Commissioning Field Lessons - Systemisation

Written and experienced by me, not an algorithm

A process plant looks a lot different to a commissioning engineer than to a construction superintendent. Where the construction team see structure, space and physical equipment, commissioning people see systems – that is, interconnected piping, instrumentation and equipment that is isolatable and dedicated to a particular service / job.

Breaking down a design in to these commissionable chunks is somewhat of an artform and requires an understanding of process conditions (medium, pressure, temperature, voltage) and commissioning strategy.

There a few key benefits of breaking the design up like this;

✅ More expedient and (sometimes) efficient turnover from construction to commissioning

✅ Opportunity to energise earlier, enabling commissioning testing and discovery of issues/faults

✅ Simultaneous construction and commissioning (providing schedule benefit, but increasing interface complexity and safety risks)

I’ve seen this done well, and I’ve lived through the pain of it being done badly. Some common issues I’ve seen over the years;

❌ Systems are too small to be commissionable: equipment sits idle as adjacent systems or utilities needed for commissioning activities – upsetting metrics (and project managers!) and misdirecting resources from key systems closer to the critical path.

❌ System boundaries not isolatable: boundary is at an inaccessible flange, or a welded valve – requires redesign of isolations, testpacks etc.

❌ System boundaries not respecting contractor boundaries: system falls in the responsibility of more than one contractor – can result in confusion, finger pointing and safety issues.

❌ Systems defined considering normal operating conditions, not commissioning & startup: the commissioning sequence has to be understood when deciding where to break systems

At RFC Consultants we know the importance of getting something like systemisation done right as early as possible in the project life cycle. Reach out today to discuss how we could help your project avoid some of the systemisation pitfalls.