I’m pleased to welcome Tony Davies to the ICxA Advisory Council. Tony brings decades of commissioning experience and is the author of the Handbook for Commissioning Managers. We’re thrilled to have Tony’s input at ICxA, and I had the pleasure of sitting down with him to ask some questions and understand how he views his contribution to ICxA.
Paul Turner: Hello everyone, welcome to the Institute of Commissioning and Assurance. My name is Paul Turner, and I’m the President of ICxA. Today, I’m very pleased to announce Tony Davies as a new member of the ICxA Advisory Council. Tony brings decades of commissioning experience across some of the most complex projects worldwide and is also the author of the Handbook for Commissioning Managers, which I have my copy of right here. Tony, it’s a real honor to welcome you to ICxA, OK?
Tony Davies: Thanks, Paul. I’m delighted to be part of the community.
Paul Turner: So let’s begin with your story. You’ve been part of this industry for quite some time, for decades, working on major projects across multiple sectors. Take us back to the beginning. How did you first get involved in commissioning, and what’s kept you committed to it throughout your career?
Tony Davies: In September 1966, I started a trades apprenticeship with a blue-chip chemical company, finishing as an instrument artificer in 1970. I then joined a modifications group on their olefin plants until 1975, when I got the chance to work with an ENI hookup, electrical, and instrument hookup and commissioning contractor for a new offshore oil and gas platform in the North Sea in the UK. There was plenty of work in the North Sea at that time, so I continued working on new installations over the next 10 years, gaining hands-on experience in hookup and commissioning. By the mid-80s, I was promoted to hookup engineer, focusing on scope definition and planning. During that time, I noticed that technologies were changing rapidly, with semiconductors and digitized control panels emerging. To keep up, I pursued a degree in technology, completing it in 1990. Afterward, I moved into the role of commissioning manager, working internationally for 15 years on capital contracts for oil and gas projects in places like Australia, Malaysia, Canada, and former Russian states. In 2005, I returned to the UK, joining a private completions and commissioning contracting company that provided software and personnel. I became operations director in 2007, and when the company was bought out by a major energy contractor in 2011, I stayed on as a consultant until 2018. Since then, I’ve been working as a freelance commissioning consultant. That’s my journey in a nutshell.
Paul Turner: That definitely makes you one of the wise commissioning experts in the industry with that depth of experience. So, what led you to write the Handbook for Commissioning Managers? What gap did you see in the industry that needed the book written? What were you trying to fill for professionals in the field?
Tony Davies: From my own career, my journey has been based on experience both in the field and in the office. Until quite recently, there haven’t been many courses for commissioning, and very little information was available on what to do, how to do it, and when. The handbook is an attempt to capture my own experiences, especially for new engineers and managers.
Paul Turner: Your handbook has definitely been instrumental for many people getting into the field. One of the biggest challenges, I think, is that commissioning is often misunderstood and treated as just testing at the end. When people hear the term commissioning, they immediately think testing, but it’s much more than that. From your perspective, how would you define commissioning leadership?
Tony Davies: The situation is improving, but in the past, projects have failed due to the misconception that commissioning is just testing at the end. Commissioning should always begin with the end in mind, starting with the definition of planning as early as possible. You need to take control of the commissioning schedule throughout the project because if commissioning fails, the project fails. That’s the message that should be made loud and clear to all clients and organizations when starting new projects.
Paul Turner: You mentioned that it’s improving, but why do you think the industry has been so slow to recognize commissioning as a form of project governance and leadership rather than just a technical step, especially when we see projects failing because commissioning is misunderstood?
Tony Davies: Normally, at the conceptual phase of capital projects, most of the main commercial and strategic decisions are already being made. It’s about being in the right place at the right time with the right audience—those with the client’s ear. Those who shout the loudest usually win. At the early stages, capital projects have traditionally been driven by the cost of engineering, fabrication, and construction, and commissioning hasn’t had much impact because it’s largely viewed as the end of construction. By the time projects get to the feed stage, strategies are already decided, making it very difficult to change.
Paul Turner: That makes me believe, with your description, that the challenge is more of a project governance issue rather than a testing issue. When you look at the global project landscape, what do you see as the biggest challenge in delivering major infrastructure and industrial projects today?
Tony Davies: Politics play a big part in what types of projects are sanctioned and when they can go ahead, especially in the energy industries. Once that hurdle is passed, securing enough of the right kind of commissioning resources can be quite a challenge. Having a pool of personnel to draw from, on time and within budget, is crucial. Delivery can also fail when problems start to emerge during the early stages—engineering, fabrication, and construction. Identification, management, and resolution of these early issues are critical to project delivery.
