PuK - Process Technology & Components 2024

Components
Plant documentation
Getting started is easier than you think
Plant Documentation 4.0 – an essential enabler for Industry 4.0
Dipl.-Ing. (BA) Martin Dubovy, Dipl.-Betriebsw. (FH) Evelyn Landgraf
Specialist articles on Industry 4.0
generally emphasize the aspect of
technical feasibility of the consistent,
intelligent networking of machines,
processes and personnel: What gateways,
protocols and platforms will be
needed to interlink machines from
different manufacturers? What legal
requirements have to be observed?
How can security be designed to
avoid hacker attacks? However, one
aspect that is often overlooked is
this: Digitalized plants and processes
can only be reliably administered
if documentation is available that reflects
the current status of the production
plants. In many places reality
is still far removed from Plant
Documentation 4.0 – despite the fact
that it is just as essential to the success
of Industry 4.0 as the necessary
communication techniques and all
security concepts.
We are living in a time of perpetual
change. This is also reflected in industrial
production. Manufacturing processes
are continually adapted and
optimized; products are increasingly
being individually manufactured. This
is not new, because in the past, too,
production plants were in a state of
perpetual change: failed components
were replaced, software patches and
updates were installed, process optimization
programs were developed,
and much more. Nevertheless, this
trend is gaining speed and processes
are becoming more dynamic.
tally with plant reality, is always very
time-consuming – thus quality control
process is generally confined to
some random checks. Thus, often
enough, plant documentation does
not even correspond to plant reality
at the start – and even if it does correspond
initially, the task of keeping
the status of this documentation up
to date is anything but trivial. The bigger
and more complex the plant, the
greater this challenge appears. It may
even sound a little schizophrenic to
be talking about digital twins on the
one hand, whereas in many places a
daily struggle is still going on to master
plant documentation with the aid
of paper documents, Excel lists and
complex file structures. However, this
is exactly where Plant Documentation
4.0 can make a vital contribution, especially
if a system is also able to simplify
the management of changes.
Current status of all built-in
components – and much more
In sectors such as petrochemicals,
chemicals, logistics, manufacturing,
in power plants, plant construction
or the pharmaceutical industry, production
processes are generally complex,
and plants often assume gigantic
proportions. Thus, these sectors
of industry have had to rely on digital
documentation for a long time
now to keep track of the as-built status
of their plants and manage the
relevant interrelated processes. So,
it is not surprising that a company
like Rösberg Engineering GmbH from
Karlsruhe – already active in these
sectors for decades – developed digital
solutions many years ago in order
to keep an overview of the flood
of information in these types of
plants. The Account Manager Plant
Solutions at RÖSBERG Engineering
GmbH comments: “With our I&C-CAE
system ProDOK (Fig. 1) we primarily
document the planning and construction
of plants. However, it is also
important to know the current status
and components built in during
the operational phase. Our software
tool LiveDOK (Fig. 2) helps with the
administration and documentation
of changes. A main focus of the tool
is on simply find documentation updates
and enabling the changes to be
made available to everyone quickly
and easily.”
Reliable documentation of
as-built status
As-built documentation – meaning
documentation that reflects the actual
state of a new plant – has always
been required for commissioning,
but in fact the time and resources
involved in preparing the relevant
documents is always immense.
And controlling the delivered documents,
to make sure they really do
Fig. 1: ProDOK is the I&C-CAE system for the planning and operational support of process
control equipment in process plants. ProDOK enables rational, consistent project planning
and consistent documentation, ensuring an integrated planning process that follows unified
rules. (Copyright: Rösberg)
PROCESS TECHNOLOGY & COMPONENTS 2024
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