rework as issues are anticipated or corrected early
Integrated schedule‑quality alignment strengthens outage discipline, ensuring execution and inspection teams work from a unified progress view. This reduces rework, improves coordination, and supports data‑driven lessons learned for future outages.
Timenow has extensive experience building detailed master schedules for QA/QC outages from the ground up. Its qualified experts start at zero and account for every inspection and hold point while ensuring leadership is informed and aligned.
REDUCING DOWNTIME AND COST
Beyond embedding hold points into the outage master schedule, Timenow provides forecasting and decision-making support throughout execution. Monitoring inspection progress and findings helps teams identify issues before they escalate and assess their implications for the remaining work.
Consolidating schedule and quality information into dashboards gives operators a clearer basis for start-up decisions. Teams can see which activities are complete, which approvals remain outstanding, and where corrective work may affect readiness.
Combining inspection-window forecasting with risk and contingency planning helps operators anticipate bottlenecks and evaluate options to limit outage extensions. When a nonconformity is identified, the team can assess the required response, coordinate resources, and update the schedule to reflect its potential impact.
This approach connects quality findings to operational decisions, helping leaders understand what needs to happen before equipment can return to service.
FROM QUALITY PLANNING TO MEASURABLE RESULTS
The pulp and paper shutdown demonstrates the value of integrating quality oversight with maintenance and contractor coordination. Timenow combined early QA/QC involvement, structured inspection tools, and real-time tracking to support field execution and resolve quality issues.
With approximately 20:1 ROI reported for the engagement, the results reinforce the business value of treating QA/QC as part of outage planning and execution. For operators, the lesson is clear: inspection requirements, responsibilities, and corrective actions need to be coordinated with the schedule from the outset.
INTEGRATED SUPPORT FROM PLANNING THROUGH START-UP
Timenow develops detailed outage schedules that connect inspection requirements, field execution, and start-up readiness. Its specialists help establish responsibilities before the outage, monitor quality checkpoints throughout execution, and translate inspection findings into actionable schedule updates.
By aligning schedule, inspections, and quality from planning through closeout, Timenow helps clients reduce surprises, improve coordination, and minimize the operational impact of nonconformities.
Planning your next maintenance shutdown? Contact us to learn how Timenow can support your operation with an integrated QA/QC approach.
