Engineering Standards 1

[DGrayPPD]

Good morning all,

It has been a while since I have needed any guidance, but I am in search of it today. And before I get started, I know this may not necessarily be the correct place for this type of question, however I get them most helpful answers on this forum.

First let me give a little background for anyone who may not already know. I work for a small process engineering firm (20-30 people) who has been trying to expand into detail engineering and design for the past few years. For the most part, every procedure has been done on a sort of trial and error basis. The owner/CEO of the company has asked me to try to standardize our procedures to have more consistent and higher quality products and deliverables.

Now this may be asking a bit much, but any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. So far the standards that I have come up with are as follows:

CADD Drafting Standards
P&ID Drafting Standards
Autodesk Plant 3D Project Setup Procedures (the software we utilize)
Autodesk Plant 3D Project Management
3D Model Review Procedures along with checklists for 30%, 60%, & 90% stage
Construction Package Standard Sheets (such as cover sheets and drawing indexes)
Plant Layout & Piping Design Standard Practices
Checklist for Isometrics, Plot Plans, Piping Plans, & Nozzle Orientations

1) Does anyone have any advice for any additional procedures or standards that may be beneficial for detailed design?
2) My boss also wants to try and come up with Quality Management procedures and Document Control procedures, along with re-organizing the file structure we currently use to eliminate duplicate file locations and confusion about where files are to be stored. This seems to be above my pay grade and seems better suited for a top manager who is capable of making decisions about how the company should operate. But does anyone have any advice on where to begin for such procedures?

Thanks for any advice I may get

 

[MFJewell]

Equipment naming/numbering standard (though you may end up following clients existing scheme)
Calculation standard (only useful if calculations are a deliverable)

Good luck with document control, every place I have worked seems to make a mess of it. You may reach out to some large EPCs and see if you can get info on what they use for DC and QM. You could also try software vendors that offer document management software to see what they offer and then tailor your procedures around whatever system you put in place.

 

[pennpiper]

Re: your questions,

(1) The following items (in my opinion) are mandatory for the successful operation of an Engineering Organization. They should be done in this specific order.
a. Scope Of Work (sow)- Develop a full SOW. Recognize that you cannot do an Estimate (for a project) if you do not first develop and get Client Approval of the full SOW by Engineering Discipline/Group (Process, Civil, Structural, Mechanical, Vessels, Piping, Electrical, Instrumentation, etc).
b. Manhour Estimate- Have a structured Discipline related format for the Estimate for each Group by Activities, Services and Deliverables. You cannot develop an Estimate if you do not know what you are going to do.
c. Schedule - Have a structured common Calendar format Schedule for each Disciplines.
d. Progress Report - Have a structured simple format for monthly Reporting Progress by Activities (defined in the SOW) for each Discipline. The last or End of Project Report (EPR) should include total actual hours spent by discipline.
f. Project Statistical Data - Have a systematic method for collecting and displaying "End Of Job" statistical data on every project. No two projects are every the same BUT there are relationships and comparisons that can be made for Estimating purposes. There may be common patterns and factors by: Client, Project Type, Location, Weather and Soil conditions, Modular vs Stick Build, Direct Build vs Sub-Contract, etc.

Go here

http://pipingdesigners.com/index.php/contents/tips-tools-training

at Section 2 to see examples of these items (and more).

(2) Go here and do some reading on file systems and other data..

https://kb.construction-institute.org/Best-Practices

Sometimes its possible to do all the right things and still get bad results

 

[DGrayPPD]

Thank you both. And yes, I agree that document control is a nightmare. Not really sure that that is even an area that I want to tackle. I may just get them to purchase a copy of the ISO 9000 series standards and hand it to them.

 

[MikeHalloran]

If they really want to get that organized, they probably should hire a Document Control Specialist, to set up the system, and especially, enforce it.

The good ones have, er, strong personalities.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[DGrayPPD]

Is there any particular software out there that anyone knows of that is good for DC? That could be another option I bring up to them, but I agree that a person hired specifically for DC or QM should be the way to go.

The issue we run into is that these tasks get assigned to random individuals like myself to establish during down time. But once work picks up and I have to transition back to a project full time, the standards will be pushed to the back burner and not looked at again for a year and then the process will practically start all over.

That is pretty much why they are not in place today. Too many people in the past have been assigned the task of coming up with them and they either leave the company for other opportunities or they receive a project that takes their full focus rather than standards. So nothing is ever finalized.

 

[MFJewell]

iDocs is one that I thought was decent. Can't recall the names or publishers of any other ones I have experience on. You could also use SharePoint sites and customize it to your needs.

 

[LittleInch]

Detail design you're going to be getting involved on some project to buying stuff, so how you organise MTO, take off, requisitions, whatever you call them its a list of bits you want someone to supply and the information needs to be presented clearly.

File structures my aim is KISS.

Use the fine name / deliverable numbering structure to sort things rather than multiple folders.

Just have a main folder and a superceded folder for each main discipline and that's it. Far too many people end up with multiple nested layers. Oh and include the name of the deliverable in the file name....

where's your actual process design / design software and rules and procedures for analysis?

It seemed a skimpy list.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[DGrayPPD]

The process design procedures I believe have actually already been developed in the past. My main focus is the piping department standards and procedures, and then a couple general standards to provide uniformity throughout departments such as the CADD standards.

I do not have the knowledge or experience to tackle the standards for every individual department though. Which is also why I'm a little reluctant to try and tackle QM and DC standards as well.

 

[dik]

Nearly all our clients have their own CAD standards, layer name, line types and weights.

Dik

 

[MickMc]

Attached is Process Industries Practicies (2003) index which lists their Standards & Specs which may give you an idea of typical generated by each discipline during project. Not all are required and there may be some missing depending on type and size of project and note that it lists all its piping classes individually which would not be the case during project as they would all be included in Piping Material Specification.