AVEVA World Magazine 2015(1)

MAGAZINE

2015 Issue 1

Preparing for the Future

AVEVA helps ADMA-OPCO to future-proof its assets

INSIDE

THIS EDITION

Corporate News

Confidence in Difficult Times 3 Driving Out Risk: AVEVA Acquires 8over8 22 Unlock the Power of Your Digital Asset 24 AVEVA World Summit 2014 41 AVEVA Customer Highlights 44 AVEVA Welcomes Our New Customers in 2014 46

Product News

AVEVA NET 5: Powering Knowledge 30

The Future of Steel Fabrication 35 Forecast: Cloudy and Bright 36

Customer News

Cover story: ADMA-OPCO 4 WorleyParsons 8 Atkins 11 Ariosh 14 TOYO SETAL 17 SEFT 18 OTV and Degrémont 26 Iemants 32 North China Power Engineering Co. Ltd 38

Cover photographs: Main image: courtesy of ADMA-OPCO Lower images, left to right: courtesy of SEFT; courtesy of OTV and Degrémont; courtesy of Iemants.

Copyright © 2015 AVEVA Solutions Limited and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written consent of the copyright holders. Licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited or any other reproduction rights organisation do not apply to AVEVA World Magazine. The views expressed in AVEVA World Magazine by any contributor are not necessarily those of AVEVA. Continued product development means that information relating to AVEVA’s products is subject to change. No responsibility can be accepted by AVEVA for action taken as a result of information contained in this publication. Editor – Camille Nedelec-Lucas, Editor and PR Specialist, AVEVA

twitter.com/avevagroup youtube.com/avevagroup Page 6 Page 21 Page 33 Page 29 Page 10 Page 41 Page 17 Page 39 Page 15

Confidence in

Difficult Times

As I write, the global economy flounders in a state

of uncertainty. The oil price has collapsed, with the

inevitable knock-on effects on every major industry

and many national economies. But I see no grounds for

gloom; like our customers, we have seen many

boom-and-bust cycles mask the true underlying trends. That

is why AVEVA continues to invest record amounts

in its long-term technology development to support

our customers’ long-term aspirations. These have not

changed; short-term projects may have been put on

hold, but EPC order backlogs continue to grow. There

is still strong underlying confidence.

ADMA-OPCO is a case in point; they are investing heavily in the future of their facilities with AVEVA’s Information Management technology, regardless of the short-term dip in oil prices. Worley Parsons, a partner on the project, discusses the business opportunities of laser-enabled revamps from an EPC perspective. Ariosh, a Houston-based EPC operating in West Africa, is also using laser scanning, along with AVEVA Everything 3D™ (AVEVA E3D™), as a key differentiator to drive growth. Atkins is using AVEVA E3D to give it a competitive advantage and to reduce costs in Western Australia. Our customers rely on us to enable them to adapt and develop, particularly in difficult market conditions.

To continue to do this we are constantly working to offer new capabilities, so I am very pleased to be able to announce an exciting new acquisition that adds ProCon™, a best-in-class Risk Management solution, to the AVEVA portfolio. During volatile market conditions, risk control is more important than ever to keep costs down and minimise overruns. ProCon has an impressive track record in reducing project costs for many of our blue-chip customers, and perfectly complements our engineering, design and Information Management solutions. Delegates at the 2014 AVEVA World Summit in Berlin can also confirm our continuing commitment to product innovation as we showcased some of the industry’s most exciting and advanced new technologies. Thanks to the generous support of Shell and Lundin Petroleum, who loaned us massively complex models of their Olympus and Edvard Grieg platforms, we were able to demonstrate the full potential of AVEVA E3D in the Cloud and of Project Voyager, which integrates photorealistic 3D visualisation with Information Management technology to create a completely new class of software product.

It is a cliché to say that we ‘wowed’ the audience, but ‘wow!’ was exactly what we heard in almost every presentation. Our customers really want to get their hands on our new technologies; despite the economic turmoil, their uptake of AVEVA E3D has been well ahead of expectations. When times are tough, they want an edge; when times improve, they want to be ready to take advantage.

So, while the headlines may be full of gloom and uncertainty, AVEVA World Magazine remains a beacon of justifiable optimism, for the global economy, for the engineering industries, and for all of us who depend on their products.

Richard Longdon Chief Executive AVEVA Group plc

‘Like our customers, we have

seen many boom-and-bust

cycles mask the true underlying

trends. That is why AVEVA

continues to invest record

amounts in its long-term

technology development

to support our customers’

long-term aspirations...’

The Next 50 Years

How ADMA-OPCO is using AVEVA

software to future-proof its assets

Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company, ADMA-OPCO is

a major producer of offshore oil and gas in the Emirate

of Abu Dhabi. The company prides itself on being a

pioneering petroleum organisation in this part of the

world, having completed over 45 years of oil and gas

production. But with assets now around fifty years

old, ADMA’s challenge is to ensure safe and productive

operation for the next fifty years.

Audrey Sequier

Marketing Manager Middle East & Africa, AVEVA

Life extension

Central to the challenge of modernisation is the development and maintenance of a digital asset to support and inform long-term life cycle management of the physical asset. As a result, ADMA-OPCO has begun its As-Built Campaign to provide ADMA with a Digital Asset and develop a digital hub of up-to-date, validated information that accurately describes the current condition of its super-complexes, rather than how they were designed some fifty years ago.

ADMA’s Engineering Services Team Leader, Mohammed Al-Amry, explained their life extension strategy. ‘We would not extend the life of a particular platform simply for the sake of doing so. Safety remains paramount in all operational and maintenance decisions.’

‘The challenges are really all centred on the age of our facilities,’ he continued. ‘One issue was the fact that we could not be sure that our documentation was up to date; the information existed but it was scattered, making it difficult to integrate and access. The key objective of the implementation of our Engineering Information Management System (EIMS; namely, AVEVA NET™) is to compile everything in one place, while the As-Built Campaign will ensure that this accessible information is also accurate.’

The information problem

Basem Elnaggar, ADMA-OPCO’s As-Built Campaign Team Leader, highlighted the severity of the problem. ‘Imagine that you are working in operations and you need some drawings that contain information that will affect the safety or the progress of a project. You start searching but cannot find these documents. So you approach head office and the engineering services team, who may then approach individual engineers or the asset management team.’

From left to right: Mohamad Awad (AVEVA), Basem Elnaggar (ADMA-OPCO), Mohammed Al-Amry (ADMA-OPCO).

‘This process can take anything from one day to a month – and in the meantime the issue that you were trying to resolve has seen no progress and your ability to keep to the production plan and meet deadlines is compromised. These kinds of situations, where the required information is not available when it is needed, could result in project delays, loss of production, or even safety issues.

‘Engineers must be able to trust that all the information they have is up to date, accurate and complete,’ continued Basem. ‘Both original and current drawings must be categorised and accessible so that an engineer is not working with outdated information that could lead to misinformed and potentially dangerous decisions. Our As-Built Campaign is a concerted effort to make engineering decisions and actions faster and safer.’

