The Engineering IT Revolution – Friend or Foe?

Colin AstinTechnical DirectorCB&I John Brown Limited

The Engineering IT Revolution – Friend or Foe?

In the beginning …..

The Industrial Revolution

100 years

The Engineering IT Revolution

10 years

The 10 year jump

1978We acquired a Prime mini computer and a

£14,000 Tektronix 4014 terminal1990 +By the early 90’s when SG machines were

introduced we had abolished drawing boards2002No space for drawings boards and we run

PDMS on a PC with two flat screens

Quotations …..

Quotes

• ‘’The first contractor to go back to pencil and paper will make a fortune’’ (John Brown Director circa 1988)

Quotes

• ‘’Can we finish off the ISOs by hand?’’ (most of the Piping Group)

Quotes

• If you don’t use CAD you won’t pre-qualify for this project (various Oil Companies)

Then and now …..

The Model

The Plastic Model

The Computer Model

Conceptual Design

The human factor …..

The Human FactorEarly days

• Low computer literacy• Paper designs• Design copied into 3-D CAD• Deliverables partly automated but some

marked up

The Human FactorDevelopment stage

• Higher computer literacy• Design developed in CAD• Deliverables direct from 3-D CAD

BUT• Same working methods

The Human FactorToday

• Working methods changed– Single point data entry (MTO etc.)– Parallel working

• Different deliverables– Fabricator generates spools from model– No PGA’s

• Significant productivity gain• Substantial construction benefits

Case study 1

• 200 plus ISO’s with one team on a fast track schedule = poor productivity

• Introduced progress tracking using spare PDMS attributes

• Each designer is identified by his initials against each pipe run

• Pipe progressed in 6 stages using simple status codes and content definition

Case study 2

• Major bottleneck in pipe supports• Shortage of pipe support designers• Additional manpower produced lower

productivity• Support design lagged piping design• Workflow investigation concluded that skilled

support designers were being used inefficiently

Simple support

Complex support

Case study 2 – The solution

• Pipers design simple supports under supervision

• Complex supports reserved for the most competent designers

• Less computer literate designers do checking rather than data input

The future

Short term challenge –

• Further incremental improvements• Parallel working• Remove obsolete tasks• Develop technical skills base

The future

Longer term developments –

• Project life cycle improvements– Construction, commissioning, operation

• Information accessibility– Data warehousing

• Work sharing

Summary

• The revolution was bloodless but not painless• Our design tools are now radically different

– We are more efficient– We have shrunk the world– We are moving towards project life cycle

improvements

• The Engineering IT revolution :– FRIEND not foe!