Industries
LOTOTO across industries
The principle of LOTOTO is the same everywhere: lockout, tagout and verification that the isolation is effective. What differs is the equipment it is applied to, how many people are involved in a job and how maintenance is organised. That is why a digital process has to solve different problems in different plants.
The LOTOTO principle is the same everywhere. What the process must handle is not.
Why does LOTOTO differ between industries?
Short answerBecause each industry has different equipment, different sources of hazardous energy and a different way of organising maintenance. The same LOTOTO principle therefore needs a different emphasis in practice.
In a cement plant or a steelworks, a shutdown means many lockouts prepared at once and several work groups on one machine. In automotive, the challenge is often a short maintenance window and a large number of similar machines. In food production, cleaning and changeovers follow one another. A digital process should support exactly what is demanding in a given plant.
- typical equipment and sources of hazardous energy,
- the nature of maintenance: routine jobs, shutdowns, cleaning, changeovers,
- the number of trades, work groups and contractors involved in one job,
- how approval works and what documentation the plant requires.
LOTOTO by industry
CementKiln shutdowns, many parallel jobs and contractors on site.
AutomotiveMany similar machines, short maintenance windows and instructions at the machine.
MetalsContinuous operations, large shutdowns, big teams and several levels of responsibility.
EnergyIsolation medium by medium and a clear handover between operations and maintenance.
Food and beverageFrequent cleaning and changeovers, short maintenance windows and multi-shift operation.
ChemicalsIsolation points on pipework and vessels, alongside other permits to work.
ManufacturingA varied machine park, smaller teams and maintenance across several halls.Why do we start from an analysis of the specific plant?
Short answerBecause even within one industry, no two plants run the same LOTOTO process. We therefore configure the digital workflow to your rules, not to a generic template.
The industry pages describe typical equipment, energy sources and situations. They are a starting point for a conversation, not a finished solution. For every plant, we first go through the existing procedure, permit to work templates, the division of roles and the equipment register. Only then do we propose what the digital process should look like.
For cement plants, we also draw on experience from a real operation. For other industries, we draw on our experience with LOTOTO processes and on an analysis of your plant. The Solution page describes how implementation works. For an overview of what can be digitalised and what remains physical, see Digital LOTOTO.
Next step
Let us look at your plant.
Whatever the industry, we start the same way: with your existing LOTOTO procedure, permits to work and maintenance organisation.