Industrial Turnaround Services in Canada
Turnaround Field Service
Customers partner with Altex to manage complex mechanical turnarounds in their industrial facilities. It requires close partnership and trust to work collaboratively to ensure that turnarounds are safe, are kept to schedule and are kept on budget. Since 2001, our field teams have delivered industrial turnaround service support for oil and gas, chemical, and other heavy industrial facilities across Canada. With decades of experience, our field supervisors and site managers play a hands-on role in planning, scheduling, and executing major plant turnarounds safely, efficiently, and on time.
Altex Field Services division specialize in highly technical turnarounds involving hundreds of talented craft workers and led by Altex Supervision
Our crews are trained, equipped, and fully supported by Altex’ s extensive Field Service division. This includes imbedded Field Engineering, Quality Control, Safety and Administrative teams. Altex is available 24/7 and 365 days/year to support your crucial turnaround activities.
What Are Industrial Turnarounds?
An industrial turnaround is a planned facility shutdown designed for critical inspection, maintenance, and asset renewal. Unlike routine maintenance, turnarounds represent a comprehensive overhaul of a facility’s most vital systems, ensuring equipment integrity, regulatory compliance, and continued safe operation. These events are time-sensitive by nature: every hour offline translates to significant production loss, making expert execution essential.
At Altex Industries, we focus on the mechanical core of your turnaround (heat exchangers, boilers, and pressure vessels) rather than providing general labour. This specialization means our crews arrive ready to perform the highest-risk, highest-complexity work from day one.
See Our Team in Action During a Major Refinery Turnaround
Turnaround Scope
- Boilers and related pressure vessels
- OTSG's, HRSG's, package boilers, reboilers
- Recovery boilers
- Heat exchanger bundles
- Vessels and towers including internal trays
- Piping - B31.1 and B31.3
- Furnaces and reformers
- Sulfur condensers and waste heat boilers
- Air coolers
Services
- Turnaround planning and scheduling support
- Engineering support and troubleshooting
- Complete turnover of QC documentation
- Bundle pulling, pushing, handling
- Repair of bonnets, dollar plates, floating heads
- Repair of heat exchangers and pressure vessels
- Welding repair on pressure parts
- Portable machining, flange repair
- Full & partial re-tubes, tube-plugging
- Controlled bolting - tensioning and torquing
- Jack and rolls
- Internal tray removal and installs
- Blinding of process equipment
- Hydrotesting of process equipment
- Coordination with pressure regulatory authorities
- Onboarding of crews to site
- Full and complete administration of project
Our Turnaround Execution Process
Successful turnarounds don’t happen by accident. Altex brings structured project planning and full logistical coordination to every engagement, from pre-shutdown scheduling through final handover documentation. Our field supervisors embed with your site team to align scopes, track milestones, and respond to discovery work in real time.
On the ground, we deploy experienced crews and seasoned field supervisors who specialize in the full mechanical scope of a turnaround.
All work is performed in strict adherence to the pressure regulatory authority in the province, ensuring your facility meets every compliance requirement upon restart.
Safety & Quality Assurance: Our Zero-Injury Culture
At Altex, safety isn’t a checkbox; it’s embedded in everything we do. We operate under a Zero Injury Culture, supported by rigorous pre-job training, documented work procedures, and daily field safety reviews. Every crew member understands that protecting people is the first priority on every job, regardless of schedule pressure.
Our safety track record speaks for itself. Across multiple major turnaround events, Altex has maintained top quartile safety performance. This isn’t luck; it’s the result of deliberate planning, consistent execution, and a workforce that takes personal accountability for safety seriously.
Altex has over 450 certified weld procedures
- Carbon Steel
- Chrome-Moly - 1/2-Cr, 1-1/4Cr, 2-1/4Cr, 5Cr, 9Cr, 13Cr
- Stainless Steel - 304, 309, 316, 317, 321, 400 series, etc.
- Duplex - S32205, S31803
- Super Duplex - S32750, S32760
- Nickel alloys - Incoloy®, Hastelloy®, Inconel®, C-276, C-22, N06625, N08825, Alloy 59, C2000, etc.
- Clad or overlayed tubesheets with above metallurgies
Industries Served
- SAGD facilities
- Upgraders
- Refineries
- Petrochemical
- Pulp & paper
- Power generation
- Carbon capture
- Biofuels
- Gas processing
Case Study: Safe and Successful Turnaround Season at CNRL
The Altex Advantage
What separates Altex from general contractors is our engineering and experience depth of our supervision. We maintain in-house engineering capabilities that allow us to resolve technical concerns quickly. No waiting on external consultants when something unexpected turns up during execution. This keeps your critical path on schedule and your costs predictable.
Our reach extends across Canada. Whether your facility is in Alberta, Saskatchewan, or New Brunswick, Altex has the logistical infrastructure and workforce capacity to mobilize quickly and deliver. Our clients choose us not just because we show up, but because we show up prepared, with the right people, the right tools, and the experience to handle whatever the job demands.
The Altex difference comes down to five key factors:
- Engineering Depth: In-house engineers embedded in every major turnaround
- Experienced Field Teams: Certified boilermakers and supervisors with decades of hands-on experience
- Safety Record: Consistent zero-recordable performance across high-hour projects
- On-Time Delivery: Proven ability to meet critical path milestones under pressure
- Nationwide reach: Mobilization capability across refineries, upgraders, and industrial facilities from coast to coast
FAQs
What is an industrial turnaround?
An industrial turnaround is a planned shutdown of a facility or process unit for the purpose of inspection, maintenance, repair, and equipment renewal. Turnarounds allow operators to safely access and service equipment that cannot be worked on while the plant is running.
What services are included in a turnaround?
Altex's turnaround services include mechanical scope planning and scheduling, field execution, boiler repairs, heat exchanger repair and replacements, bundle pulling and re-insertion, field machining, controlled bolting, tube plugging and re-tubing, hydrotesting, and full QC documentation, among many others.
How long do industrial shutdowns typically take?
The duration of an industrial shutdown depends on the size of the facility, the scope of work, and the complexity of the equipment involved. Smaller turnarounds may last one to two weeks, while major refinery or upgrader turnarounds can span four to eight weeks or longer. Altex's planning and scheduling support is specifically designed to compress timelines without compromising quality or safety.
Why are turnarounds necessary?
Turnarounds are essential to maintaining equipment integrity, meeting regulatory compliance requirements, and extending the operating life of critical assets. Without regular planned shutdowns, unplanned failures become more likely, and unplanned downtime is far more costly and dangerous than a well-executed turnaround.
