There is a saying: 'if it’s not broke, don’t fix it', but we all know what that means: no improvements, constant design speed, and technological stagnation. Many companies are reluctant to switch to a modern system because this means replacing something that is perceived to already be working well enough. Furthermore, where piping isometrics are manually produced using a separate package, this again requires further duplication of data and gives scope for problems to arise. Even when intelligent P&IDs can be produced, the lack of integration between the packages means that much of the design data has to be input again during the pipework layout stage, and there is no way to check the consistency of the design data from P&ID to pipework layout. This in turn leads to lengthy design times, poor overall design quality and inevitably, downstream construction problems and delays.įor example, with many P&ID drafting packages the resulting P&IDs often contain simple graphics with little or no detailed information about the actual components to be used. This leads to the duplication of design data input at each stage, and therefore many opportunities for human error to creep in. When the above tasks are undertaken using traditional drafting methods, or even with specialised, but separate, unintegrated software packages, this results in poor re-use of information between the design stages. These drawings detail each pipe spool ready for manufacture and assembly. Lastly, piping isometric drawings are generated for the pipework. This is followed by the creation of a pipework layout that shows the position of the process equipment and the interconnected pipework, steelwork and other necessary components. Process plant design begins with the creation of a piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) to define the overall process. Many manual steps when designing pipework Cambridge, UK and Pittsford, NY – 25 April 2019: The design of process plant and pipework requires the creation of P&IDs, the design of process equipment and pipe systems, and the production of the associated piping isometric drawings.

Isometric pipe design