The As-Built Campaign also aims to provide contractors with all the required information from the outset. This sharing of high-quality information would avoid common situations in which a contractor who does not have that necessary information simply charges the company to go on site and survey a particular area, or where the late discovery of an unexpected problem leads to costly contract variations and delays.

The AVEVA solution

ADMA began its AVEVA partnership in 2004, when it deployed AVEVA PDMS™. In 2012 it went on to choose AVEVA NET to support the As-Built Campaign project. ADMA’s selection of AVEVA NET was based in part on its integration with their design systems. This made the design processes much easier and eliminated time wasted in having to replicate information across multiple systems; an important facilitator of the As-Built Campaign project. With information coming in from a vast array of equipment, ADMA considered that establishing an EIMS was vital for handling the sheer size of the data stream. All of this information needs to be collated, managed and maintained alongside the physical maintenance of the super-complexes themselves. The As-Built Campaign project will provide the company with most of the 3D models for its assets. Taking the lead

‘ADMA needs to meet the challenges of maintaining the engineering information, and of keeping its facilities safe and productive, in order to drive the company forward through the next fifty years of operations,’ explained Mohammed. ‘The timeline for the As-Built Campaign is three years and we are firmly on track to build a system that will accommodate information streams from both our brownfield and our

greenfield projects. It will provide a system that accommodates all the deliverables and will impose consistent standards throughout.

‘We asked ourselves, “Do we want to be leaders or followers?” This is a decision that every company must make. We see AVEVA technology as one of the key elements that support our leadership,’ concluded Mohamed.

About ADMA-OPCO

The story of ADMA-OPCO and its progression over the years is reflected in the phenomenal transformation of Abu Dhabi itself from an island characterised by simple dwellings, with fishing and pearl-diving as the main source of income, to a modern cosmopolitan city, encompassing multi-faceted businesses. In the early days, surveys carried out by oil companies revealed the existence of oil in huge commercial quantities in the seabed of two oil-bearing fields: Umm Shaif and Zakum. The two fields became major oil & gas producers, yielding hydrocarbons for more than 48 years, right up to the present time.

Over those years, the company underwent substantial changes, in terms of both its scope of operations and its manpower. It has, at the same time, managed to strike a balance between introducing the latest technology and the necessity of training its workforce to use it. Its vision is to be the premier offshore oil & gas production development company, aspiring to operational and technical excellence and highest effectiveness of resources utilisation through innovative teams to maximise value. To learn more, please visit www.adma-opco.com.

Zakum Central. Photograph courtesy of ADMA-OPCO.

‘ADMA began its AVEVA

partnership in 2004, when

it deployed AVEVA PDMS.

In 2012 it went on to choose

AVEVA NET to support the

As-Built Campaign project.

ADMA’s selection of AVEVA

NET was based in part on its

integration with their design

systems. This made the

design processes much easier

and eliminated time wasted in

having to replicate information

across multiple systems...’

The Digital Asset

Brings Concrete

Benefits

AVEVA and WorleyParsons Digital

Enterprise collaborate to turn the

Digital Asset vision into reality

WorleyParsons, a globally

recognised full-service EPC, has

been a committed AVEVA user since

1998. Sharing AVEVA’s philosophy

that every physical asset must also

have a Digital Asset, the company

recently established its Digital

Enterprise division to focus on the

business opportunity of improving

asset operational integrity through

the use of technology. Jim Purvis,

formerly WorleyParsons’ Group

Director of Engineering Systems,

now joins the leadership team of

the Digital Enterprise as Director –

Capital Deployment. We spoke to

Jim about the exciting times ahead.

Tracey Nabe

Regional Marketing Lead,

North America, AVEVA

‘Our relationship with AVEVA has come a long way since we first used AVEVA PDMS for the FEED and detail design of the MLNG III slug catcher project,’ began Jim. ‘We immediately found it to be an effective tool for the design, weight and structural management of offshore projects. Our usage grew steadily, driven by the organic growth of the company and the increasing complexity of our projects. Today we have hundreds of PDMS users worldwide.’

The birth of the Digital Enterprise

Supported in part by AVEVA software, now the vision is for WorleyParsons to use its understanding of EPC projects and brownfield asset improvement to provide Digital Asset services for the creation and maintenance of digital plants for their clients. Digital Enterprise draws on its significant experience to deliver real gains in capital and operational efficiency across:

z asset deployment

z asset management optimisation z technology upgrade and management.

The division deploys four phases either singly or in unison across key organisational levers to deliver knowledge and know-how that ensures the digital and physical assets have been created to enable flawless start-up and optimisation across the complete asset life cycle.

‘The Digital Enterprise division is our response to growing demand from clients to provide services that support handover of information in a consistent and validated format, both in brownfield as-built and in greenfield project delivery. Once we have delivered that information to the facility, we also help to manage it so as to maximise its value to the client,’ Jim explained.

AVEVA and WorleyParsons Digital

Enterprise collaborate to turn the

Digital Asset vision into reality

Business drivers

A number of business drivers have pushed the demand for the creation of the Digital Asset as part of a wider information handover and asset management strategy. For instance, clients now demand the elimination of handover issues that could delay reaching nameplate capacity and extend the payback period of their investment. Fortunately, this trend has coincided with the emergence of several technology developments from AVEVA to support WorleyParsons with the most advanced software solutions in this field.

‘A number of enabling technologies are now available that combine to make digital plant services cost effective,’ continued Jim. ‘Over the past few years, the cost of laser scanning has come down while the quality and usability of the end results have increased dramatically. The ability to handle data, to visualise and navigate across different datasets, has significantly increased the industry’s digital and data management

capabilities. As a result, a full-facility digital plant is now a practical, affordable and highly value-adding process.’ Laser scanning is by no means new to WorleyParsons; its use has been standard practice on brownfield projects for some time to reduce time on site and gather information of a higher quality. When installing complex equipment inside existing facilities, finding innovative ways of reducing downtime by quicker and more accurate installation has obvious and significant benefits. The company has several examples of laser scanning demonstrating a very high return on investment, and not only on brownfield EPC projects. Jim Purvis cited a Canadian oil sands project where a large in-ground steel lined chute suffered high wear and needed to be replaced periodically. ‘Previously, the lining would be cut out and the replacement lining installed using a new plate in-place; quite a lengthy process,’ he explained. ‘We decided to scan the existing chute, use this data to create its replacement in the shop, which was scanned for exact fit, and the new one dropped in after removing the old one. This method reduced downtime by a factor of 50, saved the client a lot of lost production and actually increased their production capabilities.’

Such conspicuously successful projects generated considerable interest among WorleyParsons’ clients in the provision of services to create complete digital plants for large facilities using world-leading tools. It was opportunities such as this which prompted the establishment of the dedicated Digital Enterprise division. ‘This is a growth opportunity for us,’ Jim said. ‘By targeting and concentrating our efforts we are becoming much more efficient in this area and are able to execute more projects of a wider range of scale and complexity.’

