Engineering data available worldwide

As is the case with most globally operating plant manufacturing companies, many different software solutions were in use at the GEA L Group. Due to this, problems with compatibility, duplicate entries and information management often occurred. These individual solutions were far from ideal for the job of making expertise and data transfers from one workgroup to another easier, especially in view of the fact that these workgroups are dispersed over the entire globe. What was lacking was an engineering system that, as well as offering modern features, also guaranteed an ex-tremely high level of integration. It is hoped throughout the plant manufacturing branch that optimum design efficiency will be achieved in future by placing great importance on integration. Starting as early as the bidding phase, integration ends with maintenance and operation of a finished system.

Following an extensive evaluation period, GEA Liquid Processing made the decision to purchase the Cadison engineering software. Cadison not only offers a convincing integration strategy, but also demonstrates a high level of flexibility due to its special software design. It thus allows special requirements to be catered for without having to alter the source code in any way. With Cadison customising there is maximum flexibility when it comes to special demands, combined with all the advantages of a standard solution.

In order to integrate Cadison optimally into the engineering processes of the GEA L Group, an international project team consisting of eight people was charged with drawing up an “Engineering Handbook.“ The purpose of this handbook was to des-cribe what the planning process at Cadison should look like in the future. As a result of the Engineering Handbook, and in collaboration with the software provider, a list of desired features and functions was produced, in which the requirements for Cadison were stipulated and defined exactly. The most significant of these was the definition of the GEA-specific demands and their possible representation in Cadison. A further point of emphasis was a precise description of the demands placed on the SAP interface, since integration of the material data into the complete SAP workflow was required in this case.

By bringing together workgroups from around the world, the GEA L Group hoped for synergetic effects that would be reflected in reduced engineering time. Moreover, the entire planning process (costing, bid, 3D pipe design, installation planning, piping, as well as wiring and material requirement planning) was expected to be optimised and accelerated. At the same time, Cadison allows catalogue and product data to be used conveniently in the future.

The Cadison program has a modular structure. The modules are able to run independently and are based on a global database – the Cadison plant manufacturing data model. All project data is archived and managed centrally in this database. If the object data is changed, then this change has consequences for all the drawings and reports belonging to a project.

The Cadison Engineer runs under Windows NT and serves the purpose of structuring and designing a plant without a CAD system.

The individual elements of the plant, such as machines, instruments, valves, pumps and so on, are defined using characteristic data; they are then combined and assigned to assemblies and plant sections.

Before a flow chart is drawn, the structures and components that have been created in the Cadison Engineer so far using drag and drop techniques are transferred. This saves a great deal of time and virtually rules out errors.

Data can also be edited with the Cadison Engineer (even over the Internet) without having to install AutoCAD on the worksta-tion. The integrated Autodesk Viewer permits the flow charts to be viewed without AutoCAD, and annotations can be entered if desired (redlining). The Cadison Engineer software is also suitable for development engineers who do not actually draw them-selves, but who need to create and edit project data. In addition, it is possible to build libraries for individual plant section with the Cadison Engineer software.

Characteristic data can be exported in list form to MS-Excel or to another database, where changes can be made before the data is imported back to Cadison. Reports can be created using the integrated Report Generator in WinWord. These are available as templates which the user can then revise as desired with minimal effort.

Any document can be attached to the objects (icons), e.g. specification text blocks and replacement part lists for bids. The measuring circuit design for the electrical equipment and „typicals“ for process engineering are also attached as documents. If detailed drawings need to be created in Cadison 2D or Cadison 3D, the flowsheet or the 3D installation diagram will be generated with the CAD front-end of AutoCAD from the object data that has already been defined using Cadison Engineer. All the objects in the database are entered in a list that can be processed by selecting and clicking on objects. 100% integration is guaranteed. It is also possible to work in the opposite direction, by entering objects in a flowsheet or a 3D installation diagram first. The characteristics will then be copied to the Cadison Engineer database.

In the future there will be even more communications difficulties facing the plant manufacturing industry. Owing to the growing degree of specialisation among individual workgroups, along with the fact that more and more companies of different nationalities will be working on any given plant, there will always be new obstacles to overcome. By choosing the most suitable Cadison workflow module, it will be possible to process all engineering data – online or off-line, no matter where and no matter when. This technology is based on the EU REMAP project, to which renowned partners in industry and research have contributed their knowledge and expertise. For the GEA L Group this means that future personnel resources can be utilised professionally worldwide.

Vögtlin Cadison Software

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Further information cpp-221

After a year of extensive evaluation, the GEA Liquid Processing Division has opted for Cadison.

The first step of the Cadison investment project entails implementing the software in the largest firms in the GEA L Group – Tuchenhagen, GEA Ahlborn, Brewery Systems, Pharma Systems, Flow Components and GEA Finnah. Subsequently, around market partners are to be included in the project.

The GEA L Group is one of the world’s leading suppliers of liquid processing systems. The various partners of the GEA L Group distributed around the globe design and build complete, automated, cleanable and sterilisable systems. With the help of the latest process automation techniques they take care of economically optimised processes, for example in dairies and breweries. Process integration, in other words incorporating existing or customer-defined components and equipment into an overall plant, and supplying complete turnkey systems are among the core competences of the GEA L Group. In addition, diverse modern machines and components are delivered for sub-processes in the brewing, soft beverages, milk and food processing industries, as well as in the pharmaceutical and chemical sectors.