How Pure Salmon Technologies Scaled Commissioning for a Global Portfolio

Solutions:

Industrial Commissioning & Completions

Pure Salmon Technology (PST) commissions high-tech recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) facilities in Norway and Japan, with plans to expand internationally. Their facilities are large and complex. The newest, SalMar Tjuin, will require 25.3 tons of fish feed per day and produce some 20 million smolts a year.

As Commissioning Manager, James Peter Henry Tuller and his team see firsthand how important—and sophisticated—commissioning has become for modern aquaculture. They also understand the synchronized effort required for each project’s delivery. James and team are developing a best-in-class commissioning and quality assurance process that’s rigorously applied to each project. Their goal? To ensure repeatable world class results on every project.

“It’s truly a multidisciplinary approach, requiring contributions from all internal departments throughout the project lifecycle,” he says. To scale it for a growing global portfolio, PST needed an intelligent system capable of controlling many concurrent processes, across numerous concurrent projects—all in one place.

OBJECTIVES

Automating Complex Workflows without Compromising Quality

“We have a clear focus on continuous improvement,” says James. “Our team saw an opportunity to analyze and follow up on project progress more closely.” They decided to search for a commissioning platform capable of overcoming three distinct challenges:

Introduce Commissioning Earlier in the Process

On any given project, PST has various internal departments that collaborate to make the system function. Alignment is essential, especially since the subject is a live organism. Fish require quality water, optimized flow rates and oxygenation, and strict maintenance of carbon dioxide levels—among many other specifications that vary by customer.

“Commissioning is a culture which needs to be inserted into the project lifecycle at an early stage, so that there is a shared understanding of the requirements,” says James. “It’s a challenge to achieve full transparency and traceability for all of the tools, people, and processes needed to meet regulatory and performance requirements for commissioning a fish farm.”

Coordinate Subcontractors Across Multiple Projects and Locations

Each project requires the coordination of multiple subcontractors tasked with different responsibilities. In the past, the PST team would expend considerable time and effort to ensure that each contractor performed each task on time, with many back-and-forth emails, phone calls, and on-site visits. Without some solution in place to streamline this coordination, scaling this effort to additional locations quickly became infeasible.

“Let’s say you have a lead for electric and automation in the south of Norway, for example, a thousand kilometers away from the actual project. Before, that lead would mobilize teams for static testing, pre-commissioning, and dry testing commissioning by phone or email, then travel to the site to verify progress,” says James.

If things weren’t where they needed to be, it slowed the entire process down. Instead, the team needed a centralized, cloud-based solution to manage its many subcontractors across international locations and time zones.

Eliminate Backlog of Unaddressed or Untracked Issues

The last thing PST and its customers need is for issues that accrued during installation to crop up during commissioning all at once. “We needed to seamlessly track project progression and allow the project managers to evaluate and prioritize solutions based on the needs of the project,” says James.

“This would reduce the accumulation of problems by tracking, analyzing, and solving them systematically throughout the commissioning stages, leading to less frustration at the end, and ensuring all the equipment met the specified performance requirements.”

SOLUTION

Moving To a Scalable, Cloud-Based Commissioning System

After evaluating other platforms, PST concluded that Bluerithm was the only solution that lives and breathes commissioning.

"We did our due diligence. We looked at various different platforms and what really stood out for this type of commissioning for us was that this platform is designed for commissioning. A lot of the other platforms that we looked at were designed for construction, which is completely different. Mechanical installations are a whole different ball game."

James Peter Henry TullerCommissioning Manager

With Bluerithm, PST was able to elevate its approach in a few important ways:

Seamless Transition and Onboarding

The first order of business was to transition PST’s existing commissioning system into Bluerithm. “We had a large database of all checklists, work flows, and equipment data which needed to be reformatted and uploaded to the Bluerithm system,” says James.

