diff --git a/src/CPFEM.f90 b/src/CPFEM.f90
index b2fccca26..8549046bd 100644
--- a/src/CPFEM.f90
+++ b/src/CPFEM.f90
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ module CPFEM
   end type tNumerics
 
   type(tNumerics), private :: num
- 
+
   type, private :: tDebugOptions
     logical :: &
       basic, &
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ module CPFEM
       element, &
       ip
   end type tDebugOptions
- 
+
   type(tDebugOptions), private :: debugCPFEM
- 
+
   public :: &
     CPFEM_general, &
     CPFEM_initAll, &
@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ contains
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 subroutine CPFEM_initAll
 
+  call parallelization_init
   call DAMASK_interface_init
+  call prec_init
   call IO_init
   call config_init
   call math_init
@@ -112,13 +114,13 @@ subroutine CPFEM_init
   allocate(CPFEM_dcsdE_knownGood(6,6,discretization_nIP,discretization_nElem), source= 0.0_pReal)
 
 !------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-! read numerical parameters and do sanity check 
+! read numerical parameters and do sanity check
   num_commercialFEM => numerics_root%get('commercialFEM',defaultVal=emptyDict)
   num%iJacoStiffness = num_commercialFEM%get_asInt('ijacostiffness',defaultVal=1)
   if (num%iJacoStiffness < 1)  call IO_error(301,ext_msg='iJacoStiffness')
 
 !------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-! read debug options 
+! read debug options
 
   debug_CPFEM => debug_root%get('cpfem',defaultVal=emptyList)
   debugCPFEM%basic     = debug_CPFEM%contains('basic')
diff --git a/src/CPFEM2.f90 b/src/CPFEM2.f90
index b2bdebcc6..645fcf59d 100644
--- a/src/CPFEM2.f90
+++ b/src/CPFEM2.f90
@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ contains
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 subroutine CPFEM_initAll
 
+  call parallelization_init
   call DAMASK_interface_init                                                                        ! Spectral and FEM interface to commandline
+  call prec_init
   call IO_init
   call base64_init
 #ifdef Mesh
diff --git a/src/DAMASK_interface.f90 b/src/DAMASK_interface.f90
index f08e06f31..4a9761c48 100644
--- a/src/DAMASK_interface.f90
+++ b/src/DAMASK_interface.f90
@@ -73,13 +73,7 @@ subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
     userName                                                                                        !< name of user calling the executable
   integer :: &
     stat, &
-    i, &
-#ifdef _OPENMP
-    threadLevel, &
-#endif
-    worldrank = 0, &
-    worldsize = 0, &
-    typeSize
+    i
   integer, dimension(8) :: &
     dateAndTime
   integer        :: err
@@ -87,44 +81,10 @@ subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
   external :: &
     quit
 
-  open(6, encoding='UTF-8')                                                                         ! for special characters in output
-
-!--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-! PETSc Init
-#ifdef _OPENMP
-  ! If openMP is enabled, check if the MPI libary supports it and initialize accordingly.
-  ! Otherwise, the first call to PETSc will do the initialization.
-  call MPI_Init_Thread(MPI_THREAD_FUNNELED,threadLevel,err)
-  if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
-  if (threadLevel<MPI_THREAD_FUNNELED) then
-    write(6,'(/,a)') ' ERROR: MPI library does not support OpenMP'
-    call quit(1)
-  endif
-#endif
-  call PETScInitializeNoArguments(petsc_err)                                                        ! according to PETSc manual, that should be the first line in the code
-  CHKERRQ(petsc_err)                                                                                ! this is a macro definition, it is case sensitive
-
-  call MPI_Comm_rank(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldrank,err)
-  if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
-  call MPI_Comm_size(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldsize,err)
-  if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
-
-  mainProcess: if (worldrank == 0) then
-    if (output_unit /= 6) then
-      write(output_unit,'(/,a)') ' ERROR: STDOUT != 6'
-      call quit(1)
-    endif
-    if (error_unit /= 0) then
-      write(output_unit,'(/,a)') ' ERROR: STDERR != 0'
-      call quit(1)
-    endif
-  else mainProcess
-    close(6)                                                                                        ! disable output for non-master processes (open 6 to rank specific file for debug)
-    open(6,file='/dev/null',status='replace')                                                       ! close(6) alone will leave some temp files in cwd
-  endif mainProcess
-
   write(6,'(/,a)') ' <<<+-  DAMASK_interface init  -+>>>'
 
