Abstract
Commissioning and start-up (CSU) must be accomplished before a facility can initiate initial operations and begin meeting commercial objectives. Actions necessary for successful CSU are often not well planned or executed, resulting in poor CSU performance. Recognizing this significant shortfall, the purpose of this study is to determine critical activities necessary to increase the likelihood of successful CSU performance on capital projects. Utilizing input from CSU experts, objective data collection, and subsequent data analysis, 16 critical success factors (CSFs) were identified through this research. Further elements developed include CSF’s timing of CSF implementation, support of safety and quality, and current frequency of CSF achievement. The researchers recommend the industry to pay particular attention to these six laggard CSFs: CSU value recognition, adequate funding for CSU, CSU leadership continuity, system milestone acceptance criteria and deliverables, CSU systems engineering during front-end engineering design (FEED), and systems-focus in detailed design. Capital project team members (representing both owners and contractors) and researchers involved in the planning and implementation of facility CSU will benefit from the results.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This research was sponsored by Construction Industry Institute (CII) via Research Team 312: Best Practices for Commissioning and Start-Up. The authors wish to thank the research team and External Validation Committee for their support.
References
Almasi, A. (2014). “Pre-commissioning, commissioning and start-up of industrial plants and machineries.” Aust. J. Mech. Eng., 12(2), 257–263.
Becerik-Gerber, B., Jazizadeh, F., Li, N., and Calis, G. (2012). “Application areas and data requirements for BIM-enabled facilities management.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 431–442.
Cagno, E., Caron, F., and Mancini, M. (2002). “Risk analysis in plant commissioning: The multilevel hazop.” Reliab. Eng. Syst. Saf., 77(3), 309–323.
Cha, H. S., and O’Connor, J. T. (2005). “Optimizing implementation of value management processes for capital projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 239–251.
Chan, A. P. C., Scott, D., and Chan, A. P. L. (2004). “Factors affecting the success of a construction project.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 153–155.
CII (Construction Industry Institute). (1990). Planning construction activity to support the startup process, Austin, TX.
CII (Construction Industry Institute). (1998). Planning for startup, Austin, TX.
CII (Construction Industry Institute). (2014). Front-end planning toolkit, Austin, TX.
Deshpande, A. S., Salem, O. M., and Miller, R. A. (2012). “Analysis of the higher-order partial correlation between CII best practices and performance of the design phase in fast-track industrial projects.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 716–724.
Elzarka, H. M. (2009). “Best practices for procuring commissioning services.” J. Manage. Eng., 155–164.
George, R., Bell, L. C., and Edward Back, W. (2008). “Critical activities in the front-end planning process.” J. Manage. Eng., 66–74.
Gibson, G. E., Wang, Y. R., Cho, C. S., and Pappas, M. P. (2006). “What is preproject planning, anyway?” J. Manage. Eng., 35–42.
Guo, H. L., Li, H., and Skitmore, M. (2010). “Life-cycle management of construction projects based on virtual prototyping technology.” J. Manage. Eng., 41–47.
Haasl, T., and Heinemeier, K. (2006). California commissioning guide: New buildings, California Commissioning Collaborative, Sacramento, CA.
Hurtz, E. (2012). “Commissioning HVAC systems thoroughly.” Consulting—Specifying engineer, CFE Media, Denver.
Hwang, B.-G., and Lim, E.-S. J. (2013). “Critical success factors for key project players and objectives: Case study of Singapore.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 204–215.
Idrees, M., Azhar, M., and Rathore, M. Y. (2011). “Commissioning experience of world’s largest urea plant.” Nitrogen+Syngas, 314, 47–57.
Kang, Y., et al. (2012). “Interaction effects of information technologies and best practices on construction project performance.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 361–371.
Killcross, M. (2011). Chemical and process plant commissioning handbook: A practical guide to plant system and equipment installation and commissioning, Elsevier Science, Oxford, U.K.
Lager, T. (2012). “Startup of new plants and process technology in the process industries: Organizing for an extreme event.” J. Bus. Chem., 9(1), 3–18.
Li, N., and Becerik-Gerber, B. (2011). “Life-cycle approach for implementing RFID technology in construction: Learning from academic and industry use cases.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 1089–1098.
McEnteggart, J. (2012). “Commissioning control systems for MCFs.” Consulting—Specifying engineer, CFE Media, Denver, 42–46.
Meier, J. R., and Russell, J. S. (2000). “Model process for implementing maintainability.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 440–450.
Merrow, E. W. (2011). Industrial megaprojects: Concepts, strategies, and practices for success, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Mills, E., et al. (2004). The cost-effectiveness of commercial-buildings commissioning, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA.
Mukherjee, S. (2005). “Preparations for initial startup of a process unit.” Chem. Eng., 36–42.
O’Connor, J., O’Brien, W., and Choi, J. (2015a). “Standardization strategy for modular industrial plants.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 04015026.
O’Connor, J. T., Choi, J., and Winkler, M. (2015b). Identification and implementation of critical success factors in commissioning and start-up of capital projects, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
O’Connor, J. T., McLeod, J., and Graebe, G. (1998). Planning for start-up: Analysis of the planning model and other success drivers, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
O’Connor, J. T., McLeod, J. S., and Graebe, G. B. (1999). Planning for startup: Analysis of the planning model and other success drivers, Univ. of Texas at Austin, Construction Industry Institute, Austin, TX.
Pulaski, M. H., and Horman, M. J. (2005). “Continuous value enhancement process.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage., 1274–1282.
Wilkinson, R. (2000). Best practices in commissioning in the State of Montana, Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Helena, MT.
Zerger, B., and Noël, M. (2011). “Nuclear power plant commissioning experience.” Progr. Nucl. Energy, 53(6), 668–672.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Nov 19, 2015
Accepted: Mar 11, 2016
Published online: May 12, 2016
Discussion open until: Oct 12, 2016
Published in print: Nov 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.