A production line that runs in year five — with your team operating it — is the real success.
Commissioning is where many production line projects either become operational successes or expensive frustrations. CISH supports manufacturers with the on-site checks, startup work, operator handover, maintenance planning, and ongoing technical support needed to turn installed equipment into stable production capacity.
Support for new lines, troubled lines, and teams that need technical backup.
Newly installed lines
Manufacturers that need a controlled ramp-up with proper checks, training, and stabilisation rather than a rushed handover.
Existing underperforming assets
Plants dealing with repeat stoppages, weak operator confidence, or recurring faults that were never properly closed out after the original install.
Teams with limited in-house engineering depth
Operations that need practical support for line ownership, maintenance discipline, and troubleshooting without permanently expanding headcount.
Orphaned or mixed-vendor lines
Factories where the original supplier no longer supports the equipment, or where different OEM packages need one field team to coordinate them.
From a single event to a long-term partnership.
One-off field engineering
On-site support for a specific event: commissioning a line you bought from someone else, debugging an intermittent fault, recovering after an unplanned shutdown, or training a new shift team.
1–4 weeks on site. Fixed-fee quote against a defined scope.
Scheduled maintenance contract
Quarterly or monthly preventive maintenance visits. OEM schedules followed where they exist, written where they don't. Includes a written condition report and a 12-month spares forecast.
Annual, renewable. From ZAR 180 000 / year per line.
Full support partnership
Scheduled maintenance + spares management + 24/7 remote support + committed on-site response time. Used by clients who have removed their in-house engineering function or who treat CISH as that function.
Annual, renewable. From ZAR 800 000 / year for a small multi-line factory.
Installation is not the same thing as production readiness.
Commissioning scope
- Mechanical and electrical readiness checks
- Controls validation and interlock testing
- Dry runs, sequence verification, and alarm handling
- Product trials and process tuning
- Punch-list closeout and SAT support
- Operator and supervisor handover
Why lines struggle after installation
- Settings are not tuned for the actual product mix
- Small faults were never closed out properly
- Operators did not get enough practical training
- Maintenance routines and spares were not established early
- Controls and mechanical teams never aligned on real production conditions
What most providers get wrong — and how we don't.
"We'll get the part" hides 6-week lead times and 40% mark-ups.
- Buffer stock in Johannesburg of consumables and critical-path parts for every line under contract
- Pre-priced catalogue for each client — you know what a spare costs before you need it
- Reverse-engineering option for parts whose OEMs have gone away
- Honest sourcing — if buying direct from Siemens is cheaper, we'll tell you
What it actually means — not what it usually does.
Encrypted VPN into your line. Named engineer on-call rota.
- Initial response within 30 minutes of an alert
- Most software / control issues resolved remotely
- Site-visit dispatch decision within 60 minutes when remote isn't enough
- WhatsApp, phone, and email — whichever you prefer
We work on lines we did not build.
This is unusual. Most integrators only support what they sold. Africa has too many orphaned lines whose installer disappeared after year one, leaving the plant with no practical recovery path.
When we take on an unfamiliar line, the first engagement is a line audit, typically 1 to 3 days on site, to baseline condition, find missing documentation, and price the support relationship honestly.
Enquire about your line →What the audit covers
Controls status, missing parts, safety issues, recurring faults, operator workarounds, and the documentation gaps making the line hard to support.
What you leave with
A condition baseline, immediate risk list, recommended next actions, and a realistic view of whether the line is worth stabilising, upgrading, or replacing.
Where we work.
| Region | Response time |
|---|---|
| Gauteng | 24 hours by road |
| Rest of SA primary (FS, NW, Mpumalanga) | 24–72 hours road or air |
| SA secondary (KZN, WC, EC, Limpopo, NC) | 72–120 hours air |
| SADC (BW, NA, ZW, ZM, MZ, SZ, LS) | 5–10 working days air |
| Rest of Africa (NG, KE, GH, TZ) | Project quote |
Common questions on maintenance and support.
This is usually the point where buyers decide whether they need a one-off intervention, a stabilisation phase, or a longer support relationship that keeps the line serviceable after handover.
Have a line that's behaving badly?
Tell us whether the issue is startup instability, repeat stoppages, weak handover, or missing spares planning. We will help you decide whether you need a commissioning intervention, a maintenance contract, or a line audit first.