The plant design journey is filled with challenges that require effective solutions to overcome. From conceptualization to completion, plant designers must consider project costs, safety concerns, environmental regulations, and increasing efficiency. However, a range of challenges can complicate this process, including visibility issues, file compatibility, and workflow inefficiencies.
Key Challenges in Plant Design
Lack of Visibility in Designs
One of the most significant challenges for plant designers is the lack of visibility throughout the design process. Traditional workflows often involved linear designs, where different teams worked in silos without the ability to collaborate in real-time. This delayed feedback and resulted in inefficiencies, as changes made at the end could significantly impact earlier design stages.
File Compatibility Across Solutions
Another common issue is the challenge of file compatibility. With numerous plant design software solutions available, converting files from one format to another is often necessary but time-consuming. This fragmentation slows down the design process and can introduce errors.
Meeting Industry Requirements
Ensuring that all industry standards are met is critical. Whether it's finding the right manufacturer for equipment or ensuring all safety standards are adhered to, project teams often struggle with aligning every aspect of the design with strict industry regulations. Compromises may be made that could impact the overall design integrity.
2D and 3D Collaboration
Designers today need to work in both 2D and 3D environments. However, most software platforms do not seamlessly integrate these two views, forcing designers to create two separate models for 2D and 3D, increasing time and inefficiency in the process.
Accuracy of Deliverables
Ensuring the accuracy of deliverables such as Bill of Materials (BOM) or isometric drawings is another challenge. Often, there are discrepancies between the design model and the actual output, which can lead to costly errors during fabrication.
Difficult Migrations
Companies using multiple systems face additional challenges when trying to migrate data between different platforms. This process often results in loss of information or the need for manual data re-entry, which increases the likelihood of errors and project delays.
Inefficient Workflows with Multiple Software
Inefficient workflows arise when different team members use different software applications to work on the same project. This leads to fragmented processes, delays in communication, and sometimes conflicting design data, all of which negatively impact the project timeline.
The Solution: Hexagon's Integrated Plant Design Tools
As plant design projects grow more complex, you need software solutions that are robust, connected, and capable of integrating every aspect of your workflow. Hexagon's Plant Design solutions, such as CADWorx® and Smart® P&ID, offer comprehensive tools that streamline the design process, ensuring you can work efficiently from conceptual design through to construction and fabrication.
With real-time collaboration through cloud access, designers can interact with models in both 2D and 3D, providing a more intuitive visualization experience. This integration helps you avoid costly errors before they become a problem, ensuring your designs meet safety standards, adhere to industry regulations, and deliver accurate outputs.
Concluding Thoughts
Efficient plant design requires solutions that enhance collaboration, support industry requirements, and provide reliable outputs. Cortex Engineering Software, as a channel partner of Hexagon in Australia, is here to help you implement and optimize Hexagon's industry-leading design solutions. Whether you're working on a small project or a large-scale design, solutions like CADWorx Plant Professional and Smart P&ID can transform your workflow, enabling faster, more accurate designs that you can trust.
Discover how Cortex Engineering Software can support your plant design journey with Hexagon’s solutions.
Originally authored by Chris Bradshaw, with over 15 years of experience in training and implementation of CADWorx & Analysis Solutions.