ADMA-OPCO project

One client to take advantage of WorleyParsons’ expanding capabilities is ADMA-OPCO, a major oil & gas producer in Abu Dhabi with a number of aging, complex assets. With over forty years of accumulated modifications and maintenance, documentation no longer reflected the true state of the facilities.

Determined to modernise its assets for the future, ADMA- OPCO contracted WorleyParsons for a Digital Plant campaign for the Das Island processing facility and the Umm Shaif field containing Super Complex and Well Head towers. Das Island, 160 km offshore of Abu Dhabi, is home to over 3,000 staff and contractors. The project, which makes extensive use of AVEVA applications, consists of consolidating the facilities’ existing design information, laser scanning, the creation of 3D as-built models from point cloud data using LFM and AVEVA PDMS™, and the creation of intelligent schematics and associated databases using AVEVA P&ID™ and AVEVA Instrumentation™. AVEVA NET™ has been customised to warehouse the facilities’ huge quantities of documents and data.

Scheduled for completion in 2015, the project features a progressive sequence of handovers which are going on at this time. This project is currently the largest implementation of its kind worldwide, therefore careful planning of the deployment is required. The intent is to test the systems internally before going live to ensure zero impact on day-to-day operations; this will include any changes in work processes and procedure to maximise the benefits of the systems to the end users.

WorleyParsons worked with ADMA-OPCO to as-build their facilities. Photograph courtesy of ADMA-OPCO.

‘We understand from ADMA that the project will deliver sufficient capital and operating efficiencies to quickly pay back the investment in creating the digital plant,’ said Jim. One important contributor to increased operating efficiency is the reduction in time spent searching for data and documents, which is not only costly in itself but often leads to costly delays and even Health & Safety issues. The project also creates a sound basis for future modification; a higher quality of input data increases the quality of revamp design, which reduces downtime and the exposure of engineering personnel to potentially hazardous environments,’ he added.

Future initiatives

Equipped with the additional capabilities offered by the Digital Enterprise division, WorleyParsons sees opportunities for data management services in two areas.

‘First, there are facilities like ADMA-OPCO’s Das Island with long operational histories but still with a significant service life ahead of them,’ said Jim. ‘Here, the Owner Operators are looking to create a baseline of verified current status that will enable them to better manage their existing facilities and run long-term upgrade and modification programmes.’

The second key client group are Owner Operators who have new or ongoing greenfield projects that have targeted asset data management for plant capital and operating efficiency gains. ‘We understand that clients for whom we are currently doing this work are being contacted by their peers to learn of their experiences and how successful the work is proving. Both areas offer excellent growth potential for our new division,’ Jim Purvis concluded.

With projects already booked for deployment up to 2017, the division clearly has plenty of work in hand and interesting times ahead.

WorleyParsons Digital Enterprise

WorleyParsons Digital Enterprise supports customer demand to frame, develop and implement digital technologies that will take the ability to monitor, analyse and optimise asset performance throughout its life cycle, to a new level.

With their deep understanding of the asset life cycle from concept through to decommissioning, they are uniquely positioned to provide stewardship of the integration of vendor and bespoke technologies, systems and architecture.

About WorleyParsons

Headquartered in Australia, WorleyParsons has been in operation for over 30 years and is today one of the world’s leading providers of technical, project and operational support services for the process industries. The company employs a global team of 38,700 and has 165 offices operating in 43 countries, including offshore Centres of Excellence in Houston, London, Kuala Lumpur and Perth. These are full-service EPC centres dedicated to each of WorleyParsons’ industry sectors: Minerals, Metals & Chemicals, Hydrocarbons, and Power and Infrastructure.

To find out more, visit

www.worleyparsons.com/digital_enterprise.

‘The Digital Enterprise division is our response to growing demand

from clients to provide services that support handover of information

in a consistent and validated format, both in brownfield as-built and in

greenfield project delivery...’

WorleyParsons worked with ADMA-OPCO to as-build their facilities. Photograph courtesy of ADMA-OPCO.

Staying Out

In Front

How Atkins’ migration from AVEVA PDMS

to AVEVA Everything3D has helped to

extend its competitive advantage

Camille Nedelec-Lucas

Editor of AVEVA World Magazine and PR Specialist

Western Australia is an expensive place to do business, so its

industries need to be particularly efficient at adding value if they

are to compete in world markets. Leading engineering design

consultancy, Atkins, has an important regional base in Perth and,

at the AVEVA World Summit 2014 in Berlin, Jim Wright, Design

Team Lead, Atkins, described how the company has increased its

competitive advantage, first by using AVEVA PDMS™, and then by

migrating to AVEVA Everything3D™ (AVEVA E3D™). We caught up

with him after his presentation to learn more.

Jim illustrated Atkins’ experience with some interesting project case studies, citing the Abu Tubul gas processing plant in Oman as a turning point in the software the company used. The whole job was supposed to be executed in PDMS, but after the client fast-tracked the project, Atkins decided to extract the information from the 3D model to generate the drawings in AutoCAD, to produce the Bills of Materials and 2D drawings more quickly than using PDMS Draft. However, there was a caveat. ‘The minute you break its link from a model, a drawing becomes useless,’ Jim explained. ‘The data can’t be updated. The problem with the previous software was that as we updated the design drawings, it wasn’t being reflected in the 3D model design. The model and the drawings continued to diverge as successive modifications compounded previous inconsistencies. It took a lot more effort to deliver a satisfactory result and we had to go back to basics to create robust Quality Assurance and Quality Control processes,’ continued Jim. ‘It meant rewriting many of our procedures around PDMS.’

Apache Energy project

Learning from the experiences of the Abu Tubul project, Atkins decided to put PDMS more at the centre of its engineering. The use of AutoCAD was abandoned and drawings were generated directly from PDMS instead. At around the same time, Atkins was awarded the Varanus Island Compression Project (VICP) for Apache Energy. It was a complex greenfield project, but with a lot of brownfield tie-ins and a demanding 14-week design schedule. This highly collaborative, 8,500-man-hour project involved all engineering disciplines, as well as the client, at each step of the design process. Modular design enabled Atkins to run multiple teams in tandem to fast-track the work. As a result, they were able to deliver the completed design in just 13 weeks.

The core communication tool was the 3D PDMS model. ‘Not only did the level of detail and refinement of the model astonish the client,’ Jim said, ‘but our management were very supportive of the value PDMS gave to this process. And because AVEVA had supported us closely throughout, it was also recognised that they were a good partner to work with.’

AVEVA E3D shaves 40% off delivery times

The Abu Tubul project had shown the importance of generating all design deliverables directly from the 3D model, so Jim’s interest was piqued by a demonstration of AVEVA E3D’s Draw module, which enables the rapid generation of 2D deliverables. ‘It looked easy to use,’ he said, ‘so we trialled AVEVA E3D. We found that getting drawings out in this way would reduce the delivery time of structural drawings by 40%. That’s a lot; 40% saves a lot of money, especially if you’re looking at massive projects such as the Apache Energy project.’