Paul Turner: You make a good point about on-time and on-budget delivery, which is typically the project manager’s role to manage cost and schedule. But if project management was all that was required, projects would be succeeding, except they’re not. Where do you see commissioning and outcome assurance fitting into the solution? What can they do that traditional project management often can’t or misses?
Tony Davies: I’ve read through the ICXA Outcome Assurance Standard, and it’s a good standard that defines what’s to be governed from the beginning to ensure the correct items are achieved. It has the potential to detail these benefits—on-time delivery and sustainability—directly to the client before the project reaches the point of going out for inquiry. By the time the project is tendered, it’s often too late because commissioning falls under the banner of EPC. Decisions have been made, and the damage is already done. Rather than being a proactive leadership element, commissioning becomes a reactive cleanup component to address earlier mistakes.
Paul Turner: You’ve led commissioning efforts on some incredibly complex and high-stakes projects. Can you share a story where commissioning really made the difference and proved the project to be successful in the end?
Tony Davies: There was a project offshore Australia in the mid-90s for a new platform installation on the Northwest Shelf. It was a concrete gravity-structured base built in Bunbury, Western Australia, and an integrated topside stack built in Keppel Fels yard in Singapore. At great expense, commissioning teams were sent to both sites to pre-commission equipment at the yards before float-out. There was a stretch target for production 50 days after the platform was installed and the topsides were floated over and mated. Because of that, the decision was made to not only pre-commission but also to commission as many systems as possible prior to sail-away. There were one or two minor issues, but due to the effort of everyone involved, it went very well, and they achieved startup in 45 days—a record for commissioning and startup of an offshore platform.
Paul Turner: That’s the right approach for commissioning. Unfortunately, on the other side, can you share an example where commissioning was overlooked and undervalued, and the project suffered as a result? What would leaders take away from that experience?
Tony Davies: In the late 70s, I was an offshore instrument hookup and commissioning engineer on a platform with oil production, water injection, and gas compression facilities. At that time, commissioning was even less regarded than later on. The client decided to commission the gas compressors themselves, but instead of achieving gas compression within the target of 90 days following oil production, debris in the line from the suction scrubber entered the first-stage compressor, causing significant damage. Repairs took nine months to complete. The message is clear: don’t attempt to run any rotating machine without a complete inspection of pipeline cleanliness.
Paul Turner: There are so many lessons learned like that, and it seems challenging for project leaders to avoid making the same mistakes. Your book is helping define commissioning as a profession that needs attention for successful project outcomes. How do you see the role of commissioning manager evolving over the next decade?
Tony Davies: With guidance from industry professionals, the availability of commissioning standards, and the formation of ICXA’s Global Academy for Commissioning, the future for commissioning managers looks to be in a better place than it has been for a long time. The evolution, for me, would be to fully embrace and incorporate operational readiness and assurance (ORA), which currently seems to be treated as a black art, much like commissioning used to be. Few people specialize in that area, and it’s another aspect to capture.
Paul Turner: That’s interesting because we’re working on our operational readiness standard, which we’ll hopefully release in the next couple of weeks. It will shed light on the importance of achieving operational readiness on projects, which is everyone’s goal. For someone new to commissioning or operational readiness, what skills or mindsets do you think commissioning managers of the future will need to succeed in delivering today’s complex projects?
Tony Davies: They need total awareness of how commissioning operates—how systems are designed, fabricated, tested, conditioned, fault-found, corrected, started up, and planned for future maintenance, including access, isolations, and overrides. It’s a transdisciplinary leadership position, requiring an understanding of contracts, commercial aspects, communication, and working across disciplines like mechanical, electrical, civil, and automation.
Paul Turner: You’ve agreed to join the ICxA Advisory Council, and we’re pleased to have you advising ICxA. Why was this important to you?
Tony Davies: I’m not in full-time employment anymore, so this allows me to focus on this area more. It’s about sharing my experiences, like writing the book, to guide future generations through their own journeys. It’s important for professionals to think about who’s coming up and how they’ll work.
Paul Turner: Lots of our wise commissioning experts are retiring, and we need this knowledge transfer for the younger generation to take the reins. How do you see ICxA’s Global Commissioning Standard and Global Outcome Assurance Standard making a difference for project owners and industry leaders? How can people leverage these standards for improved project performance?
