Crossbridge Energy plays a vital role in Denmark’s energy landscape and is a pioneer in driving the net-zero transformation of the oil and gas refining sector.
In 2021, the company acquired the former Shell Refinery in Fredericia, Denmark, which supplies over 35% of the country’s liquid fuel needs for ships, planes, cars and trucks. Today, it is one of the world’s most energy-efficient refineries, using surplus heat from production to warm over 115,000 homes in the region.
Identifying goals
Operating a facility so critical to a nation’s infrastructure demands the highest levels of safety, consistency and reliability. However, before adopting Tempo Operating Procedures (formerly AcceleratorKMS), Crossbridge’s procedure management practices fell short.
Procedures were stored in Excel sheets and printed for field use. Operators annotated them by hand, which made documentation and updates cumbersome and prone to delays, bottlenecks and inaccuracies.
In 2021, as part of its ‘connected worker’ vision and knowledge management strategy, Crossbridge set out to digitize procedures, integrate them with field devices and enable real-time updates and execution.
Additionally, Crossbridge sought to mitigate knowledge retention risks posed by a retiring workforce. By leveraging Tempo Operating Procedures as a Procedure Life-Cycle Management (PLCM) solution, the refinery aimed to capture institutional knowledge and enable continuous real-time procedure improvements.
Implementation timeline
Crossbridge began exploring Tempo Operating Procedures in July 2021.
The solution was strongly endorsed by other users: “We used to be a Shell site at Fredericia until the 2021 acquisition. Just before that, a colleague within Shell introduced us to Tempo Operating Procedures. We thought it was great and asked if there was anything bad about it. He said the only thing he regretted was that he didn’t own stock in the company,” recalls Richard Aasholm, Production Specialist – Ensure Safe Production at Crossbridge.
Following initial discussions, the team conducted a pilot phase to test usability and effectiveness in real-world conditions. Encouraged by positive results, they finalized an agreement to adopt the solution in November 2022.
The rollout included operator training sessions and a structured deployment across the refinery. Within a year, Tempo Operating Procedures was fully integrated into daily workflows. “The transition to Tempo Operating Procedures has been very smooth. It’s easy to use, and the support during implementation has been excellent—just a phone call or email away if we need help,” Richard Aasholm adds.
Realizing results
The tool has already become very popular among field operators. Crossbridge executed its first-ever fully digital turnaround using Tempo Operating Procedures, with a 100% positive feedback rating from field operators.
In a company where safety is an essential focus, Tempo Operating Procedures has also helped elevate practices. Crossbridge successfully addressed and closed several gaps identified during the site’s first-ever American Petroleum Institute (API) audit through the implementation of Tempo Operating Procedures. This not only ensured compliance with safety, efficiency and environmental standards but also earned recognition as an exemplary practice.
Within the refinery, the platform has reduced reliance on radio communications and paper-based logs and helped drive a better flow of information between shifts.
Creating a new procedure is also much easier and can be done within minutes. The tool has eliminated the need to perform manual, periodic checks on SharePoint to see which procedures require updating.
One of the subtle gains that Richard Aasholm noted is that technicians no longer waste time and focus trying to confirm whether an action has been performed. “They say it is now much quieter on the radio! Before, they had to call in every time to check: ‘I’m closing valve number six now.’ ‘OK, have you closed it?’ ‘Yes, I did.’ Now, ‘Closed valve number six’ is indicated in the system and they can move on. It makes the control room much more silent.”
Another great functional benefit is that operators can now provide feedback while in the flow of work, which ensures procedures remain relevant and up-to-date. This also guarantees that process knowledge is adequately documented rather than memorized by veteran employees.
The intuitive interface also facilitates internal training and reduces onboarding time for new employees. In addition, procedures and comments can be read aloud for employees with visual impairments.
Expanding the impact
The success of Tempo Operating Procedures at Crossbridge has garnered attention from other energy companies, which have approached Crossbridge to learn from their experience.
And Richard Aasholm vouches enthusiastically for Tempo Operating Procedures: “I often tell people to stop me if I sound like a salesman when discussing Tempo Operating Procedures because there are so many benefits”. This positive experience pushes the company to consider expanding the use of the tool into new domains.