In addition to the challenge of creating fast and accurate deliverables, the majority of Atkins’ projects are brownfield ones with difficult access conditions and often inaccurate or incomplete as-built information available. Traditional surveying techniques can be slow and costly. 3D laser scanning offers a much quicker, cheaper and more efficient alternative; large areas can be accurately scanned in a very short time.

Getting the survey data still remains a critical-path activity, but AVEVA E3D’s point cloud integration can dramatically shorten it. ‘Instead of waiting weeks for the information we need, we can get it in two days,’ Jim enthused. ‘BubbleView™ enables you to rapidly check the 3D design model against the scan to detect clashes. It’s very neat. It’s very quick.’

As a result, Atkins had no hesitation in migrating to AVEVA E3D and updating its PDMS-based procedures to take advantage of the new capabilities. ‘AVEVA E3D also reduces the extent of site survey,’ Jim went on. ‘We only have to survey the tie-in points and any identifiable pinch points. Some pinch points you can’t identify until later, but even if we do miss one, AVEVA E3D enables us to take quick and effective corrective action after the fact. We not only gain speed and reduce risk, we also increase design quality, which leads to further cost- and time-savings on site.’

The future

Atkins is in the process of launching its new global design strategy, in which AVEVA technology will play a prominent role. With AVEVA E3D and laser scan data, engineers anywhere in Atkins can undertake extensive and accurate brownfield projects without ever having to set foot in the actual facility. ‘But all of the checking and verification will still be handled through the local Atkins team,’ Jim emphasised, ‘This approach is what Atkins sees as its future; increased efficiency, delivering quality and enabling clients to tackle difficult projects with ease.’ Atkins is currently the only company in Western Australia to use AVEVA E3D; Jim makes no secret of how glad he is of the competitive advantage. ‘AVEVA E3D has enabled Atkins to increase design flexibility and increase accuracy,’ he concluded. ‘I’m honestly really impressed by it.’

About Atkins

Atkins is one of the world’s leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 18,000 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Its breadth and depth of expertise, and its drive to continually ask ‘why’, has enabled the company to plan, design and deliver some of the world’s most complex and time-critical projects.

To find out more, visit www.atkinsglobal.com/energy.

*15th-largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2014) and the 3rd-largest multi-disciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2013).

‘AVEVA E3D has enabled

Atkins to increase design

flexibility and increase

accuracy. I’m honestly

really impressed by it...’

Scanning for opportunities

in West Africa

How AVEVA PDMS, AVEVA E3D and laser

scanning gave Ariosh real competitive

advantage in challenging revamp projects

As Owner Operators increasingly

turn to laser scanning to extend the

life of their assets, Nigerian leading

EPC contractor, Ariosh has secured

a valuable competitive advantage

by pioneering laser scanning

competence in Nigeria.

Supported by AVEVA PDMS™,

and now AVEVA Everything3D™

(AVEVA E3D™), Ariosh can generate

accurate as-built 3D models

and drawings, perform virtual

installations and generate job cards.

This capability has helped them to

deliver several brownfield projects

with the accuracy needed to

achieve right-first-time installation.

Their most recent success was

the laser scanning of several

platforms in Nigeria, after a major

international OO had been forced

to halt modification work due to

unforeseen design clashes.

Recovering flare gas

In 2012 Ariosh was awarded the contract to provide follow-on engineering services during a revamp of the OO’s seven offshore platforms. Production needed to be stepped up in order to provide approximately 300 million cubic feet per day of natural gas feedstock for a refinery which will convert natural gas currently being flared into high-value, clean transportation fuels.

Serious problems

The challenges of executing brownfield projects became apparent following the completion of detailed engineering and fabrication drawings by an international EPC. The OO experienced significant clashes during installation of the first modifications on the first platform. They suspended work on the first platform and proceeded to the next one, only to encounter the same problems. Worried that history would repeat itself with the remaining five platforms, the upgrade programme was put on hold. Ariosh was contracted to help recover the situation.

Heavy cost impact

The problems needed to be resolved quickly to avoid the serious impact of increased costs, schedule delays and lost production, as well as safety and reliability concerns. The direct costs alone were heavy; the barge used for installation cost over 100,000 USD per day. Modification work during installation offshore can take at least twice as long as modifications in the fabrication yard.

Solving the problems

Ariosh started by laser scanning all seven platforms and then modelling the new design, using AVEVA PDMS for the first two and AVEVA E3D for the remainder. These 3D models were superimposed on the laser data and clash checked using the built-in clash management capabilities. Design verification, completion of fabrication and fabrication assurance, and installation on the first three platforms was completed in only 18 months.

Design verification should obviously be performed prior to fabrication. However, on this project, fabrication of the spools and structures had progressed to over 70% before Ariosh’s involvement. These spools and structures were then scanned in the fabrication yard to allow Ariosh to conduct virtual installations of the as-fabricated spools to make recommendations for correcting installation issues in advance. Rework was also minimised.

Tracey Nabe

Regional Marketing Lead,

North America, AVEVA

Modifications performed at Idmon, the fabrication yard based in Warri, Nigeria, were also verified by laser scanning. Scans of the modified spools and structures were superimposed on the design models within AVEVA E3D to ensure compliance with Ariosh-issued construction drawings. Although it took Idmon about a year to implement all Ariosh’s recommended corrections, the resulting 98% first-time fit achieved a substantial reduction in overall installation time and provided the OO with a cost saving of around 40%. Clash checking and reporting could all be efficiently performed within AVEVA’s single 3D model environment, thus saving Ariosh’s OO client considerable time and cost during project execution.

Implementation of AVEVA solutions Serving a wide client base, Ariosh operates a range of engineering and design solutions. From AVEVA’s solution offerings, it currently uses AVEVA PDMS with AVEVA Laser Model Interface™ (AVEVA LMI™) and AVEVA E3D. Ariosh had adopted AVEVA PDMS in 2010, having used many different 3D design software tools and finding that none compared to AVEVA products in terms of versatility and efficiency, especially when handling large and complex 3D models. It has more recently also adopted AVEVA E3D, which adds more value with its improved Access Platforms, Stairs & Ladders (SLH) modelling and its built-in capacity to read and work with the full laser dataset.

‘AVEVA PDMS has been our first choice of 3D modelling package,’ explained Yusuf Alege, Technical Manager, Ariosh. ‘Its seamless integration with laser data (thanks to the add-on of AVEVA LMI) is a particular advantage, and many of our clients specify PDMS for their design. Our designers are highly competent in PDMS and preferred working with it over any other 3D package, until we migrated to AVEVA E3D and found it to be even better. AVEVA PDMS and AVEVA E3D, which automatically integrates laser scan data into its system, were critical to the success of this project.’

When AVEVA E3D was released in 2013, Ariosh immediately saw value in its new capabilities, especially those related to laser scanning. As a result it chose to migrate from AVEVA PDMS to AVEVA E3D, a decision made even easier by the two-way database compatibility. All potential installation issues, including clashes, can now be more easily identified and resolved, while fabrication issues are avoided through the ability to automatically produce fabrication drawings directly from the AVEVA E3D design model.

