Combiblock Installation and Commissioning Timeline

1. Why the timeline is part of the project

The lead time from order to commercial output is a project number, not a footnote on the machine price. A combiblock is shipped as modules and assembled on site, so the install and commissioning window decides when the line earns, and a slipped window is a lost quarter of sales. Plan the timeline with the same care as the capacity, because the two are linked: a larger line takes longer to build, ship and commission.

Most slips are on the buyer's side, not the machine's. A late foundation, an undersized transformer or a custom option added after FAT all push the date out, and none of them is the supplier's to fix alone. The practical rule is to freeze the scope early, finish the building before the machine is booked, and hold the option list once FAT is scheduled.

2. The project phases

The work runs in a fixed sequence: the line is built and FAT-tested at the factory, packed and shipped, the site is prepared in parallel, the modules are installed, commissioned and validated, and finally the team is trained and the line is handed over. Each phase has a gate; the next does not start well until the previous one is signed off, so a problem in one phase cascades into the date.

3. What the buyer prepares

Before the machine arrives the buyer builds the foundation or steel frame to the supplier's drawing, installs the high-pressure air, the electrical supply sized to the running load plus the compressor, the water and drainage for CIP, and provides the crane or forklift for offloading. The supplier sends the figures; the buyer builds to them. Sign these off before shipment so the install team is not waiting on civil works on arrival.

Utility readiness is where timelines are won or lost. The air, power and water figures are in combiblock energy and utilities, and they must be in place, not just ordered, before the modules land. A transformer that arrives two weeks late is two weeks of idle install crew and a pushed commissioning date.

4. Factory Acceptance Test

FAT runs the line at the supplier's plant on your bottles and products before it ships. It catches integration and recipe problems while they are cheap to fix, and it sets the baseline that site commissioning is measured against. Attend it or send an inspector; a line accepted only at site hides the same defects at higher cost and with less time to react.

The acceptance criteria are in quality control and FAT. Agree the speed, the fill accuracy and the rejection rate up front and write them into the contract, because they are what both sides measure at the factory and again at site. The commissioning report closes the loop between the two tests.

5. Packing and shipping

A combiblock ships as protected modules, not one crate, and the packing is matched to the route and the handling at each end. The shipping and lead-time picture for export markets is in shipping, installation and commissioning, which covers the transport window and the documents needed at customs. Confirm the incoterm and the insurance before booking, because they decide who owns the risk during transit.

6. Installation on site

On site the supplier's engineers lead installation with local contractors handling the civil and utility tie-in under the supplier's drawing. The modules are aligned and levelled, the carousels are timed, and the utilities are connected and proved. The block's compact footprint helps here: fewer modules and a shorter line mean less to align than a separate blowing, filling and capping train, which is part of why a block installs faster for the same output.

A realistic install plan leaves buffer for the utilities to be proved and for the first timing pass, because the first alignment is rarely the final one and the crew needs the slack to reach rate without slipping the commissioning date behind it.

7. Commissioning and validation

Commissioning runs the line up to stable output at rate, proves the recipes and the changeover on your actual formats, and documents the result. The maintenance plan that follows commission is in combiblock maintenance and wear parts. Validation is where the line is accepted for production, so the commissioning report and the FAT result should agree within the tolerance written in the contract.

For export plants the supplier coordinates the sequence and, where covered, the local service presence, which is described in global service and support. Name the responsible party for each step in the contract so a gap in ownership does not become a gap in the schedule when the line is on your floor.

8. What to ask the supplier

Ask for the on-site window, the FAT schedule, the exact utility figures and the drawing release date, and the training scope and duration. Put the dates and the responsibilities in the contract alongside the price, because the timeline decides when the line earns, and a date in the contract is worth more than a date in an email. The cost levers behind the choices are in what drives combiblock price, and the block family is in the combiblock range.

Frequently asked questions