At JE Dunn Construction, our commissioning approach goes beyond just buildings. Our teams follow a robust program that covers clients from initial planning to final turnover. Where some commercial buildings may rely on a handful of systems to operate smoothly, semiconductor manufacturers can have hundreds for a single facility connected within a larger building or campus. This holistic approach is critical for manufacturers looking to expand high-complexity production processes at hyper speed. In semiconductor manufacturing, successful commissioning doesn’t happen by chance. Drawing on more than 100 years in business and over 200 projects in the semiconductor and microelectronics space, JE Dunn has identified five components that are critical before final turnover.
Building commissioning (Cx) is defined by the Whole Building Design Guide Commissioning Committee as the process that facilitates the planning, design, construction, installation and testing verification, documentation, and operation of facilities and systems to conform to an owner’s requirements. Put more simply, Cx is the validation process used to ensure a project is delivered the way the owner intended. It’s what brings buildings, and in this case, manufacturing to life.
Building commissioning ranges in complexity. If we contrast the differences between commercial, industrial, mission critical and semiconductor, we see many similarities but a range in complexity, with commercial being the most straightforward and semiconductor being the most complex. General commercial construction has the most streamlined commissioning, as it usually involves fewer systems and fewer people to complete. Commissioning for industrial and mission critical are one step above commercial. Semiconductor clients, however, require the most complicated commissioning for their projects. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities are the most complex type of commissioning as they utilize the most array of systems from high power, complex automation, gases, chemicals, various exhaust and abatement systems to the highest volume of air movement within the cleanest rooms on earth, to name just a few. There are also systems for monitoring everything from temperature to vibration to cleanliness. Analytical testing within piping and systems are also held to higher standards of purity and cleanliness for the products they create.
Our teams set commissioning standards to ensure these systems meet any cleanliness requirements and additional specifications that the owner or other governing authorities set forth. We also work closely with owners, trade partners, and our teams to divide up roles to guarantee all areas have subject matter expertise to support validation and commissioning processes.
Owners reap several benefits from involving our experienced commissioning team earlier in the project planning process. Our commissioning leaders aim to work with quality managers, project managers, superintendents, architects, and engineers, to establish clear responsibilities for the work ahead. We hold trainings throughout the construction process for the full construction team, including stakeholders, to ensure everyone is aligned on our commissioning processes and tools.
These early activities mitigate mixed messaging and unexpected input from stakeholders later in the project. This proactive approach also methodically coordinates inspections, observations, and other critical checks with the right team members. Working together sooner can help alleviate a client’s already limited resources. Involving JE Dunn experts early on can free up clients from needing to use their own staff or additional third-party contractors to fully test and validate systems before building turnover and integration into existing operations.
Cx schedules on semiconductor projects can become extremely complex, often to the point of being unmanageable. To avoid this, JE Dunn Cx has developed a method of creating our Cx schedule full of details not normally housed within standard scheduling software, such as P6. This can alleviate the burden from our scheduling teams and allow the Cx team to manage, in conjunction with the P6 project schedule, their own Cx schedule. Early involvement paves the way for commissioning to keep scheduling on track and build continuous improvement into processes. JE Dunn commissioning teams manage a separate schedule that includes Cx milestones along with details needed by the owner and architect. This allows our commissioning leaders to align their activities with system owners, trade partners, and support teams’ workload forecasting to ensure adequate resourcing for the project. This level of detail is essential in guiding the project through the complexities of commissioning systems that all depend on one another. At the same time, keeping those details in a separate, but parallel schedule to P6 avoids creating unmanageably complex assignments for our schedulers.
Semiconductor projects are typically large in scale, fast in pace and heavy in personnel. With so many people participating in the complex Cx process at such a fast pace, it becomes extremely difficult for a Cx team to manage the entire Cx process without the help of a robust software solution. The JE Dunn Cx team worked closely with a client and software developer to create a solution that would combine built-in workflows and a granular scheduling component while being managed tightly by permission sets, gates and guardrails. The software is called Exto, and it’s more than just the standard ‘out of the box’ Cx database. We build it to house all our documentation, Cx schedule, workflow process, wireframe views, dashboards, inspection requests and much more.
Building commissioning isn’t just software; it’s equipping the right people with the right tools to succeed in maintaining consistent and accurate documentation on semiconductor projects. We train all project participants to use Exto capabilities to enter issues, checklists, photos, and upload documents in one place to maximize awareness and communication. This allows commissioning and quality managers to quickly review and solve problems as necessary, ensuring closer alignment with project controls specialists.
Early involvement, collaborative scheduling, and customized Cx software all set up the pathways for this last piece of JE Dunn’s programmatic approach to successful semiconductor commissioning. Team members can complete tagging activities as planned without as much variation from person to person. This ensures team members follow the same thorough documentation protocols, like including full tag names and following up with commissioning specialists on RFIs or other issues that may come up related to tagging.
Now that the Cx plan has been created and the schedule is applied to all equipment, systems, and spaces within the Cx software, we’re ready to guide the team through the Cx process. When equipment is installed the Cx team conducts field verification walks and documents any issues. Trade partners, owner’s reps, vendors, and operations personnel all participate in the QA/QC process to ensure everything is installed correctly prior to startup. The Cx process is the validation of the quality process. During and after startup the Cx team will validate the equipment is running according to the owner’s intent reflected in the design. Semiconductor Cx is different in that there are cleanrooms where all of these systems support either the cleanroom space or the equipment going into the cleanroom for manufacturing. Most of the chemicals, gases, water types, exhaust system and more are unique to cleanroom environments. The Cx team is trained on how all of these systems work together and their purposes in order to validate their functionality, which requires unique skillsets, knowledge, and experience.
Ultimately, successful commissioning in semiconductor manufacturing depends on strong partnerships that are strengthened through our unmatched communication. That’s how JE Dunn helps bring complex facilities online with the quality, accountability, and confidence owners need. If you have specific questions about commissioning and our other service offerings or need help with your next project, contact us here.