Above: AVEVA E3D BubbleViews™ showing the virtual installation of brownfield modifications (deck extension, pig launcher and piping hookup) on one of the seven production platforms. [Colours: grey – laser model of the as-built platform; other colours – 3D design model]. Images courtesy of Ariosh.

‘We started off using AVEVA PDMS on the first two platforms and then, once AVEVA E3D was released, we switched to using AVEVA E3D on the remaining five. We required seamless integration of 3D model and laser data for clarity and consistency, and AVEVA products achieve this for us,’ Yusuf continued. ‘AVEVA E3D’s handling of laser data proved superior to any other package we had used, or even heard of. Our objective in selecting AVEVA E3D was to ensure error-free design and first-time-fit installation. It more than met our expectations. ‘Ariosh and AVEVA worked very well together during the implementation and we were very impressed with the prompt responses of AVEVA’s support team. We were also provided with an AVEVA E3D migration licence that enabled us to toggle effortlessly between AVEVA PDMS and AVEVA E3D,’ Yusuf added. Ariosh’s laser scanning offering is now powered by AVEVA E3D. The Ariosh team’s significant experience with other laser data handling software made it very easy for them to learn AVEVA’s laser scanning solution. While the team took a little while to get used to AVEVA’s laser model interface, the self-explanatory AVEVA laser scan data manual allowed engineers to be operational very quickly.

Outcomes for Ariosh

Ariosh was very impressed with the outcome of the project. ‘AVEVA E3D’s BubbleView™ technology removed the import/ export bottleneck between the 3D design package and the laser data software to obtain a realistic view of laser data within the design model,’ Yusuf said. ‘The BubbleView feature improved our productivity by 20% and the quality of our deliverables was also higher. AVEVA E3D was a game-changer on the project. We recorded a 20% increase in productivity relative to PDMS immediately upon deployment, and we expect still further increases as our designers become fully familiar with the AVEVA E3D interface.’

Ariosh intends to be the partner of choice in West Africa for the delivery of EPCI projects, and underpinning this drive is a commitment to cutting-edge tools. Ariosh has built its work processes around AVEVA E3D, which has significantly increased efficiency in its design verification process and has inspired improvements to the company’s PipeFit™ Assurance work process. Furthermore, the BubbleView feature of AVEVA E3D enables superb synchronisation between 3D model and laser data, which significantly improved the team’s design efficiency.

AVEVA solutions have added significant value to Ariosh’s business processes, through features such as the automation of pipe fabrication drawings. The company is currently evaluating the use of AVEVA Bocad Steel™ for structural steel detailing. Future opportunities

Ariosh has invested in the development of its laser scanning capabilities at an opportune time. First, there is significant demand for laser scanning services in Nigeria due to the hundreds of aging onshore and offshore facilities requiring extensive revamp projects, and which generally lack accurate as-built documentation. Many companies planning revamp projects have little or no reliable as-built information and must rely heavily on laser scanning to create this, and for design verification. Second, the Nigerian government’s ‘Stop Routine Gas Flaring’ campaign is driving demand for laser scanning services as operators seek to phase out gas flaring. Ariosh is well placed to capitalise on its laser scanning capability, with its experience of using AVEVA PDMS and AVEVA E3D, and its track record of success.

After significant problems, the revamp project in Nigeria is classified as a significant success, with Ariosh having been able to complete the previously suspended programme in a timely and cost-effective manner. Ariosh expects to work with this OO, among other clients, on similar projects in the region in the future.

About Ariosh

Headquartered in Houston, United States, Ariosh was incorporated in 1997 with a vision of becoming an EPCI (Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation) partner of choice in the West African oil & gas industry. The company has been a pioneer in the use of laser scanning in Nigeria since 2005 and has successfully completed many such projects. It delivered its first construction management project in 2008 and its first EPCI project in 2013. Ariosh’s business remains mostly in brownfield and revamp projects, which contribute 70% of the company’s revenue. The company has grown to over 250 employees, operating out of three offices. Its main customer bases are located in the Gulf of Mexico and in West Africa. To find out more, visit www.ariosh.com.

Yusuf Alege, Technical Manager, Ariosh. Photograph courtesy of Ariosh.

‘Our designers are highly

competent in PDMS and

preferred working with it over

any other 3D package, until we

migrated to AVEVA E3D and

found it to be even better...’

TOYO SETAL, one of the main engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies in Brazil, has conducted major capital project contracts for industrial plants in the oil & gas, petrochemical, chemical, mining, infrastructure, steel and power generation sectors.

Already an important AVEVA business partner on the AVATAR Project, and in addition to implementing a variety of other AVEVA solutions, TOYO SETAL was also one of the first companies in Brazil to adopt AVEVA NET™ as their standard solution for managing and integrating all their projects.

TOYO SETAL act as visionaries, promoting their positive

experiences and the advantages provided by AVEVA NET to their customers, eventually culminating in the first AVEVA offshore project in Brazil.

It is in recognition of that shared vision and the years of partnership that AVEVA honoured TOYO SETAL. Special thanks went to Mr Mauricio Godoy, TOYO SETAL CEO, and Mr Rodrigo Sasso, TOYO SETAL System Engineering Manager, for their constant support and successful collaboration on the project.

TOYO SETAL honoured as ‘Innovators

in Engineering for Project Integration’

at 2014 AVEVA World Summit in Berlin

During a private ceremony at the AVEVA World Summit 2014 in Berlin, Richard Longdon, AVEVA

CEO, presented Mr Mauricio Bernardo, TOYO SETAL EMPREENDIMENTOS CAD CAE Coordinator,

with an award recognising TOYO SETAL as ‘Innovators in Engineering for Project Integration’.

Pictured, left to right: Richard Longdon, CEO, AVEVA, Mauricio Bernardo, TOYO SETAL EMPREENDIMENTOS CAD CAE Coordinator, and Rodrigo Schiaveto, Regional Sales Manager, AVEVA.

AVEVA to the Rescue

How SEFT is using AVEVA Marine to design MOSHIP, the

first all-in-one, multifunctional submarine rescue vessel

Camille Nedelec-Lucas

Submarines are the most unforgiving of vessels

and, from their introduction, methods have been

sought to rescue their crews in the event of an

unrecoverable submergence. Tragedies such as the

Kursk sinking brought great urgency to the need for

better emergency support for distressed submarines.

Grasping the initiative, in 2010 the Turkish

Undersecretariat for Defence Industries awarded

SEFT a contract to develop an all-in-one submarine

rescue vessel which could operate both NATO and

US Navy rescue systems. The result is MOSHIP 4000,

an innovative vessel designed to provide rapid and

effective aid to distressed submarines.

Now well advanced, the submarine rescue mothership – MOSHIP – is scheduled to be delivered to the Turkish naval forces at the end of 2015. The first vessel of its type, MOSHIP will enable its crew of 131 to detect distressed submarines, provide life support, and evacuate trapped submariners at depths down to 600 metres. Currently, there are no dedicated submarine rescue vessels capable of this.

