What does the gaming industry have in common with plant design?

Posted: April 1, 2020

The gaming industry has rapidly advanced over recent years to a new level of graphical precision. Pixel perfect gaming has created a more immersive experience for avid video gamers. So why not have a similar experience for plant designers?

Taking you back to a time where it all began for industrial plant design. The year is 1976 – Plant Design Management System, better known as PDMS was launched. The software was the world’s first 3D plant design system based on an object oriented-engineering database. Ahead of the game at its time, it enabled users to innovate at levels they had never experienced before. We knew then that this was only the beginning…

Fast forward thirty years and PDMS reigned as the preferred 3D process plant design solution with more than 1500 customers working on over 3,000 of the most complex projects globally. And therein was the challenge. The market was evolving, working habits were changing and there was a need for users to work concurrently with partners and contractors across multiple locations globally.

AVEVA PDMS - A world first for 3D plant design

In 1998 AVEVA’s answer to that was PDMS Global which enabled multi-location working and the ability for customers to collaborate on data and update and track any changes that were logged. This capability meant that Owner Operators and EPC’s were better equipped to engineer and design complex, one of kind designs, with hundreds, if not sometimes thousands of users  working quickly and efficiently between multiple disciplines, across multiple locations to optimize the design process to reduce schedule and improve project performance.

PDMS was groundbreaking at that time but as software technologies evolved there was a need to innovate to keep up.

Imagine being able to walk through your plant and be part of the experience just like you would if you were immersed in your favorite computer game? This is not only inviting to the design engineer in terms of user experience but also to the plant owner who would be supplied with high-quality deliverables at handover to operate and maintain the plant with more visibility and accuracy.

This realization allured to graphical enhancement being an opportunity to build on the legacy of PDMS. In 2012 AVEVA Everything3D was launched and hailed as the next-generation in 3D plant design. The new graphical rich interface with superior visualization set the bar high and was destined to make customer projects more lean and efficient.

AVEVA E3D Design - Bringing the user experience to life

To this day AVEVA E3D Design remains compatible with later versions of PDMS allowing for our customers the flexibility to operate across both platforms. As we look to future, PDMS will eventually be phased out to make room for new AVEVA E3D Design developments. This includes the recent launch of AVEVA E3D 3.1 (available on premises and Cloud) that addresses the needs of the marine industry as well as the integration with AVEVA Unified Engineering, a single data hub that integrates all conceptual, FEED and detailed design.

Watch an in-depth video of AVEVA E3D Design’s class-leading capabilities in both new greenfield applications, as well as in existing brownfield applications.