Shutdown (1964)

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  • Release Date: 1st January 1964
  • Asset ID: 800817
  • Synopsis: An oil refinery must, for reasons of safety and efficiency, be regularly overhauled. 'Shutdown' shows how this job is tackled at a refinery which processes over three quarters of a million gallons of crude oil a day. An idle plant is expensive, so a computer is used to pre-plan and integrate every phase of the operation into a master plan called an 'Arrow Diagram'. The 'Arrow Diagram' is produced by the computer from a mass of complex data and the film shows how this is used to progress the work in the shortest possible time. But efficient computer planning is not everything - there are many highly skilled engineers, technicians and craftsmen who complete the team, and they are seen at their difficult and varied tasks. Sound bad at final frames.
  • Shotlist: Colour, full sound. 10:25:39 Opening titles over large tanker from above, pan to refinery pipes and the refinery in the distance. 10:26:13 Aerial of refinery, wide shot of pipes and towers, montage of furnace building, distillation tower, strippers and heat exchanges, etc. 10:27:05 Office interior with huge computers, people discussing the Arrow Diagram. Dave is happy with things. 10:28:14 Checking over the materials on the ground, stockpiling spare parts. Loading tools and parts into BP shield caravans. Meanwhile, inspectors are assessing number one vacuum unit with ultrasound, looking up at and down from the unit. Taking away pipe insulation. Also using x-rays to assess pipe wastage. 10:29:48 Preparation starts 2 months before, getting scaffolding in place, building a lift with a big crane and bringing in portable washrooms and power cables for off-site services. Giant vacuum cleaner installed and general preparation. 10:31:28 Back to the office and getting the diagram into the computer. Print outs and looking at printouts 10:32:05 Last walk around the refinery and pushing the big red button. Turning wheels and gears - water pouring out of many pipes. 10:32:36 BP shield detergent tanker truck, safety officer testing for gases and crawling through small holes. Purging of detergents and dredging open tanks of sludge and sledge. Getting tubes clear and calibrating clean tubes. 10:34:36 Inside the furnace from above, hammering rust off and welding. Exterior hammering of rust. 10:35:02 The vacuum unit is stripped and repaired - man strips paint from tower on suspended seat - the tower manholes are uncovered. Safety officers check for gas again. 10:36:09 On the ground, renewing heater tubes. Torch cutting and removing tubes. Measuring new tubes. Also, a man on sled heads into the tower. Inside the tower, removing 'bottle caps' and passing them outside. Stacks of bottle caps. Components are corroded. 10:37:51 Tray removal and chipping coke off the trays, steaming jet wash. BP shield forklift takes away stacked trays for repair, truck drives off. 10:38:36 Scientists inside column, dirty and corroded metal. Analysis in the lab, large flame spectrometer, dials. 10:39:21 Taking apart the heat exchangers and probing the fine tubes. Graph readings and taking away the exchanger by crane. Montage of all different parts of the plant being dismantled. Pumps getting taken apart in the workshops, welded and re-tooled. Same for valves. 10:41:51 Main refinery workshop, rebuilding different components. Cooling by sea water and cleaning condenser tubes. Cleaning with shot blasting and high pressure water jets. 10:42:38 On site repair, torch cutting, and getting supplies and spares from the caravan stores. Piping repair montage, pipes on truck bed, and replacing the coils in the cooling box. 10:43:48 Ceramic rings loaded by crane, close shots of rings to go in the column. Disposal of old rings, new rings in baskets slide in and are tipped over. Discussion of trouble with the lower welds. 10:44:50 Dave's on the phone, unhappy. Back in the office, re-running and re-drawing the diagram. Welding, grinding and night time exterior shots. 10:45:54 Day, aerial. Re-assembly of heater tubes, coils of pipe going into the cooling tank. Back to Dave and the plans, installing sheet metal and welding. 10:47:22 Painting the chimney stack and re-lining interior bricks. Blow down tank cleaning. Man points spray gun at camera, spraying tank. 10:48:18 Plans again, replacing trays in the column, new steel mesh. Re-installing everything montage. Testing components. Inside the cooling tank. Testing again. 10:50:12 Man slides out of column and it is closed. Montage of hammering, close up of workers' faces. The water systems. Montage of completed installation, Dave gives a thumbs up, close up of furnace. 10:51:33 Workers washing hands, heading home. The control room of the number one vacuum unit. Exterior shots, inside the cleaned parts. End titles.
  • Production Company: Verity Films
  • Licensing Restrictions: None
  • Viewing Restrictions: Public
  • Format: BetaSP_Small
  • Alternative Language Notes: None