Bonatti – Italian giant bets on eShare digital twin platform

Gaining efficiencies in constructability and construction project phases

Oil & Gas general contractor boosts efficiency of constructability and construction project phases with CADMATIC eShare.

Customer challenge

  • Optimize construction sequences and practices and visualize the current status of the construction phase in the 3D model.
  • Need to support construction site in managing and tracking specific activities.
  • Need to highlight construction priorities associated with the relevant material availability (feasibility).
  • Need to track electrical and instrumentation installations, to display welding joint data in real time.

Cadmatic solution

  • CADMATIC eShare presents the progress of installations as well as quality control activities with color coding.
  • CADMATIC eShare used to track workface planning, a process aimed at improving the productivity of the construction workforce
  • Piping fabrication feasibility is visualized in 3D model with CADMATIC eShare
  • Weld examination status and weld execution data is visualized in 3D model with CADMATIC eShare

“We use color coding to present the progress of installations as well as quality control activities such as erection certification, piping pressure testing, plant mechanical completion and handover.” – Massimiliano Del Rio, Construction Methodologies and Systems Manager

Book eShare Demo

In early 2018, international oil & gas general contractor Bonatti acquired Cadmatic’s eShare information management system to boost the efficiency of its constructability and construction project phases. It has started the gradual implementation of eShare on its projects in view of eventually integrating it completely with the company’s corporate systems.

Bonatti is an oil & gas international general contractor with 70 years’ experience of providing services to the oil & gas and power industry. 

Construction Methodologies and Systems Manager Massimiliano Del Rio and Construction Methodologies and Systems Senior Engineer Giovanni Silluzio have been key persons in the implementation of eShare at Bonatti. They are part of the Plant Construction Business Unit and are responsible for developing and implementing construction management methodologies to optimize construction phase execution and support construction management decisions. Giovanni oversees eShare configuration and implementation on projects while continuously investigating new possible applications.

According to Massimiliano, a key reason eShare was selected at Bonatti was its ability to visualize the current status of the construction phase in the 3D model.

“We use color coding to present the progress of installations as well as quality control activities such as erection certification, piping pressure testing, plant mechanical completion and handover,” says Massimiliano.
Massimiliano Del Rio and Giovanni Silluzio
Massimiliano Del Rio (right) and Giovanni Silluzio (left) have been instrumental in implementing eShare at Bonatti.

Another important goal with eShare at Bonatti is to provide support to the construction site in managing and tracking specific activities. One such activity is workface planning, a process aimed at improving the productivity of the construction workforce by removing execution constraints. It ensures that the required installation inputs such as drawings, materials, procedures, permits, equipment, etc. have been previously monitored and are promptly available to the crew assigned to the work package.

“We also wanted the possibility to highlight construction priorities associated with the relevant material availability (feasibility). In addition, our goal is to track electrical and instrumentation installations, to display welding joint data in real time in terms of execution and inspection, and to allow direct access to engineering data and deliverables related to a selected model object,” Massimiliano explains.

Bonatti’s corporate construction system is the source of all the information that is linked to and visualized in the eShare 3D model.

3D model
Weld examination status in CADMATIC eShare
eShare user interface
Weld execution data in CADMATIC eShare

Constructability is key factor in project success

Ensuring constructability is a core element in the successful implementation of Bonatti’s projects. It allows the company to analyze all project processes with the aim of optimizing construction sequences and practices. Interferences and possible schedule impacts are identified before starting construction, thereby preventing errors, delays or cost overruns. Project processes are reviewed from the pre-construction phase.

The effective integration of construction knowledge with planning activities, design and field operations allow Bonatti to achieve their overall project objectives in compliance with time, accuracy and HS&E requirements. CADMATIC eShare is set to fast become an integral part in supporting this process.

Massimiliano stresses the value of data visualization.

“When you visualize data in a realistic digital image of the plant, it dramatically improves the quality of information conveyed to the user. It gives the site management a much greater amount of information in a single screenshot than can be achieved with traditional forms of reporting such as reports, tables, and graphs. This assists the site management to take more effective operational decisions.”
eShare user interface
Piping fabrication feasibility in CADMATIC eShare
eShare user interface
Installation Work Package (IWP) definition for piping in CADMATIC eShare

eShare activated once 3D model is sufficiently detailed

At Bonatti, eShare is implemented on projects once they are sufficiently detailed, usually when the model is about 30% defined. At this stage, the first conversion from the native 3D model to eShare is done. As more detail is added to the model from engineering disciplines, the link to engineering data from different corporate systems is established. This allows the site to take advantage of the system according to the discipline under construction at the time.

For its EPC projects, the Bonatti Engineering Center does not use Cadmatic plant design software. It is nevertheless a straightforward process to convert the native modeler review file into an eShare model once the engineering department has done the necessary work to properly set up the data and properties to be transferred to eShare through the conversion files.

On some projects, Bonatti also operates solely as a construction contractor. In such cases, the 3D model is inherited from the client’s engineering contractors.

“For this reason, it is absolutely non-negotiable for us that the information management solution we use is independent from the design packages used by our contractors. It is critical for our construction system implementation that we can convert models from different software providers for use in eShare,” says Massimiliano.

According to him, the greatest benefits of eShare are its flexibility in configuration, the relatively small size of the converted model without information level loss and resultant smooth navigation, as well as its user-friendly interface and navigation tools.

3D model compared to actual photo
A Bonatti 3D plant model of a gas compression station and related construction site in the Libyan desert.

eShare in action in Algerian gas treatment plant project

The construction of a Bonatti gas treatment plant project in Algeria is currently entering the critical piping erection phase. It is the first project where they started adopting workface planning in a structured way. eShare is interfaced with the project control system, which allows the workface planner to easily visualize the different installation work packages for analysis. This is done in dedicated meetings jointly with construction supervision staff to optimize the erection sequence.

The project’s progress status is also currently updated weekly and visualized in eShare, thereby providing the management with a visual status of plant accomplishments in the different disciplines, in addition to usual data reporting.

Massimiliano indicates that the gradual integration of eShare with Bonatti’s other corporate systems is progressing.

“From the beginning, we decided to implement eShare on projects gradually. We continuously tune the user environment based on project requirements, while at the same time keeping in mind the final standard configuration we want to reach for the initial setup of every new project. We have not reached a definitive scenario yet, and we are still working to complete the integration with our corporate systems. This is especially applicable in the project control area, for example, for workface planning and progress assessment and for document management, where we are creating a direct link to our EDM system. We are always on the lookout for possible new applications, thanks to the flexibility offered by eShare in interfacing and visualizing different data sources.”
eShare user interface
Checking foundations progress in CADMATIC eShare

More about Cadmatic solutions

Read more about eShare for EPCs and Owner/Operators.