Part 1 (of 3): Uncovering the Top 10 Operational Challenges in Heavy Industry

We sat down with Bruce Grissom, a former maintenance manager with over 40 years of maintenance experience at multiple oil and gas refineries, for a closer look at 10 common operational issues that occur in heavy industry.

In Part 1, we will examine the first three operational issues--ranging from vagueness in terms and conditions to inaccurate timesheets.

Whether your role involves turnarounds, outages, or maintenance, you’ll probably find yourself nodding your head at these first three operational challenges and how myTrack can bring clarity and order. 

 1. Question: How can vagueness in terms and conditions be a problem?   

BRUCE: As part of implementing myTrack, Management Controls (MCi) provides our clients with examples of recommended best practices for things they should include in their contracts. Some examples of vagueness include how people will get paid if there are weather delays, if vendors will get paid a minimum show-up pay on the weekends, off-site fueling, etc. Generally, organizations that do not use myTrack have insufficient details in their contracts, which leads to uncertainty and over-payments. 

Someone in procurement might feel there is no vagueness in the terms and conditions because they wrote the contract and understand the intent of what was agreed to. But are they addressing all the different scenarios that can take place in the field? 

However, the people responsible for administrating the contracts, such as site managers, turnaround managers, maintenance managers, and supervisors, have likely never seen the contract, so they do not know the terms and conditions. 

Consider a vendor who submits an invoice for a weather delay. The person signing the ticket does not know if they're eligible for a weather delay. When a ticket gets invoiced, it gets paid because the people in accounting don't know what was in the contract or intended to be in the contract, so they pay the invoice. 

Yet, you cannot contest something if it wasn’t in the contract or spelled out. If you do choose to contest, it's going to be a big headache. This leads to frustration between the two parties. 

myTrack helps you improve the partnership with your vendors because it results in a specific contract without ambiguity. It helps remove the mistrust over billing "intentional or unintentional” and puts everybody on the same page.

2. Question: What about the issue of incomplete and inaccurate timesheets being submitted? 

BRUCE:   Let’s say you have a project close-out in August, and you think everything is done, but an invoice shows up in December. You thought you had accounted for everything, but unfortunately, the vendors did not turn in some of their timesheets. 

The only way to check if the project close-out is complete is to do a manual audit against the gates. That means checking the gate logs, which show the hundreds of people who worked on your project. It’s a nightmare. 

Invoices for large sums of money can be submitted months later. Vendors might not even realize they failed to submit everything until their auditors are going to close out the project. Despite the project being long since finished in your system and books closed, you're obligated to pay those dollars since they were on your site. 

These issues do not occur with myTrack because it audits everybody who comes through the gate every day. You know today what happened through yesterday. Even if the vendor doesn't invoice, you still know they were there, so you owe them money. As a result, you won't close out the project because you know you are waiting on an invoice from that vendor. This can be viewed in real-time, and it is 100% accurate. 

myTrack tells the vendor you have earned this much money for this number of people because it sees everyone that comes in, knows their skills, knows their schedules, and connects everyone to the terms and conditions of that particular vendor contract. 

3. Question: What happens when there is a lack of verification for labor charges (gate hours vs. billed hours)?

BRUCE: Many companies think they have a firm grasp on this and convince themselves they audit their gate 100%. Many use a manual system such as an Excel spreadsheet for comparing gate logs to timesheets. 

For some companies, the contractor who is invoicing them performs the audit. It's then verified by internal supervisors who can’t possibly confirm all the information. 

myTrack is automated, so there are no manual touches. We take data from the access control system, which is real-time data. Because it is automatic, no one must double-check or look at it. This saves time, results in less paperwork, and ensures accuracy. 

Next Up: Part 2 of 3

Check out Part 2 as we share more of Bruce's expert insights into operational challenges that occur with equipment and material charges, lump sum bids, and invoice verification. In Part 3, we'll explore inaccurate POs, erroneous skill classifications, and expired contracts.