So, have we divided the plant into commissioning systems, how many do you have and I guess more importantly how many commissioning engineers do you have to commission them?
Is there a magic rule for governing how many systems one commissioning engineer can prepare and commission for, well I’m not sure, however in my experience 7 systems is manageable and depending on complexity 10 at a maximum. It all obviously depends on size and content of the system, which of course makes each commissioning project different, but the rule of thumb above is about where I think one needs to be in the ratio of systems to engineers.
Perhaps also consider mixing up the systems across the plant, I’ll try and explain. Each commissioning engineer will probably be given one specific unit on the plant to manage, Reaction, Distillation, Product Storage etc. However consider perhaps allocating to each engineer a mixture of systems, it could be a mix of one early system or two, Utilities typically, then the core process and finally storage systems so the engineers work-load is spread across the schedule. Of course if all commissioning is being undertaken roughly at the same time this type of approach may not be suitable and you will determine the right approach for your specific project.
So consider early in preparation how the systems will be managed across the team and divide as best as you can.
Safe and successful commissioning always…