MOSHIP will be powered by hybrid diesel-electric propulsion to reduce fuel usage and enable stable station-keeping, a vital consideration in such an emergency. MOSHIP also features a tension-controlled 60-tonne towing winch, an offshore crane which can operate in up to 1,000 metres depth, and a helideck capable of day or night helicopter operations.

Scenario planning

‘Submarine rescue operations can have many steps and a wide variety of scenarios,’ explained Semih Zorlu, General Manager, SEFT. ‘Existing submarine rescue vessels can cover one or two of the steps in a likely rescue operation, but only MOSHIP will be able to manage all stages of a rescue, from detecting the distressed submarine through to the medical treatment of its rescued crew members.’

Maritime infrastructure already exists, in the form of the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office (ISMERLO), which will receive any distress signal from a downed submarine and launch the rescue operation. Speed is of the essence, so MOSHIP is equipped with active sonar and a multi-beam echo sounder to quickly and accurately locate the submarine’s exact position.

‘A submarine in distress must be located as quickly as possible, to give a rescue team the best chance of saving the crew quickly,’ Semih continued. ‘MOSHIP has a pinger location system (PILOS) which detects emergency signals – for instance sent by the sonar beacon system – and can also perform a long-range active search. The precise hull position of the PILOS transponder is critical for maximum performance so, with the assistance of AVEVA Marine™, we created a hull form of the vessel and exported it to CFD analysis to determine the best location.’ MOSHIP will hold station close to the submarine with the help of a Dynamic Positioning System (DPS), assisted by a Four-Point Mooring System (4PMS) designed to operate in depths of 600 metres at up to a four-knot current in sea state four. Depending on circumstances, MOSHIP will send either an ROV or an Atmospheric Diving Suit (ADS) to make the connections with the submarine. MOSHIP can then pump down breathing air for the crew via her ventilation system and send a life support pod (ELSS) to provide supplies.

A sophisticated Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV), launched from MOSHIP’s A-frame, can recover 16 submariners with each dive. To avoid the risk of decompression sickness (‘the bends’), the SRV can dock with MOSHIP in such a way that the rescued crew can be transferred directly into the on-board hyperbaric chambers. After decompression, elevators take the crew straight to MOSHIP’s well-equipped medical centre, which includes a surgical theatre, an X-ray room, a laboratory and a pharmacy. Choosing AVEVA

Such a complex and pioneering vessel represents a huge design challenge, and SEFT was confident in the abilities that AVEVA Marine would give them. They had originally used its precursor, Tribon, before migrating to VANTAGE Marine 11.6 which ultimately became AVEVA Marine.

‘We wanted a world-leading tool and needed to invest the time and money to ensure its successful adoption,’ said Semih. ‘Before starting this project we knew that effort would be required to educate our people about the change. The transition was not entirely smooth but, in the end, we achieved an excellent result.’

AVEVA Marine has been used for all MOSHIP’s design stages. AVEVA Hull Structural Design™ was used to create a 3D design of the ship’s construction and AVEVA Hull Detailed Design™ enabled SEFT to create class drawings and nesting diagrams. ‘It was very easy to implement revisions and create new drawings when needed,’ said Semih, ‘and, as a result, production costs were controlled. AVEVA Outfitting™ enabled us to efficiently create all the machinery and propulsion elements in the vessel.’

MOSHIP’s multifunctional design is complex, requiring the different disciplines to work together effectively as a team. The design integration was something that could only be achieved using a 3D model.

KURYED, another one of SEFT’s industry-leading designs, gets ready for sea trials. Photograph courtesy of SEFT.

‘You have to be confident that all the systems are correctly integrated in the hull and that clashes have been eliminated before you start building the vessel,’ explained Semih. ‘With AVEVA Marine, we were able to reduce the cost of the prototype, reduce rework, and avoid waste by preparing exact materials lists.’

The combination of innovative, complex design and stringent naval requirements meant that the project evolved through a lot of design revisions and rework. AVEVA Marine enabled the team to effortlessly manage these many revisions to the 3D model and generate new 2D class and workshop drawings.

Countdown to launch

SEFT is now working hard on MOSHIP for its delivery and commissioning by the end of 2015. Throughout the programme, all simulations and tests have been successful. Factory

Acceptance Tests have already been successfully completed and Harbour Acceptance Tests will be followed by the critical sea trials later this year.

‘We are proud to have been able not only to create such an important, life-saving vessel, but also to do so efficiently and with high quality. We have proved the success of our design concept with the detailed design capability of AVEVA Marine, and we have both increased the quality of our designs and reduced our costs,’ concluded Semih.

About SEFT

Located near the Tuzla shipyard region in TEKNOPARK-Istanbul, SEFT was founded in 2001. It has become known as a trusted engineering team, designing specialised naval and commercial vessels for a global clientele. It is committed to long-term relationships with its worldwide shipyard, ship owner and operator customers; it has extensive experience and capabilities and is supported with strategic partnerships that better serve its customers. To find out more, visit www.seft.com.tr.

Driving Out Risk

Economic growth is driven by innovation, or not being afraid to challenge the way things work today, and by finding

ways to do more with less. These same principles drive AVEVA’s growth strategy; everything we do is aimed at

bringing more capabilities and greater productivity to our customers. Our latest technology acquisition is yet another

exciting example of this.

Despite continuing advances in technology, Owner Operators (OOs) still struggle to complete major projects on time or on budget. Two-thirds of all projects overrun their budgets; half of these overrun by more than 50%. And the problem is not just limited to the oil & gas or engineering industries; it is endemic to all the capital project sectors. The oil & gas industry perhaps suffers the most, with its huge capital demands and revenue flows compounded by increasing project complexity and ever more difficult production environments. Combine this with a depressed and uncertain oil price and the need for project risk reduction has never been greater.

When even the most sophisticated users of AVEVA’s

technology can achieve industry-benchmark levels of project performance but still suffer from serious overruns, it is clear that major opportunities lie outside the engineering, design and Information Management environment. In 2013, a McKinsey consultancy research report on capital projects found: ‘…the key risks for the [project] sponsor or developer are related to contractual default, claims, keeping public political stakeholders aligned, and monitoring any mismanagement.’ For this reason, the interface between the OO and the contractor is key. As a key technology provider to both the OO and contractor (EPC) communities, AVEVA is acutely aware of this problem and has been actively seeking ways to bring to market tools that address it. As this magazine closes for printing, we are delighted to announce a significant breakthrough with the acquisition of 8over8 Ltd, providers of ProCon™, a powerful software solution for risk management in capital projects.

As with all AVEVA acquisitions, the synergies with 8over8 are considerable. Not only does it already serve many of AVEVA’s biggest customers, it also shares our understanding that success in capital projects or asset management depends on mastering change. Our respective technologies are therefore aimed at solving related aspects of the same fundamental problem.

Les Elby

VP Business Strategy, AVEVA

Every contract has a real-time Financial Health dashboard that displays financial commitment, expenditure and potential risk exposure. Every project and contract has a fully auditable trail of contractually significant communications between each party, and the formal decisions made about those communications, by whom, and when.

ProCon 2014 Analytics rolls up Early Warning Indicators and other KPIs across the portfolio of major capital projects to provide a management overview of contractual risk.

