“[TARfighter provided] very valuable preparation for me and my team to master our upcoming shutdowns.” — Head of Global Turnaround Management, Bayer MaterialScience
“This is the first course I have been able to attend that provides real consequences and impacts of decisions made during the long range planning phase and the turnaround work execution phase.” — Turnaround manager, Flint Hills Resources
“[TARfighter] is a beneficial, challenging learning experience — perfectly organized.” — Senior turnaround consultant, BASF
“[TARfighter provides] good training to understand the many interdependencies experienced during a turnaround.” — Turnaround planning manager, BP
Following the successful launch of the series last year, this is just some of the feedback from another strong year for TARfighter. T.A. Cook Consultants is now announcing the continued development of the TARfighter shutdown project simulation in 2014 and beyond.
TARfighter is a computer-based simulation that takes teams of participants through each stage of a shutdown/turnaround/outage project and provides them with real-time feedback on the decisions they make in planning, execution and evaluation. Attendees have a unique opportunity to take on the project manager role without the inherent risk and pressure of being on site in a real life project. Teams work to deliver their project against a specific set of key performance indicators — duration, quality, safety, total cost and contribution to margin. This is an ideal way of bringing turnaround teams together as part of project planning and/or evaluation.
With successful 2013 public events taking place in Houston and Philadelphia, as well as closed-door, in-house courses being delivered for clients as far and wide as Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom and China, participants from leading refineries and chemical companies and utilities have benefitted from the unique interactive and hands-on learning offered by TARfighter.
Final wrap up of all 2013 events ended with agreement in the role a realistic simulation model can play as part of turnaround planning and evaluation phases, as well as in bringing together turnaround, maintenance and reliability professionals of all experience levels for interactive training and discussion.
Visit www.tacook.com for further announcements about TARfighter simulations taking place near you in 2014.
For more information on TARfighter, in-house training or T.A. Cook Consultants, contact Jerry Wanichko at (919) 510-8142 or j.wanichko@tacook.com.
