A site acceptance test is the day an installed machine stops being the builder's and becomes the customer's. It is run on the customer's floor, on their power, air and hydraulics, with their operators and, if all goes well, their wood — and it ends with a decision both sides sign: hand it over, hand it over with a short list of things still to finish, or put right the faults and test again. This checklist follows the order a commissioning crew actually works in: what the factory test left open, the installation, utilities, electrics and motors, the safety devices, an empty run, a run with material, the controls, training, the documents, and a punch list that keeps the must-fix items apart from the rest. It is written with sawmill and planer-mill machinery in mind — edgers, trimmers, debarkers, chippers, transfers, stackers and the hydraulics that drive them — but it works for any installed industrial machine. Fill it in here and download a PDF without creating an account.
After the factory test, before the customer owns it
A factory acceptance test proves the machine was built and programmed right, at the builder's shop, usually on temporary wiring and with simulated signals. Everything that test could not reach becomes the SAT's job: the foundation it sits on, the plant power, the real neighbors upstream and downstream, real logs or lumber at real speed. Shipping and installation add their own faults too — a bent guard, a loose terminal, a hydraulic line swapped during reassembly.
So the first section asks for the factory test report and the items it held over for site. Those items go to the top of today's plan. A SAT that forgets them hands the customer a machine with a known fault and a signature saying it was accepted.
Bump every motor before anything turns under power
A motor wired backwards is the most common first-day fault on a mill machine, and on some of them it is dangerous rather than merely annoying: a saw arbor running the wrong way, a feed roll throwing a piece back toward the operator, a hydraulic pump that runs dry in reverse and is ruined in minutes. The electrical section lists each motor on its own line — bumped, direction confirmed, no-load current written down — so a missed motor shows up as a blank rather than hiding inside a tick for the whole machine.
Ground continuity, insulation resistance and overload settings are recorded the same way, as readings. A number written on the day of handover is what the maintenance crew compares against when the motor starts running hot two years later.
Prove the stops while the machine runs empty
Every emergency stop, pull-cord, gate interlock and light curtain is tried one at a time with the machine running and nothing in it. Each one should stop the hazardous motion, stay stopped, and refuse to restart until somebody resets it on purpose. Lockout points are checked against the written lockout procedure: every energy source on the machine — electrical, air, hydraulic, gravity, a heavy disc or wheel still coasting — has a lockable isolator, labeled at the machine.
Whether the mill works under WorkSafeBC in British Columbia or OSHA in the US, the customer's safety people will ask to see this part. The form records what was tried and what happened; it does not certify the machine against any regulation.
Run it with wood, at the speed it was sold to run
An empty run proves the machine moves. A production run proves it does its job: pieces per minute against the agreed rate, size and cut quality, how often it jams, whether it hands off cleanly to the transfer or sorter beyond it. Agree beforehand what will be measured and the limit for each, write the measured figure next to it, and mark each one inside or outside the limit.
Not every SAT gets material on the day — the upstream line may not be ready, or the mill may be down for the shutdown week the install was planned around. Answer No to the production-run question and the section folds away, out of the score, and the handover can say the run is still owed.
Speak while you walk, and the document writes itself: say "trimmer, ninety-two lugs a minute against ninety agreed, inside the limit" and the reading fills in.
A, B and C: a punch list that decides the handover
Most SATs find something. A items are the ones the machine is not handed over with — a safety device that does not work, a failed run, a missing lockout label. B items can be finished after handover by a date both sides agree, like a spare-parts list still to come or a screen to tidy. C items are recorded and owe nothing. Every item gets an owner and a date.
The decision at the end follows from the list. Any open A item means not accepted and a retest; open B items mean accepted with a list. Writing it down this way keeps the decision honest on the last day of a shutdown, when everyone wants the line running.
Common questions
What should a site acceptance test checklist include?
The project and machine, the factory test report and its open items, the installation (foundation, anchors, level, alignment, clearances), the utilities connected, the panel, grounding, cables and motor rotation, every safety device tried, an empty run, a run with material against agreed limits, controls and I/O, training given, documents handed over, a punch list with owners and dates, the handover decision and signatures from installer and customer.
What is the difference between SAT and commissioning?
Commissioning is the whole process of bringing an installed machine into service — checking the installation, energizing it, setting it up, tuning it. The site acceptance test is the witnessed, signed end of that process, where the customer confirms it meets what was agreed. Many crews use one record for both, which is how this checklist is laid out.
Who signs a site acceptance test?
Usually the installer's or builder's commissioning lead and the customer's representative — often the mill's maintenance superintendent or project engineer. A third party can sign as well if the contract calls for one. The form has a place for each.
How long should the production run be?
Whatever the contract or the test plan says. For mill machinery it is common to run at least a full shift, or a set volume of wood, so that warm-up, a species or size change and the normal stops of a working day are all seen. Write the length and the material in the production-run section.
What happens if the machine fails the SAT?
The faults go on the punch list as A items with an owner and a date, the decision is recorded as not accepted, and the form asks what must be retested and when. Depending on what failed, the retest may cover only the failed checks or the whole run.
Can I re-check only what failed?
Yes. In the ReportWalk app, start a re-inspection from this SAT and only the checks that were not verified come back, each asking whether it is fixed, with room for a photo. Re-inspections are free.