Plant Walkthrough

Walkthrough guide

Why this report works

A customer only trusts a recommendation after they believe you understand their plant. So the report is built in that order: what they told us, their process drawn back to them, what we saw, what it costs them today — and only then what we recommend.

Every recommendation points back to a specific walkthrough stop and to one of the customer's own priorities. If a recommendation can't point to anything you saw, it reads as a pitch. Leave it out or go back and look.

Before the visit — ask for

Their discharge permit or pretreatment agreement
Three to six months of lab results (BOD, TSS, FOG, pH at minimum)
Recent sewer surcharge bills, if they pay strength charges
Chemical invoices or usage logs for the last quarter
Any process drawing, and the production schedule

On the walk

Follow the water from the production drains to the outfall, then follow the solids from where they're separated to where they leave site. Enter process units on step 2 in that order and get the operator to correct the drawing on the spot.

Photograph what supports a finding:

DAF float — thickness, colour, whether it's breaking up
Effluent or filtrate in a clear bottle against a white background
Clarifier surface — pin floc, rising sludge, scum
Chemical feed points, pumps and their settings
Tote and drum labels — product name, supplier, lot
Polymer make-down unit and its settings
Sludge cake coming off the press, and the haul container
Storage and secondary containment

Questions worth asking operators:

What changes when production changes — product, shift, sanitation night?
When was the last permit exceedance or high surcharge bill?
What do you adjust most often, and what are you guessing at?
If you could fix one thing out here, what would it be?

Ratings on walkthrough stops

Rating	Use when
Working well	Say so. Credit builds trust in the rest.
Worth watching	Fine today, but near a limit or inconsistent
Needs attention	A permit, safety or cost risk now
Opportunity	Works, but could be cheaper or simpler

Writing recommendations

Describe conditions, not people. "Float is breaking up at the beach" — not "the operators are overdosing".
Don't criticise the incumbent supplier. The numbers make the case.
Prefer proposing a jar test or plant trial over promising a result.
One change at a time, so the customer can see what each one did.

The numbers

Annual chemical cost = usage × price × periods per year (operating days for daily usage, 52 for weekly, 12 for monthly) Sewer surcharge, lb per day = (typical − surcharge threshold) mg/L × flow (MGD) × 8.34 Annual surcharge = lb per day × $ per lb × operating days

8.34 is the weight of one gallon of water in pounds. Multiplying mg/L by million gallons per day and 8.34 gives pounds per day — the standard conversion.

"Other estimated savings" on a recommendation — surcharges, hauling, labour — are entered by hand and printed with the basis you give. Keep the basis specific enough that the customer could check it.

Letterhead and sharing

The Letterhead box on the Report page sets who the report is from: organisation, an optional division line and an optional logo. It appears in the letterhead, the page footer, the sign-off line and the "Who" column of next steps. This device starts every new walkthrough with the last letterhead you used.

Download .html saves the report as a single web page with the photos inside it. Open it in any browser, press Edit text to change any wording, Save HTML to keep the edited copy, and Print / Save as PDF when it's ready. The page footer follows whatever the letterhead says at the time you print.

Privacy

Everything stays in this browser. Photos and notes are never uploaded. Use Save to keep a file of the visit and Open to pick it up later. The last letterhead you used is remembered in this browser only.