Custom Automation Equipment Procurement: Is SAT Really Just a Final Acceptance Test? 6 On-Site Delivery Risks

In many custom automation equipment procurement projects, the plan after delivery sounds simple:

Install the equipment, commission it, and notify the customer when it is ready for SAT.

In practice, this is where many projects start to become complicated.

Once custom automation equipment arrives at the customer’s factory, the project does not move directly from “delivery” to “SAT.” There is a series of site conditions, customer resources, commissioning activities, process validations, and technical requirements that must be completed first.

If these conditions are not controlled, the result is often familiar: repeated troubleshooting, unclear responsibilities, excessive material consumption, delayed acceptance, and after-sales support that continues long after the original delivery date.

For custom automation equipment procurement, SAT is not simply a final acceptance event. It is the result of effective on-site delivery and risk management.

1. Confirm the Final Equipment Location Before Starting Site Work

The first priority after equipment arrives at the customer’s factory is to confirm its final installation location.

This sounds obvious, but it is one of the most important practical controls in on-site equipment delivery.

Before installation begins, the customer and supplier should jointly confirm:

• Final equipment location and orientation

• Upstream and downstream equipment interfaces

• Operator access

• Maintenance access

• Material flow

• Utility connection points

• Electrical cabinet access

• Safety and emergency access

If the location is not finally confirmed, other site activities should not move forward blindly.

For example, installing the machine first and discovering later that there is insufficient maintenance space can create unnecessary rework. Moving the machine after electrical and utility connections have already been completed can also affect installation time, safety, and commissioning.

For machinery used in industrial production, electrical and safety requirements should be considered as part of the installation environment. IEC 60204-1 covers electrical equipment of machines, including electrical, electronic, and programmable electronic systems used on machines and coordinated groups of machines.

The practical principle is simple:

Confirm where the machine will operate before spending time making the machine operate.

2. Verify Utilities — “Available” Does Not Mean “Ready”

Another common commissioning risk is the assumption that utilities are ready simply because the required interfaces are available.

A machine may have a power connection, compressed-air connection, cooling-water connection, or other utility interface, but the actual operating conditions still need to be verified against the equipment requirements.

Electrical power

The commissioning team should verify the actual site conditions, including:

• Voltage

• Frequency

• Phase configuration

• Grounding

• Protection

• Supply stability

• Equipment-specific electrical requirements

For example, a machine designed for a 400 V, 50 Hz supply cannot be considered ready merely because a nearby socket is labeled “400 V.” The actual connection and protection arrangement need to be checked against the machine’s electrical design.

Compressed air

Compressed air requires the same level of attention.

The relevant questions are not simply:

“Do we have compressed air?”

They are:

• Is the pressure sufficient?

• Is the flow sufficient during peak demand?

• Is the pressure stable?

• Is there excessive moisture?

• Is there oil contamination?

• Is the filtration appropriate?

A machine requiring approximately 0.6 MPa operating pressure may still experience unstable pneumatic operation if the site pressure drops significantly when multiple machines operate simultaneously.

This can affect cylinders, vacuum generators, grippers, valves, and other pneumatic components.

ISO 8573-1:2010 classifies compressed-air purity according to contaminants including particles, water, and oil. This is useful when defining or verifying compressed-air quality requirements for equipment.

The same principle applies to cooling water and other utilities. For equipment such as laser systems, welding equipment, or temperature-control systems, water temperature, pressure, flow, and filtration may all affect commissioning performance.

The question is not whether the utility exists. The question is whether the actual utility condition supports the machine’s intended operation.

3. Customer Production, Process, and Maintenance Personnel Must Participate

A custom automation machine is ultimately purchased for production. It is not purchased to remain dependent on the supplier’s commissioning team.

Therefore, the customer should assign appropriate personnel before commissioning begins.

At minimum, this normally includes:

Production personnel Responsible for actual operation, workflow, and operator feedback.

Process personnel Responsible for process parameters and verifying whether the equipment supports the required production process.

Maintenance personnel Responsible for understanding equipment structure, troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, and routine servicing.

Quality personnel Responsible for determining whether the products produced during commissioning meet the agreed quality requirements.

The problem in many projects is not that the customer has no employees. The problem is that the assigned personnel may not be available consistently.

Sometimes nobody is assigned full-time. Sometimes personnel change frequently. Sometimes temporary personnel are assigned without sufficient process knowledge or decision-making responsibility.

This creates a fundamental risk:

The supplier may complete equipment commissioning while the customer has not completed production readiness.

If production, process, and maintenance personnel do not participate throughout the commissioning process, valuable project knowledge can be lost. When personnel leave or are reassigned, the customer may have to relearn the equipment after commissioning has already ended.

This can turn relatively small operational problems into long-term after-sales issues.

4. One Dedicated Customer Project Owner Is Essential

Custom automation equipment commissioning usually involves multiple departments.

Production cares about output and operation.

Engineering or process teams care about process parameters.

Quality cares about product conformity.

Maintenance cares about reliability and troubleshooting.

Safety teams may have their own requirements.

If the supplier has to contact each department separately every time a decision is required, site progress can slow down significantly.

The customer therefore needs a dedicated project owner who acts as the primary coordination point between the customer and the supplier.

This person does not need to solve every technical problem personally.

The key responsibility is coordination:

• Identify the right internal owner

• Coordinate customer resources

• Escalate unresolved issues

• Support timely decisions

• Track supplier actions

• Keep the project schedule moving

In practical terms, this creates a single project interface instead of a situation where the supplier repeatedly asks, “Which department should we talk to?”