“We received a huge amount of help and training from the Bluerithm team, which allowed for an easy transition into their system. We were up and running in a very short time.”

Real-Time Progress Tracking without Calls or Site Visits

On a daily basis, you’ll find Bluerithm in use by operations across project lifecycle, including: mechanical installation and site managers; process department; electrical and automation; commissioning; project management department; fish health and welfare; and contractors.

“We have an overview of the project throughout the installation stage to the end of commissioning processes. It takes a lot to cover all operations. Kilometers of pipeline, pumps all over the place, and huge amounts of water coming in. Without Bluerithm, this would be an exceptionally tricky job,” says James.

The PST team is now able to tag and track each piece of equipment with a unique code. This ensures end-to-end traceability and transparency. As a result, PST always has a full audit trail, including proof of proper installation for every single piece of equipment inside a given facility.

The process for issue tracking has also improved. “The Bluerithm issue system is a fantastic and intuitive system to track issues and problems through the different phases before commissioning. This helps us ensure that issues don’t all bunch up and suddenly appear at the end,” says James.

Detailed and Customized Commissioning Reports

By setting up template reports for weekly and monthly reporting, PST easily generates the required reports at the system and detail levels. They’re easy to understand and give all stakeholders a clear indication of the project status.

PST can now customize their reporting by role, location, and other variables. “We can customize reporting by role, location… it really gives us the flexibility to produce high quality commissioning reports that makes sure contractual obligations are met, while producing watertight documentation.”

Support for Multiple Projects Across Different Locations

The volume of technical considerations, variables, and output for just one of PST’s facilities is impressive enough. Extrapolate that across an expanding portfolio of projects in different geographies, and the right commissioning software becomes critical to quality control.

“We’re using Bluerithm on our latest delivery, SalMar Tjuin, plus new locations in Japan, the U.S., Brunei. All very large facilities that produce thousands of tons of salmon a year. We’ll use Bluerithm for all aspects of mechanical installation, electrical installation, up to the end of commissioning,” says James.

RESULTS

Keeping the Focus on Operational Excellence

Overall, PST has successfully used Bluerithm to elevate what was already an exemplary commissioning process. James and his team have seen significant improvements, namely:

Improved Quality Control and Customer Satisfaction

The software has helped the PST Commissioning department adopt and enforce international standards and guidelines, as outlined in the CIBSE Commissioning Code M. This is considered the benchmark for quality and basis for professional commissioning management.

“We have already integrated Code M and Bluerithm into SalMar Tjuin, allowing us to track the project more closely and at a higher level of detail,” says James. This provides a more realistic assessment of project status, alongside a much higher level of quality control and compliance.

There has been an improvement and enhancement of collaboration amongst the internal and external stakeholders, too. Bluerithm enables seamless communication, information sharing, and real time updates which is necessary for nurturing such a collaborative environment.

“Customer satisfaction and closeness is of high importance to us, and being able to deliver the results in a clear, concise, and understandable format helps boost customer confidence. It also gives our project leaders what they need to make informed decisions based on real-time data.”

Fewer Errors and Omissions, Alongside Reduced Costs

Bluerithm has centralized the management of standardized documentation and helps keep reports and checklists consistent. This has led to improved organization and accessibility of critical information, vastly reducing the chance of errors and omissions.

Data analysis has improved as well. “Our organization is able to gain valuable insights from the commissioning data, which helps us reduce costs and improve productivity through optimal resource allocation,” says James.

A Foundational Platform to Keep Building On

For PST, the size and scope of projects is only increasing. The ability to ensure qualitative and quantitative outcomes, while meeting contractual deadlines, is absolutely critical. With Bluerithm, PST feels confident in their ability to maintain their high standards for commissioning, regardless of scale.

“A big kudos to the Bluerithm team. They have been fantastic in helping us get all the information in at the beginning. They’re constantly aware and vigilant about any support we’ve needed so far. We highly recommend this software to other commissioning teams.”