Mat Truche-Gordon, Executive Vice President, Business Strategy, AVEVA, said, ‘This strategic acquisition was finalised over the Christmas and New Year holiday and creates tremendous opportunities to bring this important technology to a wider market. Our Digital Asset approach is targeted at ensuring the flow of reliable and trusted information between stakeholders throughout the project life cycle. ProCon extends this approach by ensuring our customers can manage the integrity of both technical and contractual changes through the project life cycle at a time when its benefits are critical to meeting exceptionally challenging pressures on capital projects.’

Martyn Ward, EVP Regional Operations, AVEVA, added, ‘This represents an important advance in our strategy of offering our customers ever more complete solutions for their business needs. In this instance, the ProCon technology is complementary to our own; it addresses a closely adjacent requirement which AVEVA technology does not address. ‘As our respective customers already include the same industry leaders with whom we have close working relationships, I can see tremendous opportunities for creating new capabilities for more efficient project execution.’

About ProCon

The ProCon platform is a suite of contract risk management solutions that enable the identification and management of contractual risks, and the minimising of overspends and schedule overruns.

Unlike other solutions that are modified forms of

document management or ERM systems, ProCon provides an integrated, disciplined and transparent system of engagement between the OO and its EPCs. It provides programme managers with clear, real-time visibility of project KPIs, and powerful analysis capabilities that enable proactive anticipation of potential risks. Its value is demonstrated by the fact that 60% of the world’s largest oil & gas extraction projects use ProCon.

8over8’s CEO, Clare Colhoun, who will continue to head up the team within AVEVA, explained, ‘ProCon is already saving our customers billions of dollars, both through better risk management and by more efficient working between the OO and the EPC. By working together more efficiently to manage change, scope creep and contract variations, OOs and EPCs can avoid those wrong, hasty or unauthorised decisions that lead to disputes. Cost avoidance is always better than cost recovery and I believe our technology development with AVEVA should focus on advancing this to bring ever-increasing value to our customers.’

About 8over8

8over8 is a fast-growing company with offices in Europe, North America, Australia and the Middle East. Headquartered in Derry, Northern Ireland, 8over8 provides contractual risk management solutions to large capital projects in the oil & gas, mining and major AEC infrastructure sectors. To find out more, please visit www.8over8.com.

How big is the challenge?

It’s huge. The unit cost of producing energy has

doubled since 2000 and today’s mega projects can

exceed $50 billion. With up to a third of all energy

projects running up to 50% overspend, investors

are naturally very wary. For oil & gas super-majors,

the problem is compounded by the currently

depressed oil price, which lengthens payback

periods. Liberum Capital found that ‘one of the

major reasons for the sector’s underperformance in

2013 has been fears over capital discipline.’

The graphs below show how the oil industry has become steadily less profitable over recent years. The only

practical defence against hitting a brick wall of zero returns is to tackle the project risk management problem while there is still time.

The challenge can be addressed. An oil & gas super-major that implemented ProCon across 25+ capital projects in 2007 slashed its average budget overrun from 57% to a mere 3%. Others have reported comparable benefits, such as saving $1m per day, achieving zero successful claims from contractors, and recovering $1.7bn from joint venture partners.

And while the oil & gas industry involves big dollar numbers, the percentage savings apply to all sizes of capital projects in all sectors.

Average

ROE %

Average

Operating

Margin %

Average

ROA %

Unlock the Power of Your Digital Asset

We live in a constantly changing world, where our customers design, build and operate the world’s largest capital projects and facilities. New frontiers, new technologies, more complex, larger projects and immense time pressures are driving costs up for both EPCs and Owner Operators. Projects and facilities are creating massive amounts of engineering information on a daily basis, making it difficult for our customers to maintain the synchronicity between the physical and digital assets. For EPCs this means risking project delivery times and budgets, while OOs jeopardise operational safety and reliability. Access to trusted information

throughout the asset life cycle is critical for all capital projects and facilities. Our unique approach to the Digital Asset builds an integrated information framework that delivers this trusted information to our customers. This Digital Asset is constantly synchronised with the physical asset.

Our Digital Asset approach provides deep application integration where real-time information sharing between disciplines is critical to success. It is also open, which means that data and documents created in almost any software can be easily validated and accessed. Unlike our competition, there are no barriers to information flow – just rapid access to trusted information. By providing a full portfolio of innovative technology built upon our Digital Asset approach, we enable our customers to unlock the power of their Digital Assets. For EPCs, this means predictability. It brings greater efficiency, control of costs and improved risk management, as well as a smoother handover from EPC to operator. For OOs, it means reliability. Unplanned downtime is reduced, they have more agility to cope with changes and interruptions, and are able to quickly respond to unforeseen circumstances.

The Digital Asset

The Digital Asset is the information core of every project and facility. It unifies trusted information that runs through every system, populates every application, and is embedded in every document and model.

Capabilities

AVEVA’s solutions and products are grouped by the capabilities that they provide to support each life cycle phase. For example, engineering capabilities enable all engineering disciplines to effectively create, edit and manage engineering data through the iterative design cycle of a project.

Unlock the Power of Your Digital Asset

Find out more about

the Digital Asset online at:

www.aveva.com/digitalasset

Strategies

AVEVA’s Digital Asset approach supports three business strategies that embrace the whole of the asset life cycle from design through to decommissioning. Pictured here is Operations Integrity Management, which supports safe and efficient asset operation by providing access to trusted information, when and where required.

OPEX

CAPEX/OPEX

Only AVEVA’s Digital Asset approach enables seamless collaboration through open information sharing between an asset’s CAPEX and OPEX phases. ENGINEERING DESIGN PLANNING MATERIAL MANAGEMENT PROJECT INFORMATION MANAGEMENT CONSTRUCTION/PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT OPERATIONAL READINESS ASSET VISUALISATION & SIMULATION BROWNFIELD DATA CAPTURE D ESI GN P RO C U RE C ONST RUCT COMMISSIO N O PER A T E M AIN TAIN I NTE GRA TE D P RO JE CT E X EC U TI O N / INTE GRAT ED SH IPBUIL DING O PER AT_IO N S IN TE_G RIT Y M A N A GE M EN T ASSET MODIFICATIONS ENTERPRISE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

DIGITAL

ASSET

Solutions & Solution Suites

Based on the Digital Asset approach, AVEVA’s software solutions blend tight application integration with a flexible, open framework to accommodate information from all sources, both AVEVA and third-party. They support every stage of the asset life cycle. For even greater power, we tightly integrate a number of solutions across the life cycle into solution suites, such as Enterprise Resource Management.

Europe’s Biggest Treatment

Plant Gets Major Upgrade

First built in 1936, the Achères waste water treatment

plant on the outskirts of Paris is today the subject

of a €776 million investment programme to increase

its capacity and bring it up to modern environmental

standards. This huge project requires the combined

resources of OTV (subsidiary of Veolia Water) and

Degrémont (subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT).

