w h i t e p a p e r

Streamline Process and Plant Design with 3D

S U M MARY

Building plants and processing systemsor even an entire factoryin a

global economy has become more challenging than ever. Competition is
stiff and capital is tight, so the need to control costs, ensure quality, and
speed delivery is critical to your success. Whether you develop individual
components, equipment, processing systems, or complete plants, integrated
3D solutions can help you develop, coordinate, and deliver on-time and
within budget.
 Putting everyone on the same page

The world of process and plant design is changing rapidly. Innovative products,
new technologies, greater energy demands, and increasing competition usher
in a host of new challenges to building the processing systems and factories of
the 21st century. To succeed, you need access to integrated 3D development
tools that enable you to efficiently create, validate, coordinate, communicate, and
document the increasing amounts of design data associated with these projects.

Todays factories differ greatly from the monolithic plants of the past and
require a more streamlined, modular approach. No matter what industry or
application you supportwhether it involves oil and gas production, alternative
fuels development, power generation, pharmaceuticals, food processing,
mining, wastewater treatment, or manufacturingyour primary challenge
consists of bringing it altogether in an efficient, reliable, and cost-effective
fashion. You no longer have the luxury of using time-consuming and costly
2D-based approaches for process and plant development.

Integrated 3D solutions can give you the agility and flexibility that you need to
successfully tackle todays demanding projects. By establishing a common,
highly visual development environment, 3D tools can help you to spur
coordination, eliminate duplicated effort, minimize waste, compress design
cycles, and control costs. Everyone from component manufacturers,
equipment suppliers, and skid system developers to project managers,
subcontractors, and plant owner/operators will benefit from using 3D at
each stage of the process.

3D improves every phase of process and plant design

Integrated 3D solutions can give

PLANNING
you the agility and flexibility that you Whether youre planning to design, build, or renovate a plantor develop
need to successfully tackle todays
subsystems or pieces of equipment within a plantyou can benefit from using
demanding projects.
3D tools. Thats because they support a more cost-effective, organized, and visual
approach to layout and design. Most of these projects involve multiple vendors,
each with a specified footprint and responsibility. 3D facilitates subsystem
development and equipment integration from all vendors in a way thats not
possible with 2D design techniques. Finding problems early in the design phase
helps companies avoid the costly delays and expenses associated with making
changes later in the development process.

When 3D is integrated with a product data management (PDM) system, you can
streamline vendor interaction, automate workflows, and better manage individual
vendor design data. Tracking changes so the proper revisions are always used,
enabling sign-offs as the design progresses, and managing diverse CAD and
Microsoft Office data are all part of a PDM system. This will enable you to
locate and reuse past design data and ensure proper design
control to save time and improve quality.

Regardless of your role in the planning process, working in 3D can help you
more clearly define your work plan, more effectively collaborate with other
parties, and more easily put together bids that win contracts.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 1

 EQUIPMENT DESIGN

Most process and plant design projects require many different pieces of
equipment, which are usually sourced from a variety of manufacturers.
Working in 3D allows you to take advantage of design libraries, online
equipment models, and configuration capabilitiessuch as those available
at www.3dcontentcentral.comso you can size each piece of equipment for
the task and space required.

You can also use 3D to visualize how a piece of equipment will appear and
operate on the factory floor. Are there any clearance or interference issues?
Where will you run piping, cabling, conduit, and other utilities? Have you left
ample room for operators to run and maintain the equipment? Can you see
how the equipment will function in its intended setting? Are there other
equipment options that offer a better solution?

Whether you are an equipment manufacturer or a plant layout engineer, 3D

tools give you the ability to determine how a particular piece of equipment will
perform in a specified footprint and configure the equipment to match your
specific needs.

... a case in point

Pflow Industries, Inc., the manufacturer
of the most complete line of vertical
reciprocating conveyors (VRCs) in the
industry, improved its performance
by moving to 3D. Using SolidWorks
design software, the company cut the
time required to make design changes
by 50 percent and substantially
reduced the number of errors released
to manufacturing.