+  open(6, encoding='UTF-8')                                                                         ! for special characters in output
+
  ! http://patorjk.com/software/taag/#p=display&f=Lean&t=DAMASK%203
 #ifdef DEBUG
   write(6,*) achar(27)//'[31m'
@@ -162,20 +122,6 @@ subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
   write(6,'(/,a,2(i2.2,a),i4.4)') ' Date: ',dateAndTime(3),'/',dateAndTime(2),'/', dateAndTime(1)
   write(6,'(a,2(i2.2,a),i2.2)')   ' Time: ',dateAndTime(5),':', dateAndTime(6),':', dateAndTime(7)
 
-  call MPI_Type_size(MPI_INTEGER,typeSize,err)
-  if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
-  if (typeSize*8 /= bit_size(0)) then
-    write(6,'(a)') ' Mismatch between MPI and DAMASK integer'
-    call quit(1)
-  endif
-
-  call MPI_Type_size(MPI_DOUBLE,typeSize,err)
-  if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
-  if (typeSize*8 /= storage_size(0.0_pReal)) then
-    write(6,'(a)') ' Mismatch between MPI and DAMASK real'
-    call quit(1)
-  endif
-
   do i = 1, command_argument_count()
     call get_command_argument(i,arg,status=err)
     if (err /= 0) call quit(1)
@@ -269,9 +215,6 @@ subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
   call setSIGUSR1(.false.)
   call setSIGUSR2(.false.)
 
-  call prec_init
-  call parallelization_init
-
 end subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
 
 
diff --git a/src/DAMASK_marc.f90 b/src/DAMASK_marc.f90
index 4db1f4f15..d61031023 100644
--- a/src/DAMASK_marc.f90
+++ b/src/DAMASK_marc.f90
@@ -26,7 +26,6 @@
 #define PASTE(x,y) x ## y
 
 #include "prec.f90"
-#include "parallelization.f90"
 
 module DAMASK_interface
   use prec
@@ -44,7 +43,6 @@ module DAMASK_interface
   logical,          protected, public :: symmetricSolver
   character(len=*), parameter, public :: INPUTFILEEXTENSION = '.dat'
 
-
   public :: &
     DAMASK_interface_init, &
     getSolverJobName
@@ -91,9 +89,6 @@ subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
   endif
   symmetricSolver = solverIsSymmetric()
 
-  call prec_init
-  call parallelization_init
-
 end subroutine DAMASK_interface_init
 
 
diff --git a/src/HDF5_utilities.f90 b/src/HDF5_utilities.f90
index 0ac32fd2e..d50ff6aa5 100644
--- a/src/HDF5_utilities.f90
+++ b/src/HDF5_utilities.f90
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ module HDF5_utilities
 #endif
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use rotations
-  use config
 
  implicit none
  public
diff --git a/src/commercialFEM_fileList.f90 b/src/commercialFEM_fileList.f90
index 0e5066268..f4eb5d78c 100644
--- a/src/commercialFEM_fileList.f90
+++ b/src/commercialFEM_fileList.f90
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 !> @brief all DAMASK files without solver
 !> @details List of files needed by MSC.Marc
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+#include "parallelization.f90"
 #include "IO.f90"
 #include "YAML_types.f90"
 #include "YAML_parse.f90"
diff --git a/src/config.f90 b/src/config.f90
index 342ac6a1b..ac62101ae 100644
--- a/src/config.f90
+++ b/src/config.f90
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 !> @author Martin Diehl, Max-Planck-Institut für Eisenforschung GmbH
 !> @brief Reads in the material, numerics & debug configuration from their respective file
 !> @details Reads the material configuration file, where solverJobName.yaml takes
-!! precedence over material.yaml. 
+!! precedence over material.yaml.
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 module config
   use prec
@@ -24,10 +24,6 @@ module config
     numerics_root, &
     debug_root
 
-  integer, protected, public :: &
-    worldrank                  = 0, &                                                               !< MPI worldrank (/=0 for MPI simulations only)
-    worldsize                  = 1                                                                  !< MPI worldsize (/=1 for MPI simulations only)
-
   public :: &
     config_init, &
     config_deallocate
@@ -40,7 +36,7 @@ contains
 subroutine config_init
 
   write(6,'(/,a)') ' <<<+-  config init  -+>>>'; flush(6)
-  
+
   call parse_material
   call parse_numerics
   call parse_debug
@@ -76,12 +72,6 @@ end subroutine parse_material
 subroutine parse_numerics
 
   logical :: fexist
-  integer :: ierr
-
-#ifdef PETSc
-  call MPI_Comm_rank(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldrank,ierr);CHKERRQ(ierr)
-  call MPI_Comm_size(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldsize,ierr);CHKERRQ(ierr)
-#endif
 
   numerics_root => emptyDict
   inquire(file='numerics.yaml', exist=fexist)
@@ -90,7 +80,6 @@ subroutine parse_numerics
     numerics_root =>  parse_flow(to_flow(IO_read('numerics.yaml')))
   endif
 
