Installed is not the same as operating. The equipment is bolted down, the pipework is connected and the panel has power, but nothing has yet proved that the sequence runs, the interlocks trip, the alarms make sense to an operator at three in the morning, or that the line holds throughput once real product goes through it. That gap is where projects lose time, because it is found late, on your floor, with a start-up date already committed.

The other half of the problem sits further upstream. Faults that are cheap to correct in the supplier’s workshop become expensive once the skid is on your slab: access is worse, the specialists have gone home, and every hour of rework is an hour you are not producing. We support and manage acceptance testing at both ends, at the vendor’s works and on your site, then take the plant through commissioning into a controlled handover.

What the work involves

At the vendor’s works, we agree the Factory Acceptance Test procedure, schedule and acceptance criteria with the supplier before a test date is fixed, so the test proves what your specification actually asked for. We attend and witness on your behalf, which matters when in-house capacity is limited or independent oversight is wanted. Build quality and configuration are inspected, functions tested or simulated, electrical, mechanical and control elements verified, and documentation checked. Open points are logged, tracked and closed before shipment rather than travelling to site inside the crate.

On site, Site Acceptance Testing confirms the same equipment behaves correctly in its real setting, integrated with the utilities, control system and adjacent plant it now has to live with. We develop or review SAT plans and protocols, coordinate execution between vendors, integrators and your own teams, verify performance against the Functional Design Specification, User Requirements Specification or tender documents, and log results and non-conformances with full traceability. Where a re-test is needed, we manage it to closure.

Commissioning ties it together. We plan and manage the sequence, coordinate interfaces between trades and systems so energisation is safe, run loop checks and functional tests, tune control logic and automation sequences, and support start-up trials. The handover pack, including test records, operating documentation and certification, is assembled as the work proceeds rather than reconstructed at the end. Our work is delivered under a quality management system certified to ISO 9001:2015.

What you get

  • Agreed FAT procedures, schedules and acceptance criteria, developed with the supplier
  • Witnessing and client representation at the vendor’s works
  • Review of inspection and test plans, data sheets, drawings and certificates
  • SAT plans, protocols and checklists tailored to the system
  • Coordinated test execution across vendors, integrators and your own teams
  • Traceable records of results, non-conformances, corrective actions and re-tests
  • Commissioning plans, loop checks, functional testing and start-up support
  • A complete handover pack: test records, certification and operating documentation

When clients typically call us

  • Equipment is due for FAT and nobody internal can be released to attend
  • A packaged skid or control system is arriving and there is no SAT protocol written
  • Installation is finishing and the route from mechanical completion to production is undefined
  • A previous project went live with open punch list items
  • Several vendors have delivered separately and nobody owns the integration between them
  • Start-up has stalled on faults nobody can allocate between supplier, installer and design

Frequently asked questions

Is a FAT worth the cost of attending?

Usually, and particularly for bespoke or safety-critical equipment. A fault found in the supplier’s workshop is corrected with their people, tools and spares. The same fault on your floor consumes site labour, delays commissioning and leaves you in a weaker commercial position.

We passed FAT, so do we still need a SAT?

Yes. A FAT proves the equipment works in isolation under simulated conditions. A SAT proves it works in your building, on your utilities, wired into your control system and alongside your existing plant. Integration problems only appear at the second stage.

Can you come in when commissioning is already in trouble?

Yes. We start by establishing what has been tested and what has not, rebuild the outstanding list into something trackable, and work through it with the parties responsible. That is more useful than apportioning blame for how the position arose.

Does this cover regulated equipment qualification?

It connects to it directly. FAT and SAT records feed installation and operational qualification, so where you are working to GMP we structure the testing and documentation so the evidence is reusable rather than repeated.

Related: Part of our site and construction management services. See also factory acceptance testing and URS and equipment qualification.

If you have equipment coming through the works or an installation nearing completion, the earlier we are involved the more the testing is worth. Talk to us about your project. Request a call