3D DESIGN

Bringing the various pieces of equipment and subsystems together to develop

a processing system or a plant demands 3D design tools. How else can you
avoid problems related to fitting different subsystems together and delays
Using 3D tools with an integrated
PDM system, you can quickly when modifications need to be made? 3D tools allow you to automate the
combine and tightly manage all design of certain subsystems such as piping runs, configure and reuse
subsystems design data, eliminating proven designs, and process design changes quickly and easily.
the potential for data loss or using
the wrong revision. Using 3D tools with an integrated PDM system, you can quickly combine and
tightly manage all subsystems design data, eliminating the potential for data
loss or using the wrong revision. With 3D, you can visualize the entire system
or plantand even take a virtual fly-through of the facilitywithout building
a model, gaining the confidence that all systems will work well together.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 2

 Managing different design elementsusually from several vendorsand
SolidWorks was the only
bringing it together into one final design will save you time, money, and costly
solution with integrated design,
surprises. 3D design tools will help you to streamline the design process.
piping, structural, simulation, and
documentation capabilities. We can
... a case in point
see, analyze, and document every
Eastern Power Limited leveraged
design detail right in the 3D model
integrated SolidWorks 3D design
and easily coordinate design
tools to develop a 280 MW, natural
activities for a complex project
gas-fired, combined cycle power
without translating data to other
generation plant. By moving to 3D,
tools.
the company completed the facility
in 50 percent less time and at 60
Orlando Linero
percent less cost.
Plant Designer
Eastern Power Limited

SIMULATION

Design errorsincluding systems and components that do not function as

intendedare the primary reason for costly and time-consuming engineering
rework and delays. Streamline your process but still fall short of on-time
delivery if portions of the final design fail and have to be redone.

By employing integrated 3D simulation software, you can avoid surprises

during construction. These tools enable you to validate design performance
during the design phase by simulating the effects of structural loads,
temperatures, and fluid flows, as well as gauge energy requirements.
Simulation allows you to pinpoint potential failures, so you can modify designs
to prevent them. It can also help you to improve design performance, cut
material costs, and reduce energy requirements.

Eliminating unanticipated failures during construction is critical to delivering

projects on-time and within budget. Integrated 3D simulation software, operating
inside your CAD design system, can help you achieve this important goal.

... a case in point

Assembly & Test Worldwides
Advanced Assembly Automation
division, which specializes in
developing component assembly
and test systems for automotive
industry plants, used SolidWorks
Simulation software to cut its design
costs by 10 percent, reduce steel
usage by 10 to 15 percent, and
increase throughput by 10 percent.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 3

 DOCUMENTATION

Documenting process and plant design projectsincluding the creation of

engineering drawings, manuals, material take-offs/bills of materials
(MTOs/BOMs), and illustrationsrequires an organized approach to managing
design data. By combining 3D design and integrated PDM software, you can
secure your valuable intellectual property, organize project design data, and
automate the generation of high-quality documentation.

3D tools eliminate manual approaches to documentation production. Using

3D CAD software, in conjunction with an integrated PDM system, you can
automatically create drawings, material take-offs/bills of materials
(MTOs/BOMs), and illustrations, and securely store them electronically.
With photorealistic rendering software, you can create stunning visuals for
use in operating manuals and project communications. You can even create
animated instructions of assembly operations using 3D technical
communications software.

