Data-driven engineering – 70% reduction in number of documents, up to 20% increase in project efficiency

When utilized effectively, digitalization and data can revolutionize industrial construction. Cadmatic’s solution to this is data-driven engineering. It accelerates project turnaround time, reduces errors, and improves quality. 

Any investment, be it a newbuild or a renovation accrues documentation and materials – data – starting from its design phase: floor layouts, surveys, permits, statistics, maps, and images. Data can help make design more effective and control changes if it is up to date and accessible to the various project parties.

“In many industrial projects, data is distributed around various systems and in numerous formats, and it is still frequently transferred manually: documents are printed on paper instead of forwarding the information digitally,” says Cadmatic’s CEO Jukka Rantala

Data-driven engineering helps transfer data digitally between the various design phases and areas and beyond to procurement, and construction. Respectively, the data accrued during the construction phase is transferred all the way to the user of the facility to make it easier to operate and maintain the plant or building and to communicate back to the designers if necessary. All the data collected is saved in digital format and is easy to transfer.

Jukka Rantala

Data-driven engineering and construction speed up projects and improve quality, says Cadmatic CEO Jukka Rantala.

70% fewer documents, up to 20% more efficient projects

Each manual data processing phase includes the risk of human error. Thanks to data-driven engineering, manual data processing is minimized, which reduces the chance of errors and improves quality. Project data is always up to date, easier to update, and available throughout the project life cycle.

Thanks to Cadmatic’s solution, our clients have been able to reduce the time spent searching for design and construction data by up to 20 per cent. International research results (e.g., Interact Source and Nintex) support this result. Searching for data becomes more effective, too, as up-to-date data is easy to find. Data-driven engineering has helped solve bottlenecks and predict outcomes and construction steps once the various assemblies and material stocks have been visualized.

“One of our Dutch marine industry clients was able to reduce the amount of project documentation by up to 70 per cent. This has a significant impact on the need to update information for maintenance. When you only need to update data in one place it reduces the number of necessary changes notably, and at the same time, the risk of human error is avoided,” says Vice President of New Business Development for Cadmatic’s Marine segment Matti Juntunen.

Digital twin makes it easier to operate the completed facility

Once all engineering and construction process data is in digital format, the project owner is able to use the building information model (BIM) i.e., a digital twin of the completed project for other purposes

“After completion, the facility’s operations can be boosted, damage repaired, or components replaced without always having to visit the location to take measurements. Updates and plans can be created based on the data included in the digital twin. This provides significant advantages to the user because it makes operating the facility so much easier,” Juntunen says.
Handover infographic

Once the data is in digital format, the project owner is can use the building information model (BIM) i.e., the digital twin of the completed project for other purposes. This makes it considerably easier to operate the facility.

eShare – an easy-to-use data transfer and visualization tool

At the core of Cadmatic’s data-driven engineering is eShare. It is a software tool that collects the data accrued in the design and construction phases of the project into an accessible format.

“eShare is integrated with the client’s systems very easily and with very little customization needed. It enables reading and integrating data from various systems, which enables using the data in a flexible and centralized way from across the world, if necessary,” says Jukka Rantala.

In the fastest scenario, eShare can be implemented in just a day, and comprehensive integration only takes a few days. Learning to use the platform does not require specific training or knowledge of other design software.

Data is saved in the client’s own databases, which makes the solution secure. Thanks to this, eShare always contains the most up-to-date information and no old file versions, for example.

Read how oil and gas EPC Bonatti is using Cadmatic eShare to boost the phasing and constructability of its projects.

Data-driven engineering also serves existing facilities

eShare also serves projects that have not used data-driven engineering to begin with. For example, eShare’s point cloud feature enables the creation of a digital building information model (BIM) of an existing building. It is useful with old production plants, for example, for which a digital model was not created in the design phase.

“By laser scanning and producing point clouds, the plant can be made into a digital 3D model. This is useful, for instance, when renovating or repairing an existing plant. This way there is a digital twin of this plant, too, for the future to make use of throughout the plant’s remaining life cycle,” says Matti Juntunen.

More about CADMATIC solutions

Read more about CADMATIC eShare and data-driven engineering and construction for process, energy, building, and construction projects.