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 introduced through a discussion of capital plant manufacture and the factors underlying the management of technical engineering data. Although sales and engineering departments in the capital plant industry are equipped with data processing systems, evidence shows that much information processing is carried out manually, that computer systems are not integrated and that data has to be entered repeatedly at various stages of the bidding, design and manufacturing process. These findings initiated a new approach to product configuration and project management for capital plant manufacture based on engineering data ¯¯ Engineering Data Control (EDC). The process flow and product structure 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 IDEF1X data model was developed to apply the generic reference architecture at a case study site. The suitability of EDC to increase information quality and to provide a concurrent engineering environment integrating all stages of a project life-cycle is discussed. The paper concludes by providing a critical review of the pertinent elements of the EDC reference architecture: the product structure view, the project stages view and the engineering data view.