Digitizing Brownfield Assets: 4 Ways to Improve Efficiency & Cost Savings
- November 14, 2016
Digitizing Brownfield Assets: 4 Ways to Improve Efficiency & Cost Savings
- November 14, 2016
Digitization of brownfield assets is significantly important as it addresses the industry problems in the modification and expansion of existing plants/units/sub-units and areas (brownfield projects) within the plant.
Most of the times we hear news about owner operators taking the initiative to build a new refinery and EPC’s being awarded with those projects which are in multi-billion-dollar budget. Not undermining the brownfield projects, as often these projects are big in size and they hold high dollar value.
- Especially for plant designers, as digitization helps them address unique challenges such as capturing data when facility is functioning, hazardous conditions.
- Many times, brownfield projects don’t have data in digital format. This results in many hundred hours of review and analyzing of existing detailed engineering work and it’s also prone to errors.
Now, that we have addressed the problem, let’s review the solutions that addresses the problems.
Value Proposition:
We will discuss 4 key value proposition points that signifies importance of digitizing brownfield assets via laser scanning.
Value Proposition 1: Prevent Data Loss and Reduce Hours of Work
As mentioned above, hundreds of hours are spent understanding, reviewing and analyzing engineering data through drawings, pictures, documentation and discussing with resources who were involved the brownfield assets. The engineers/designers might have to travel to the brownfield facility for review and gather data. Especially, photographs taken at the brownfield facility do not provide enough information. The engineers/designers have to still verify the engineering data through available drawings. Doesn’t this seem a lot of work, yet we don’t have complete data and it error prone.
What if the brownfield facility was laser scanned and all the data was captured which is accessible to engineers/designers?
Value Proposition 2: Prevents Risking Human Lives
Usually, these brownfield projects sites are at a remote location. This increases the risk to human lives especially when capturing the data. Especially, when the facility is in running condition & site engineers are working in hazardous area or explosion zone area of the facility. The site engineers have to work long hours to meet the “shut down” time which leads to high deadline and increased pressure to finish the task in given time.
What if brownfield facility was laser scanned and all the data was captured which is accessible to engineers/designers without putting any human lives in danger?
Value proposition 3: Precise and “As is data”
Data that is captured from laser scanning devices is accurate and photographic. “As is data” is captured and it is precise.
Value Proposition 4: Instant Data Availability
Entire facility can be laser scanned and the data gathered from various locations within the facility can be registered in laser scanning applications. Once the data registration is complete, data can be instantly read in various engineering design applications which can facilitate generation of 3d models using engineering catalog, designers can generate orthographic, isometric, detailed drawings and perform clash checks. The data will be valuable for future projects.
At Bursys Engineering Services for brownfield projects, we offer value solutions/services that will value add to your base design, detailed design and generate deliverable data for owner operators, EPC’s and their contractors.