Effective documentation of your process and plant design projects is

imperative to meeting deadlines and remaining within budget ceilings. 3D
tools not only automate documentation creation, but also improve the quality
of documentation materials.
We have experienced an increase
in productivity in mechanical ... a case in point
equipment design, reducing the F.L. Smidth & Co. A/S, the worlds
engineering effort by as much as 30 principal builder of cement plants,
percent, which is our final goal, while implemented SolidWorks Enterprise
simultaneously improving design PDM (product data management)
quality and minimizing errors. But software. By doing so, the company
the mechanical equipment is only integrated its global engineering
the first stage in the development operations, reducing its mechanical
of a cement plant. We anticipate equipment engineering effort by
additional productivity gains because 30 percent.
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM provides
the data foundation through which
we intend to refine workflows and
PROCUREMENT AND CONSTRUCTION
introduce lean manufacturing
initiatives. It enables us to re-evaluate Once your process and plant design is complete, its time to procure equipment
our business processes on a global
and materials, and begin construction. This is also the time when delays can
scale.
crop up due to production stoppages and inefficient interaction with vendors
Sture Plaugmann and suppliers. You can avoid these unforeseen setbacks by using a 3D
Executive Assistant development platform in concert with an integrated PDM system.
F.L. Smidth & Co. A/S
PDM allows you to formalize and manage workflows, so that estimating and
quoting take place well in advance, resulting in just-in-time delivery of materials
and equipment. For equipment that must be manufactured or fabricated by a
supplier, 3D design data streamlines the manufacturing process by eliminating
redundant data entry and facilitating production. Using 3D tools also elevates
quality and ensures thatcyou receive your equipment and systems as designed.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 4

 Procuring equipment and materials and building your plant or processing
SolidWorks Simulation tools allow system may be the last step in the process, but it is also one of the most
us not only to study the effects of
critical to delivering your project on-time. 3D tools can help you make sure
stress, flow, and temperature on
that construction goes off without a hitch.
our designs, but also to ensure an
appropriate factor of safety.
... a case in point
The Martifer Group, a global
Antnio Caroo
construction, energy, and biofuels
Director of Information Systems
company, standardized on
and Best Practices
SolidWorks design, simulation, and
Martifer Group
PDM tools. The company was able
to streamline operations, reduce
development costs, increase
innovation, and cut development
cycles by 15 percent in the process.

3D design solves critical process and plant design issues

Although every process and plant design project has its own unique
requirements, they all share the same goals. You want to build a plant or
processing system that performs optimally as fast as you can, while controlling
costs. To do so, you need to address a range of challenges and obstacles to
success. This paper has addressed how 3D tools can help you to streamline
process and plant development so you can achieve your objectives.

This section will more specifically address how SolidWorks 3D solutions

including SolidWorks design, SolidWorks Simulation, SolidWorks Enterprise
PDM, SolidWorks Sustainability, and 3DVIA Composer softwarecan help
you overcome the design challenges that you face.

Controlling costs

The costs related to process and plant development are diverse. SolidWorks
solutions can help you to control costs in various ways:

Energy costs In process and plant development, energy costs are

an important consideration. SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks
Sustainability software enable you to evaluate and identify potential energy
savings as they relate to both construction and operation of the plant or
system. With SolidWorks Routing software, you can help to automate and
optimize the layout of cabling, piping, and other energy delivery systems.

Opportunity costs Lost financial opportunity due to failure to begin

operation of a facility on-time is a real concern to plant owners. SolidWorks
design software provides tools for reducing engineering time. With
SolidWorks Simulation software, you can eliminate errors, improve quality,
and minimize rework. SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software controls
revisions, automates workflows, and improves coordination. Together,
these solutions can help prevent lost operational opportunity.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 5

 Capital costs Controlling capital costs requires developing a process
or plant as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. SolidWorks design
software enables you to quickly work through various design approaches
that often use less costly standardization and modular design techniques,
which can result in simpler, less costly designs. In fact, many manufacturers
of standard components use SolidWorks to design their products and
provide models that can be dragged and dropped into your design to
speed modeling. See www.3dcontentcentral.com for leading examples.
SolidWorks Simulation software lets you optimize material usage to
reduce material costs. By supporting common data formats, SolidWorks
design software facilitates collaboration with important suppliers, and
can help you bring designs online faster, improving the return on your
capital investment.

