A reference architecture for Engineering Data Control (EDC) in capital plant manufacture

This paper is concerned with engineering data management in the manufacture of complex, made-to-customer-order capital plant. The research is introduc ed through a discussion of capital plant manufacture and the factors underl ying the management of technical engineering data. Although sales and engin eering departments in the capital plant industry are equipped with data pro cessing systems, evidence shows that much information processing is carried out manually, that computer systems are not integrated and that data has t o be entered repeatedly at various stages of the bidding, design and manufa cturing process. These findings initiated a new approach to product configu ration and project management for capital plant manufacture based on engine ering data - Engineering Data Control (EDC). The process flow and product s tructure of the EDC reference architecture is explained to show how the bid and order handling process can be integrated. The core of the paper deals in detail with the generic data structure and system reference architecture developed. An IDEFIX data model was developed to apply the generic referen ce architecture at a case study site. The suitability of EDC to increase in formation quality and to provide a concurrent engineering environment integ rating all stages of a project life-cycle is discussed. The paper concludes by providing a critical review of the pertinent elements of the EDC refere nce architecture: the product structure view, the project stages view and t he engineering data view. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V All rights reserved .