Engineering method for the integration of modules into fast evolving production systems in the process industry

The reduction of the required effort for integration of a module into a production plant is the fundamental aim of modular plant architectures. An essential prerequisite for efficiency is to shift engineering efforts from the classical site-engineering to the engineering of plant modules. In such a scenario, the engineering of the entire system can be subdivided into two separate engineering phases, namely: a) the module supplier engineers and builds the module and b) the plant engineer uses the modules. This article presents an architecture that simplifies the integration of modules into production plants by using an information model - Module Type Package - for transferring and storing necessary engineering results during module-engineering.