Operational costs The cost of running a plant or facility is as equally

The cost of running a plant or important as the cost to build it. SolidWorks Simulation and SolidWorks
facility is as equally important as Sustainability software can help you to gauge your operational energy
the cost to build it.
costs and consider design options for reducing it. You can use SolidWorks
design software to address maintenance needs. SolidWorks Simulation
software lets you ensure reliability and prevent failures and costly retrofits.
These 3D tools can help you to better understand and address
operational costs as part of the design process.

Engineering services costs Optimizing the impact of engineering

services prevents additional costs for future services. SolidWorks
solutionsand those provided by its range of Solution Partnersenable
you to optimize equipment design and layout development. SolidWorks
Enterprise PDM software facilitates effective coordination with
subcontractors. Together, these solutions enable you to hold the line on
engineering services costs.

SolidWorks Sustainability is SUITE OF TOOLS that enables the

product and process designer to make better decisions on
materials and sourcing regarding efficient resource use.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 6

 Ensuring on-time delivery
Making the interaction among
Delivering a processing system or plant on-time requires a smooth-running
contributors more streamlined and
efficient saves time and often
development process that is free of waste, duplicated effort, and redundancy.
results in better designs. You can ensure on-time delivery by eliminating errors, managing data, and
streamlining processes.

Minimize design errors Making sure that a process or plant design

has no unanticipated problems or surprises is a key factor to completing
projects on-time. With SolidWorks design, SolidWorks Simulation, and
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM solutions, you will have the ability to identify
and correct errors during the design phase, well before they can generate
problems or delays.

Eliminate duplication of effort Duplicated effort is not just wasted

effort; it can also derail your projects. Because SolidWorks solutions are
fully integrated and compatible with 2D legacy data, you should never
have to re-create a model or a drawing. You can use SolidWorks design,
SolidWorks Simulation, and SolidWorks Enterprise PDM capabilities with
whatever legacy design data you may have, eliminating the need for
duplication of effort.

Improve data management Time spent searching for a model or

locating the most current revision can add hours, days, and even weeks
to project schedules. With SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software, you can
manage engineering data effectively and locate models and drawings
immediately, cutting time spent trying to manage design data manually.

Streamline interaction With multiple parties involved in process and

plant designincluding equipment manufacturers, subcontractors,
engineering services firms, skid systems developers, and owner/
operatorsinteraction among them is a given. Making the interaction
among contributors more streamlined and efficient saves time and often
results in better designs. With SolidWorks support for common data
formats, you can work design communication tools also facilitate smooth,
efficient interaction.

SolidWorks Simulation tools enable structural, kinematic,

thermal, and flow simulationall critical tools for process
design tasks.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 7

 Creating successful bids

Winning process and plant development contracts in todays environment

requires the ability to quickly turn around solid, information-rich proposals.
3D design tools provide the most effective capabilities for developing quality
bids faster than the competition.

Communicate design intent To win process and plant development

business, you need to effectively communicate design intent. SolidWorks
Not only do you need to develop a
design softwarein combination with SolidWorks PhotoView 360
good proposal to win business, you
also have to respond quickly to new photorealistic rendering and 3DVIA Composer technical communications
opportunities. softwaregives you the ability to generate high-quality 3D visualizations of
design intent.

Accelerate response time Not only do you need to develop a good

proposal to win business, you also have to respond quickly to new
opportunities. SolidWorks design software helps you to accelerate bid
response time by providing tools that let you maximize design reuse.
With SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software, you can also find and
assemble existing design information into new bids quickly and easily.

SolidWorks is used to design components, equipment, and

complete processes such as this brewing facility. (image
courtesy of SETECH, S.A. Brazil)

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 8

 Meeting specifications consistently

To win process and plant design business, you need an established track
record of successfully and consistently meeting project specifications. This
means developing reliable, functional, well-documented systems.

Ensure process design interoperability Consistency requires

interoperability. Your process designs need to work with your own
system and those of your customers and collaborators. With SolidWorks
design software, you can take advantage of support for a wide range of
data formats to enable data sharing. Use of standardization and
modular design further improves interoperability.