Tony Davies: The standards are a great step forward in standardizing guidelines for commissioning and delivering operations across the board. People have different ideas, but unless they’re in a standard, they stay in people’s heads. If it’s good and it works, it needs to be documented as a standard. In the future, boosting the value of these standards with real-life examples, graphics, figures, and records demonstrating their benefits will be important.
Paul Turner: We’ve got plans to develop these standards into full ISO international standards for more recognition and adoption. We talk a lot about outcome assurance. What does that phrase mean to you, and why is it such an important complement to commissioning?
Tony Davies: Outcome assurance is integrated governance from the beginning to achieve a successful end—on-time startup, delivery, stable operation, and sustainability. It’s complementary to commissioning. To have commissioning go smoothly, you need that upfront governance structure to set the project up for success.
Paul Turner: If you could give one message to project owners about outcome assurance, what would you want them to understand?
Tony Davies: It helps achieve a fault-free startup on time and sustained production, but that’s enhanced by early engagement with the project strategy.
Paul Turner: If you were sitting across from a project director about to start a $5 billion mega-project, what’s the single most important piece of advice you’d give them?
Tony Davies: Consider integrating commissioning with owner operations and use a firm starter, potentially incentivized, to drive the project from concept to operation.
Paul Turner: How do you drive those incentives to align with the owner’s incentives?
Tony Davies: Create a partner project where the client, fabricator, engineer, constructor, and commissioner are all part of a group with a stake in success, financed by the client as a reward to be divided at the end. It’s got to be embedded in contracts to define the rules of the game.
Paul Turner: Some people in the chat are asking about how to get into this profession. For young professionals starting their commissioning careers, what advice would you give them about becoming not just testers but leaders and orchestrators of project outcomes?
Tony Davies: Make yourself fully aware of the big picture. What does the plant do? How does it work? Where do you make a difference? The difference is in the detail. Don’t forget that. Oh, and join ICxA.
Paul Turner: You’ve worked in countries like Canada and Europe. Are there differences in how commissioning is approached in different regions, or are the challenges universal on mega-projects?
Tony Davies: The approach to commissioning is generally similar, but responsibility for pre-commissioning often catches people out. I’ve seen cases where construction contractors thought it was a commissioning activity, and vice versa, causing major upsets. For example, on a project in Malaysia, 10,000 pre-commissioning man-hours were unaccounted for, affecting completion dates, sail-away, and startup. Another issue is certification requirements, like Kazakhstan’s technical passports, which are mandatory for each piece of equipment and include extensive technical data. If not approved, equipment isn’t accepted, which can halt projects.
Paul Turner: That transition from construction to commissioning—pre-commissioning—is often the most challenging aspect of projects. If it goes smoothly, the rest usually does too. What can we learn from international best practices to apply more consistently worldwide?
Tony Davies: In a fabrication yard in Malaysia, they held a daily activity briefing before starting work, delivered by management to everyone on-site, sometimes in multiple languages. It covered the day’s work, safety expectations, and special requirements—a practice that should be a global standard.
Paul Turner: The ICxA Advisory Council is set up to help anticipate and prepare for future industry shifts. What trends do you see coming that we should be thinking about, whether it’s technology, regulation, or new ways of working?
Tony Davies: In addition to procedures, we need responsive training courses for commissioning in various industries—energy, chemicals, civil—and ICxA could issue recognized qualifications, possibly up to degree level, to establish a standard for commissioning expertise.
Paul Turner: That’s one of our initiatives, working with universities to plant the seeds of commissioning awareness, as many engineering graduates haven’t even heard the term. If you could change one perception about commissioning in our industry, what would it be?
Tony Davies: Commissioning is not testing; it’s delivering an operational facility. That’s the fundamental goal of projects, and if people recognize that from the start, projects will have better outcomes.
Paul Turner: I want to thank you, Tony, for joining us today and stepping into this role on the ICXA Advisory Council. Your insights, leadership, and contributions from decades of experience and your Handbook for Commissioning Managers are invaluable as we shape the future of commissioning and outcome assurance.
Tony Davies: Thanks, Paul. I’m very happy to be involved with your help.
Paul Turner: If you’d like to learn more about ICxA and how we’re working with leaders like Tony to transform project outcomes, visit icxa.net. Connect with Tony on LinkedIn if you have questions, he’ll help you out. Thanks, everyone. Have a great day.
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