Follow the sun to global projects

As little as 25 years ago the drawing board was still the major tool of the engineering design office and information was either annotated or stored away in filing cabinets.

With the advent of accessible computing, the design task moved to the computer screen, and engineering information followed. Unfortunately, in many cases they made the journey separately and the challenge of uniting design and data still faces many companies.

Most successful engineering projects have recognised that meeting demanding cost and time schedules with minimum risk calls for new strategies - strategies that combine 24-hour design with reliable data management that matches the complex project workflows. But working around the clock requires working around the globe. Project management is challenged by time zones, data formats, data networks, distributed work-sharing and an overall risk of critical information and competencies disappearing in the process.

Facing these challenges in the design and construction of a new non-woven fabrics production plant in Durham, North Carolina, the German company Freudenberg Vliesstoffe opted for Aveva's PDMS Global Engineering data management solution to help manage its $40million PA3 project.

Freudenberg's project manager and technical process specialist, Hugo Christoffel says: 'Given the demands of this project we had to count on global engineering. As well as ourselves, the project involved O'Neal Engineering in North and South Carolina, ESAD of Bergisch Gladbach, and Udicom Datentechnik in Germany.'

'We couldn't implement solutions off the shelf,' he explains, 'because of the patented production process. EDM (engineering data management) systems as a central communication platform are ideal for running the whole engineering process, especially in a globally spread environment.'

Mathias Drux, general manager of ESAD, comments on the most distinctive feature of PDMS Global: 'All people involved in the design and construction have access at any time to the current design status.'

Christoffel also sees seamless exchange of 3D CAD models as a major feature. 'The risk of data loss is minimised,' he says, 'as all user and project data is constantly synchronised at the hub in Kaiserslautern before being forwarded to the global engineering servers. Through the global hub it is, on the one hand, possible for us to control the constant flow of information to all project partners, while on the other we can preventively 'grey out' sensitive areas. The use of PDMS gives a considerable advantage in time and costs. Data management is carried out with accuracy, reliability and speed.'

Now forming part of Aveva's Vantage 'plant lifecycle product suite', the latest release of PDMS has added powerful, interactive 3D graphical facilities.

'Combined with PDMS's design validation rules, global work share and automated drawing production,' says Dave Wheeldon, Aveva's vice-president for R&D, 'this release sets a new benchmark for project productivity. Using feedback from our customers we were able to highlight the capabilities they needed for the 21st century and have met them with full upwards compatibility.'

Aveva's business integration manager, Neil McPhater adds: 'companies that have migrated from other established plant design systems have been surprised to find how much more productive they are with PDMS compared to their previous system. One major EPC engaged in offshore projects found they could perform projects with 30 per cent fewer designers, for example.'