Improve documentation quality In addition to meeting specifications

consistently, you need to be able to show new customers that you have
done so. SolidWorks design, SolidWorks PhotoView 360 rendering, and
3DVIA Composer software enable you to create the professional,
high-quality project documentation that serves as a testament to your
consistent performance.

With 3DVIA Composer software,

we can document our products in a
professional manner directly from
the final CAD model, which allows
us to reduce the time it takes to
document common designs by
about 25 percent and large,
complex assemblies by 35 to
50 percent. If we make design
changes, we do not have to do all
the work again. Instead, we can
simply update the documentation
with the revised model. Our
SolidWorks tools enable us to
develop concepts from creation
through documentation as quickly
as possible.

Antoine Corbeil
President 3DVIA Composer was created to help generate technical
Brayton Energy Canada documentation for assembly, maintenance, and construction
processes for everyone in the ORGANIZATIONnot just for
engineering.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 9

 Improving design coordination
Maximizing design reuse lets you
With so many contributors involved in process and plant design projects,
employ the same proven design
again and again in new projects, design coordination becomes the name of the game. Software that enables
allowing you to save design and you to handle this coordination the most deftly and productively will make
testing time. you the most successful in meeting time and budget targets.

Prevent data losses and errors Data transfers and file conversions
are fraught with the potential for data loss, corruption, and error.
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software allows you to avoid these pitfalls
by securely safeguarding data. By supporting common data formats,
SolidWorks eliminates the need for conversions. SolidWorks design
communication tools facilitate interaction and communication without
putting valuable design data in jeopardy.

Eliminate data entry duplication In todays high-technology world, no

one should ever have to re-enter data or re-create models or drawings.
SolidWorks Enterprise PDM software and SolidWorks support for
common data formats mean that duplicate data entry is truly becoming
a thing of the past.

Increase design reuse Nothing improves coordination like realizing

that you can save time by using a design that already exists instead
of reinventing it. Maximizing design reuse lets you employ the same
proven design again and again in new projects, allowing you to save
design and testing time. With SolidWorks design and SolidWorks
Enterprise PDM software, finding the same standardized, proven,
existing designs is quick and easy.

SolidWorks Enterprise PDM facilitates workflow management,

revision control, design reuse, and cost control for
equipment or process designs.

S tream l ine P rocess and P l ant D esi g n wit h 3 D 10

 Energizing Process and Plant Design with 3D
With an integrated 3D development
platform like SolidWorks, you can Process and plant design has reached an exciting crossroads, where
begin your trip into the future of traditional 2D approaches are giving way to more efficient, reliable 3D
process and plant design and open development techniques. We live in a 3D world, and technology, increasing
up new avenues of productivity, competition, innovative products, and new technologies demand a more
efficiency, and growth.
visual, better organized approach to developing the factories and process
systems of the new millennium.

In industries as diverse as oil and gas production, alternative fuels

development, power generation, pharmaceuticals, food processing, mining,
wastewater treatment, and manufacturing, the need to complete process
and plant design projects quickly, reliably, and affordably is now more
important than ever.

Streamlining process and plant design is not a destination, however.

Its a journey, an ongoing quest to control costs, deliver on-time, perform
reliably, and improve coordination and collaboration. From planning,
equipment design, and 3D design to simulation, documentation, and
procurement/construction, designing and building a modern facility is a
complex, elaborate undertaking, a journey fraught with challenges to
overcome. With an integrated 3D development platform like SolidWorks,
you can begin your trip into the future of process and plant design and open
up new avenues of productivity, efficiency, and growth. Lets get started.

To learn more about how SolidWorks solutions can improve process and
plant design for you, visit www.solidworks.com/energy-process-plant or
call 1 800 693 9000.

Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corp.

300 Baker Avenue
Concord, MA 01742 USA
Phone: 1 800 693 9000
Outside the US: +1 978 371 5011
Email: [email protected] www.solidworks.com
SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systmes SolidWorks Corp. All other company and product names are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective owners. 2010 Dassault Systmes. All rights reserved. MKEPPWPENG0610