-
 end subroutine parse_numerics
 
 
@@ -99,7 +88,7 @@ end subroutine parse_numerics
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 subroutine parse_debug
 
-  logical :: fexist 
+  logical :: fexist
 
   debug_root => emptyDict
   inquire(file='debug.yaml', exist=fexist)
@@ -113,10 +102,11 @@ end subroutine parse_debug
 
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 !> @brief deallocates material.yaml structure
+!ToDo: deallocation of numerics debug (optional)
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 subroutine config_deallocate
 
-  deallocate(material_root)                                                                         !ToDo: deallocation of numerics debug (optional)
+  deallocate(material_root)                            
 
 end subroutine config_deallocate
 
diff --git a/src/crystallite.f90 b/src/crystallite.f90
index 9d2d534d7..595c0f2c1 100644
--- a/src/crystallite.f90
+++ b/src/crystallite.f90
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 
 module crystallite
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use HDF5_utilities
   use DAMASK_interface
diff --git a/src/grid/DAMASK_grid.f90 b/src/grid/DAMASK_grid.f90
index 0e30025d8..edef00fa0 100644
--- a/src/grid/DAMASK_grid.f90
+++ b/src/grid/DAMASK_grid.f90
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ program DAMASK_grid
 #include <petsc/finclude/petscsys.h>
   use PETScsys
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use DAMASK_interface
   use IO
   use config
diff --git a/src/grid/discretization_grid.f90 b/src/grid/discretization_grid.f90
index 1fdb6c922..d9db8dbb3 100644
--- a/src/grid/discretization_grid.f90
+++ b/src/grid/discretization_grid.f90
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ module discretization_grid
   use PETScsys
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use system_routines
   use base64
   use zlib
diff --git a/src/grid/grid_damage_spectral.f90 b/src/grid/grid_damage_spectral.f90
index e7bbbff7f..aaa3c2172 100644
--- a/src/grid/grid_damage_spectral.f90
+++ b/src/grid/grid_damage_spectral.f90
@@ -11,12 +11,13 @@ module grid_damage_spectral
   use PETScsnes
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use spectral_utilities
   use discretization_grid
   use damage_nonlocal
-  use config
   use YAML_types
+  use config
  
   implicit none
   private
diff --git a/src/grid/grid_mech_FEM.f90 b/src/grid/grid_mech_FEM.f90
index e8e1345ef..9d3af8ae0 100644
--- a/src/grid/grid_mech_FEM.f90
+++ b/src/grid/grid_mech_FEM.f90
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ module grid_mech_FEM
   use PETScsnes
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use DAMASK_interface
   use HDF5_utilities
   use math
diff --git a/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_basic.f90 b/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_basic.f90
index 66694e516..664c9d7ae 100644
--- a/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_basic.f90
+++ b/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_basic.f90
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ module grid_mech_spectral_basic
   use PETScsnes
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use DAMASK_interface
   use HDF5_utilities
   use math
diff --git a/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_polarisation.f90 b/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_polarisation.f90
index f6d1b9ebb..53013f0cf 100644
--- a/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_polarisation.f90
+++ b/src/grid/grid_mech_spectral_polarisation.f90
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ module grid_mech_spectral_polarisation
   use PETScsnes
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use DAMASK_interface
   use HDF5_utilities
   use math
diff --git a/src/grid/grid_thermal_spectral.f90 b/src/grid/grid_thermal_spectral.f90
index 58c89fdc4..a0bcd99ee 100644
--- a/src/grid/grid_thermal_spectral.f90
+++ b/src/grid/grid_thermal_spectral.f90
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ module grid_thermal_spectral
   use PETScsnes
 
   use prec
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use spectral_utilities
   use discretization_grid
diff --git a/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90 b/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
index f1daf8f08..9ccce2617 100644
--- a/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
+++ b/src/grid/spectral_utilities.f90
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ module spectral_utilities
 
   use prec
   use DAMASK_interface
+  use parallelization
   use math
   use rotations
   use IO
   use discretization_grid
-  use config
   use discretization
   use homogenization
 
diff --git a/src/mesh/DAMASK_mesh.f90 b/src/mesh/DAMASK_mesh.f90
index 05339a280..132cc4f3e 100644
--- a/src/mesh/DAMASK_mesh.f90
+++ b/src/mesh/DAMASK_mesh.f90
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ program DAMASK_mesh
   use PetscDM
   use prec
   use DAMASK_interface
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use math
   use CPFEM2
diff --git a/src/mesh/discretization_mesh.f90 b/src/mesh/discretization_mesh.f90
index ac6ccf528..8d24896ee 100644
--- a/src/mesh/discretization_mesh.f90
+++ b/src/mesh/discretization_mesh.f90
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ module discretization_mesh
   use PETScis
 
   use DAMASK_interface
+  use parallelization
   use IO
   use config
   use discretization
diff --git a/src/parallelization.f90 b/src/parallelization.f90
index bb32baf77..fb0fb9f30 100644
--- a/src/parallelization.f90
+++ b/src/parallelization.f90
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 module parallelization
   use prec
+  use, intrinsic :: iso_fortran_env
 
