There is an ever-growing need to increase the speed of production under favorable conditions. Customer requirements are becoming more varied and sophisticated. Engineering projects are under tremendous time and cost pressure. Project bids must be calculated as precisely as possible, which is made difficult by the amount of information that’s scattered across a variety of sources. It’s especially important during the bid phase to work efficiently. Preparing a competitive bid is an essential factor in succeeding in the plant and project business.
A consistent flow of information still isn’t implemented in many companies
Many companies lack a consistent, seamless flow of information. Information is frequently available only in analog form or in distributed systems and has to be copied manually – and therefore often incorrectly and with a great deal of effort. Plant data is often recorded multiple times across different departments and is inconsistent, incomplete, or outdated. This makes it difficult to reproduce experiences from previous projects, resulting in a critical loss of valuable company expertise.
Centralized data storage and smart templates as a basis for digitalization
The integrated software solution COMOS lays the foundation for successful digitalization in the chemical industry. COMOS stores and manages all information relating to engineering and proposals in a central database.COMOS makes it possible to consistently implement modularized engineering for all disciplines – from proposal preparation and engineering to project completion. Using smart templates in sectors like the chemical industry makes engineering and design extremely efficient. Smart modules give engineers and operators a high degree of bidding and planning flexibility. Proposals can be prepared quickly and are placed on a solid footing for clear cost calculation. After the order is received, a large part of the basic engineering has already been completed. Modularized engineering can drastically reduce over- and under-engineering. With the standardized modules, customer requests are individually and precisely implemented. Even regulatory requirements (compliance) are reliably met. COMOS also enables companies to establish a solid, long-term knowledge base, safeguard their expertise, and attain lasting success.
COMOS Modularized engineering in the chemical industry: an example.
The configurator in COMOS is modified using a graphical interface, which makes it unnecessary to program complex rules. The preliminary flow charts, technical specifications, and part lists are generated on basis of variant drivers (including capacities, framework conditions, and technical requirements). A proposal manager where the costs and prices of objects are assigned is used to ascertain the proposal information. For subsequent engineering, smart templates can again be used: for example, for generating piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), electrical engineering documentation, schematic diagrams, bills of materials (BOMs), and lists. Once the project has been completed, the collected information can be reused for new projects. The data can also be used for recalculations.
