Seamless and cross-disciplinary working

Engineering Base (EB) has been successful on the market for more than fifteen years. Numerous companies from very different industries with a wide range of requirements use EB today – from SAIPEM to Voith and Haldor Topsoe.

Together with customers and partners, EB is constantly being further developed. In working groups and at technology days, customers can clearly formulate their requirements and fine-tune things for new versions. For example, in the EB-EVU working group. "Employees from different companies and with different views work together to develop ideas and solutions for complex requirements. This body of experts, which is so valuable because of its diversity, makes decisions for global specifications. They enable the consistency of projects across company boundaries," says Andrea Hoch, Project Manager Engineering Base at Siemens Energy and a member since 2015. AUCOTEC has been working with plant manufacturers, engineering service providers and plant operators for more than three decades – all this experience is incorporated in EB.

One thing appears again and again: the cooperation between plant manufacturers and operators is a challenge. While some like to work in a modular way, it is important to others that everything functions to in-house standards. Both are possible with EB. The modular design as well as the integration of EB into existing systems – such as at Voith. "Engineering Base enables communication with other systems used at Voith, such as the ERP, and can map our modular product portfolio well. This way, Engineering Base provides us with continuous support from the initial quotation through the project itself to service," reports Dr Reiner Schneider, Senior Expert Product Improvement & Engineering Excellence.

Everything comes together at the operators. They need a reliable basis for documentation – this is where the data model as a digital twin is particularly valuable: all conversions and maintenance work can be traced in the twin – across all disciplines. "The cross-disciplinary principle of EB enables synergies in the areas of data transmission, interfaces and IT input. It also ensures that we avoid mistakes when working with suppliers," says Dr Robert Schleich, Head of Engineering at Infraserv Höchst, a leading site developer and expert in chemical-related services.

Whether in-house engineering or not – EB is made for a wide range of operator profiles. For example, for Holcim, one of the world's largest manufacturers of building materials. There, EB is used in process engineering and process automation. The offshore EPC SAIPEM is also reinforcing its engineering with EB from FEED to Process, Electrical and Instrumentation. EB also serves as the source and management system of their engineering catalogue. They all have one thing in common: more and more projects with more complex requirements. The degree of automation is growing, implementation times are becoming shorter. In addition, there is a growing skills shortage in Europe – resources are limited. Modular working and international cooperation are becoming increasingly important.

This is also the case at the Danish plant manufacturer and electrolysis and catalyst expert Haldor Topsoe. "The introduction of this system is a crucial milestone in our digital transformation," explains CIO Niels Keller-Larsen. "With EB our work is finally truly data-driven, across all engineering phases and disciplines on one data model!" A data model to overcome boundaries – globally, between tools and companies!