Smooth flowing processes
Using a Microsoft Visio based application to depict a complex industrial plant would have been inconceivable for the company Hager+Elsässer, yet it was convinced by Visual PlantEngineer from the Adlershof software company X-Visual. Simple to use this software automatically supplies technical processing data e.g. to the purchasing or logistics divisions or the building site, and so ensures smooth flowing planning and production processes.
The Stuttgart plant builder Hager+Elsässer ranks among the market leaders for industrial water treatment plant. Growth and a rising number of personnel made desktop communication inefficient. Often decisive information did not arrive in time to where it was needed.
Because the plant builder works with different teams for each of its projects it soon became clear that an overly complex IT could not meet the requirements. For this reason the focus was placed on a software concept for the intelligent intermeshing of each component, making them efficient, flexible and easy to use.
The plans were based on so called piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs). Originally these diagrams were generated with AutoCAD, with the drawback that only specialists could operate this software. The process engineer printed out these plans and marked on them his changes that the CAD specialists then integrated back in the plan. Because these diagrams undergo frequent changes during the planning phase errors were as good as assured, especially on larger installations and in ever tighter processing times. Avoidable costs and delays were the consequence.
Visual PlantEngineer is so easy to learn and use that the engineers themselves can supplement or change the flowcharts without disruption to the data or media stream. Also they can simply enter the requirements for each component. A link to the enterprise resource planning system (ERP) transfers the component data and changes directly to the ERP system’s parts lists. The parts’ order and availability status can therefore be viewed directly on the diagram as well.
With Visual PlantEngineer everyone involved can now access the same data. In particular the innovative link between the ERP system and Visual PlantEngineer presents obvious advantages. Because technical changes are automatically made accessible to everyone involved in the project the result is less susceptibility to error and greater efficiency.
Rico Bigelmann
Link: www.x-visual.net