For complex equipment procurement projects, this role can have a major impact on commissioning efficiency.

5. Customer and Supplier Need One Joint On-Site Commissioning Plan

Another major risk is starting site commissioning without a jointly approved plan.

When there is no common plan, everyone may be working, but the project may not actually be moving toward completion.

A practical on-site commissioning plan should define at least:

• Task

• Responsible person

• Planned completion date

• Required prerequisites

• Completion criteria

• Follow-up actions

The process may include:

Equipment installation → Utility connection → Single-machine commissioning → Integrated commissioning → Process validation → Trial production → Operator training → SAT

These activities are connected.

The supplier may complete mechanical and electrical commissioning, but the customer may still need to validate the process.

The machine may produce parts, but the customer may not yet have an agreed method for determining whether those parts are acceptable.

Operators may be able to run the machine, but recurring operational errors may still need to be addressed.

This is why commissioning should not be treated simply as “the supplier makes the machine run.”

It is a joint process in which the equipment, process, product, operators, and customer requirements are progressively verified.

6. SAT Requirements Must Be Defined Before SAT Starts

One of the most common mistakes in custom automation equipment procurement is waiting until the machine appears to be finished before discussing how SAT will actually be conducted.

SAT requirements should be agreed in advance.

The customer and supplier should define:

• What will be tested?

• How will it be tested?

• Under what operating conditions?

• How many products will be tested?

• What performance level is required?

• What constitutes acceptance?

• How will open issues be handled?

• Who has authority to approve the results?

Most importantly, SAT should trace back to the original technical agreement.

If the technical specification defines requirements for:

• Cycle time

• Accuracy

• Production capacity

• Yield

• Continuous operation

• Product quality

then the SAT should provide a practical method for verifying those requirements.

IEC 62381:2024 provides requirements and checklists for FAT, SAT, and SIT in process-industry automation systems. It specifically emphasizes establishing and agreeing on the scope of activities and responsibilities among the owner, buyer, and vendor, and allows project-specific test plans to be developed for the applicable equipment or system.

This does not mean every custom automation machine must use IEC 62381 as its acceptance procedure. For general custom automation equipment, the project-specific technical agreement remains the primary reference.

The important principle is:

The acceptance criteria should be defined before the acceptance test, not negotiated after the test begins.

What Happens When On-Site Risk Management Is Missing?

When these controls are missing, several predictable problems appear.

1. The supplier does not know whether the equipment is actually meeting the target

The supplier keeps adjusting parameters and modifying equipment, but there is no clear reference showing how close the machine is to the agreed performance requirements.

2. The customer cannot clearly see the actual equipment status

The customer may see large amounts of material being consumed every day, but still cannot answer a basic question:

What exactly has been completed, and what remains unresolved?

3. Project knowledge disappears

Production, process, or maintenance personnel may leave or be reassigned during commissioning.

The equipment remains, but the knowledge accumulated during commissioning may disappear with them.

4. Nobody can make the final product-quality decision

The machine produces parts, but there may be no clearly authorized person who can determine whether the parts meet the agreed requirements.

The supplier waits.

The customer waits.

The project continues consuming time and materials.

5. The delivery schedule keeps expanding

The sequence becomes:

Commissioning → troubleshooting → rework → retest → new problems → more troubleshooting

Without a controlled process, the original delivery date becomes increasingly difficult to maintain.

These problems may look like equipment problems, but many are actually on-site delivery and risk-management problems.

The Simplest Way to Control On-Site Commissioning Risk

The basic control mechanism does not have to be complicated.

It starts with two actions.

Step 1: Create One Joint Plan

The customer and supplier jointly define:

Task + Time + Owner + Completion Criteria

Every activity should have a clear responsibility and a measurable definition of completion.

Step 2: Close Problems Every Day

At the end of each working day, the project team reviews the current issue list.

For completed tasks:

Close them.

For unfinished tasks:

Define the corrective action, responsible person, and target completion date.

Then repeat the review the next day.

The cycle is:

Identify → Assign → Correct → Verify → Close

This simple mechanism prevents the project from becoming a collection of unresolved verbal discussions.

When all planned tasks are completed, open problems are closed, equipment performance meets the agreed requirements, and the SAT procedure has been successfully completed, the project can move toward production introduction with much greater confidence.

Conclusion: SAT Is the Result of Risk Control, Not Just a Signature

For custom automation equipment procurement, equipment delivery is not the end of the project.

SAT is not simply a final signature after the supplier says, “The machine has been commissioned.”

The real on-site delivery process is:

Final Location → Utilities → Customer Personnel → Project Coordination → Commissioning Plan → Problem Closure → SAT

Every stage contains potential procurement and delivery risk.

The purpose of on-site risk management is therefore not to create more paperwork. It is to make sure that the right conditions, people, responsibilities, tasks, and acceptance criteria are in place before the project reaches the final acceptance stage.

For complex custom automation equipment, the real objective is not simply to get the equipment into the customer’s factory.

It is to ensure that the equipment can:

arrive → be installed → be commissioned → meet the agreed requirements → pass SAT → enter production.

That is the real meaning of successful equipment delivery.

For customers purchasing custom automation equipment across suppliers, factories, or regions, procurement risk does not disappear when the equipment leaves the supplier’s factory. It continues until the equipment is successfully installed, commissioned, accepted, and ready for production.

This is where an independent procurement and delivery partner can add value—not by replacing the equipment supplier, but by coordinating requirements, supplier execution, customer resources, commissioning progress, and risk closure throughout the delivery process.