Together they have formed a joint venture, BIOGEP, for

its execution. Mehdi Rafik, Specialist Engineer at OTV,

explained what makes this endeavour so special.

OTV and Degrémont choose AVEVA

software to support the Biosav project

Construction work in progress on the Achères waste water treatment plant on the outskirts of Paris. Photograph courtesy of OTV and Degrémont.

Julien de Beer

The sheer scale of the project is impressive. Achères site is three times the size of France’s second largest water treatment plant, and is one of the largest in the world – second only to Chicago. In 2007, when demolition of the current site started, it was the largest demolition site in France. In 2012, the new project began; by the end, a team of 1,200 people, using 22 cranes, will have moved a total of 600,000 m3 _{of soil and poured}

216,000 m3 _{of concrete.}

Efficiently treating 47 m3 _{of Parisian waste water per second}

requires sophisticated technology. The project will expand the plant’s existing capabilities with the addition of Veolia’s Biostyr biofiltration technology and membrane-based filtration processes. Once complete, the upgraded facility will employ 40 new biofilters to achieve a purification rate of 98–99%. Residual impurities will be biodegradable, degrading naturally as the treated water is reintroduced into the adjacent river Seine. These more efficient processes will not only increase the site’s treatment capacity, but will also reduce the site’s surface area.

The open-air primary decantation basins will be phased out, eventually returning 40% of the site’s total area – some 800 hectares of land – to the city of Paris.

The engineering issues

Big projects invariably magnify weaknesses in engineering capabilities or working methods that smaller projects can work around. Mehdi explained that in previous projects there had been no connection between list data (for example, line lists, equipment lists and valve lists), the P&IDs, and the 3D model. ‘This would have caused a lot of issues in procurement and construction,’ he said. ‘I suggested that BIOGEP should use more integrated systems. I also advocated involving more construction specialists in the early stages of the project so that the engineering teams would have better knowledge and understanding of the challenges to be faced in the later stages. They needed to know what it was that they should be working towards.’

Mehdi’s recommendations were quickly accepted, but with a catch. It was his idea, so he should be the one to manage its implementation, BIOGEP decided.

AVEVA Diagrams – a catalyst of change

Happily, Mehdi found himself leaning against an open door. OTV had been using AVEVA P&ID™ for a long time and they were already fully convinced of the value of AVEVA Diagrams™. Meanwhile, in 2010 Degrémont launched a benchmark study in order to choose a P&ID software for the project, in which AVEVA was pitted against a competitor. As Degrémont was already a PDMS user, the company chose AVEVA Diagrams for its integration capabilities.

Although the decision-makers were on board, Mehdi had to overcome reservations among the engineering team, some of whom felt that transparent sharing of information could feel intrusive. He explained to them how real-time visibility of changes on the P&IDs and the engineering lists would achieve the essential consistency of information. ‘The number one priority is consistency between the lists and P&IDs,’ he explained. ‘There is a real long-term benefit in using integrated systems; it avoids wasting time and effort, leading to a project being cheaper and quicker to complete.’ The engineers were soon convinced and readily adapted to the more integrated working methods.

As a result, revision control is greatly simplified and manual signatures on the P&IDs are no longer required until final sign-off at the close of a project. The engineering disciplines create and control all the objects that appear on the P&IDs. On the Biosav project 200 P&IDs are being created using AVEVA Diagrams, covering nearly 8,000 equipment items, 8,000 instruments, 13,500 valves, 4,800 lines and 4,000 pieces of heavy equipment. ‘On such a massive project, we could not have worked efficiently without well-integrated engineering information,’ added Mehdi.

AVEVA Engineering joins the project

Following its release in 2011, BIOGEP benchmarked AVEVA Engineering™, and quickly decided that it would integrate more closely with AVEVA Diagrams than any other product, including their existing home-grown solution. It was deployed on the Biosav project in 2012.

‘The most important reason for deploying AVEVA Engineering alongside AVEVA Diagrams on this project was its ability to manage the lists within the same environment as the P&IDs,’ Mehdi explained. ‘It avoids delays in consolidating the data and, most importantly, any delay between issuing the P&ID and the lists. For me, as the coordinator, one of its most important capabilities is the ability to track progress. One of its most used features is change highlighting, which greatly reduces confusion.’

BIOGEP makes heavy use of reference items within AVEVA Engineering. ‘This is a very powerful feature, which fosters connectivity and interdependency between items on a project,’ Mehdi went on. ‘This has been significantly extended in AVEVA Engineering 12.1.SP4, which makes use of revisions on lists.’ AVEVA Engineering brings order into what could otherwise be a chaotic process. ‘The use of AVEVA Engineering forces people to think up front before they start, and introduces more rigour in the process and execution,’ Mehdi explained. ‘This has benefits later on; structured and rigorous initial inputting of data increases efficiency downstream when the project moves into the construction phase. We now employ a simple, “three levels of maturity” workflow, going from Work in Progress through Published and finally into Validated.’

Project progress

The Biosav project will last nearly eight years, roughly split between four years for engineering and four years for construction.

At the beginning of the design process, the design office and engineers made extensive use of AVEVA Engineering and AVEVA Diagrams. The instrumentation & control and electrical disciplines are using AVEVA Engineering to create consistent and unified engineering data. As the project progressed, the procurement department began using AVEVA Engineering also for managing procurement. At the time of writing, procurement is 80% complete, so this use is diminishing.

As the workload in the design office tapers off, Mehdi and his engineering team are relocating to the construction site in January 2015. Here, they will increasingly use AVEVA Engineering to manage construction progress. Groundwork and preliminary construction are progressing well and building work is due to end by 2017. Commissioning will start in February 2017 and last nine months.

About The Veolia Group

With over 187,000 employees worldwide, the Veolia Group is a global leader in optimised resource management. The Group designs and provides water, waste and energy management solutions that contribute to the sustainable development of communities and industries. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to develop, conserve and replenish natural resources. In 2013, the Veolia Group supplied 94 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with waste water services. It produced 54 million megawatt hours of energy and converted 38 million tonnes of waste into new materials and energy. For more information, visit www.veolia.com.

About Degrémont

A subsidiary of the SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT group, Degrémont has been the world water treatment specialist for local authorities and industrial companies for more than 70 years. Present in over 70 countries, the company has 5,000 employees and posted a revenue of €1.11 billion in 2013. Every day, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT (Paris: SEV, Brussels: SEVB) and its subsidiaries deal with the challenge of protecting resources by providing innovative solutions to industry and to millions of people. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT supplies drinking water to 92 million people, provides wastewater treatment services for 65 million people and collects the waste produced by 52 million people. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has 79,550 employees and, with its presence on five continents, is a world leader exclusively dedicated to water and waste management services. SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT generated total revenues of €14.6 billion in 2013.

For more information, visit www.degremont.com. _{Above: Construction work in progress on the Achères waste water treatment plant}

on the outskirts of Paris. Photographs courtesy of OTV and Degrémont.

Mehdi Rafik, Specialist Engineer at OTV and Pascal Thomas, Team Lead for P&ID in the engineering office at OTV. Photograph courtesy of OTV.