 #ifdef PETSc
 #include <petsc/finclude/petscsys.h>
@@ -14,6 +15,10 @@ module parallelization
   implicit none
   private
 
+  integer, protected, public :: &
+    worldrank = 0, &                                                                                !< MPI worldrank (/=0 for MPI simulations only)
+    worldsize = 1                                                                                   !< MPI worldsize (/=1 for MPI simulations only)
+
   public :: &
     parallelization_init
 
@@ -24,13 +29,56 @@ contains
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 subroutine parallelization_init
 
-!$ integer :: got_env, DAMASK_NUM_THREADS
+  integer        :: err, typeSize
+!$ integer :: got_env, DAMASK_NUM_THREADS, threadLevel
 !$ character(len=6) NumThreadsString
+#ifdef PETSc
+  PetscErrorCode :: petsc_err
 
+#else
   write(6,'(/,a)') ' <<<+-  parallelization init  -+>>>'; flush(6)
+#endif
 
-!$ call get_environment_variable(name='DAMASK_NUM_THREADS',value=NumThreadsString,STATUS=got_env)   ! get environment variable DAMASK_NUM_THREADS...
-!$ if(got_env /= 0) then                                                                            ! could not get number of threads, set it to 1
+#ifdef PETSc
+#ifdef _OPENMP
+  ! If openMP is enabled, check if the MPI libary supports it and initialize accordingly.
+  ! Otherwise, the first call to PETSc will do the initialization.
+  call MPI_Init_Thread(MPI_THREAD_FUNNELED,threadLevel,err)
+  if (err /= 0)                        error stop 'MPI init failed'
+  if (threadLevel<MPI_THREAD_FUNNELED) error stop 'MPI library does not support OpenMP'
+#endif
+  
+  call PETScInitializeNoArguments(petsc_err)                                                        ! first line in the code according to PETSc manual
+  CHKERRQ(petsc_err)
+
+  call MPI_Comm_rank(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldrank,err)
+  if (err /= 0) error stop 'Could not determine worldrank'
+  
+  if (worldrank == 1) write(6,'(/,a)') ' <<<+-  parallelization init  -+>>>'; flush(6)
+  
+  call MPI_Comm_size(PETSC_COMM_WORLD,worldsize,err)
+  if (err /= 0) error stop 'Could not determine worldsize'
+
+  call MPI_Type_size(MPI_INTEGER,typeSize,err)
+  if (err /= 0)                              error stop 'Could not determine MPI integer size'
+  if (typeSize*8 /= bit_size(0))             error stop 'Mismatch between MPI and DAMASK integer'
+
+  call MPI_Type_size(MPI_DOUBLE,typeSize,err)
+  if (err /= 0)                              error stop 'Could not determine MPI real size'
+  if (typeSize*8 /= storage_size(0.0_pReal)) error stop 'Mismatch between MPI and DAMASK real'
+#endif
+
+  mainProcess: if (worldrank == 0) then
+    if (output_unit /= 6) error stop 'STDOUT != 6'
+    if (error_unit /= 0)  error stop 'STDERR != 0'
+  else mainProcess
+    close(6)                                                                                        ! disable output for non-master processes (open 6 to rank specific file for debug)
+    open(6,file='/dev/null',status='replace')                                                       ! close(6) alone will leave some temp files in cwd
+  endif mainProcess
+
+
+!$ call get_environment_variable(name='DAMASK_NUM_THREADS',value=NumThreadsString,STATUS=got_env)
+!$ if(got_env /= 0) then
 !$   write(6,*) 'Could not determine value of $DAMASK_NUM_THREADS'
 !$   DAMASK_NUM_THREADS = 1_pI32
 !$ else
@@ -42,7 +90,7 @@ subroutine parallelization_init
 !$ endif
 !$ write(6,'(a,i8,/)')   ' DAMASK_NUM_THREADS: ',DAMASK_NUM_THREADS
 !$ call omp_set_num_threads(DAMASK_NUM_THREADS)
-  
+
 end subroutine parallelization_init
 
 end module parallelization
diff --git a/src/results.f90 b/src/results.f90
index 2e5b01937..a4c90f41b 100644
--- a/src/results.f90
+++ b/src/results.f90
@@ -6,8 +6,8 @@
 !--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 module results
   use DAMASK_interface
+  use parallelization
   use rotations
-  use config
   use HDF5_utilities
 #ifdef PETSc
   use PETSC