Plant designers use the Plant 3D toolset which is included as part of an AutoCAD subscription.

Benefits of plant design software like the Plant 3D toolset in AutoCAD include centralized project data and BIM workflows, such as automated drawing generation based on the 3D model, spec-driven piping, and P&ID creation.

Process plant engineering involves the design, development, construction, and operation of industrial facilities to produce materials or chemicals on a large scale. It aims to optimize processes, ensure safety, select suitable equipment, and manage projects efficiently. The field spans industries like oil and gas, water/wastewater, power generation, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, and food and beverage processing. Engineers collaborate across disciplines like chemical, mechanical, electrical, and civil engineering to achieve efficient and cost-effective production while adhering to safety and environmental standards.

Plant engineering software is used by a wide range of professionals, ranging from plant engineers responsible for overall plant design and operation, process engineers optimizing industrial processes, and mechanical, civil, and electrical engineers designing specific systems within the plant. For example, the Plant 3D toolset, included as part of AutoCAD, enables plant designers to create and edit piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), and to generate and modify process plant models, which they use to produce piping isometrics and piping orthographic drawings. 

In addition, project managers, engineering services, compliance managers, operations managers, engineers, on-site staff, and executive decision makers use software to monitor and optimize plant operations. For example, Autodesk Info360 Plant is a cloud-based operational analytics solution designed for water and wastewater treatment plants to improve real-time data analysis and enable workflows associated with performance, compliance, and improvement planning.

The Plant 3D toolset within AutoCAD produces all relevant documents from P&ID schematic flow diagrams, 3D models, Plan and Sections, right through to fabrication and construction documents like Isometrics and Spool drawings. You can use Revit to model the facilities that hold the pump and treatment equipment, and Navisworks Manage to detect and manage clashes between pipes and facility structures. All these tools and more are available in the Autodesk Architecture, Engineering & Construction Collection.

A digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset that is updated in real time to represent its live characteristics. It is a virtual reality where process plant engineers can experience and ask what-if questions to simulate scenarios to help them solve problems, train staff, meet challenges, increase efficiency, reduce expenses, and improve service.

The water industry, for example, is increasingly using digital twin technology to simulate and test scenarios virtually to help utilities address them in real-world environments. According to the latest definition from the American Water Works Association (AWWA), a digital twin is “a dynamic digital representation of real-world entities and their behaviors using models with static and dynamic data that enables insights and interactions to drive actionable and improved outcomes.”

Smart process plant solutions help automate busywork, simplify, and improve operations. With the right solution, you can:

Access, connect, capture, and visualize data  

• Connect sensors to the cloud to monitor how the plant performs. 
• Aggregate data sources—flow rates, asset information, historical data, weather information and plant telemetry. All the plant’s vital functions can be captured, scrubbed, cleaned, and analyzed as part of best management practices.

Measure, analyze, and calibrate 

• Analyze live data and tune operations to the changing conditions of your plant.
• With data sets available at the click of a button, operators and engineers no longer have to spend hours consolidating data to justify their decisions.

See the future with predictive analytics 

• Understand the past and start predicting events, seasonal changes, and maintenance requirements.
• Personnel can use these insights to simulate possible outcomes based on real data and intervene quickly.

Optimize in real time with prescriptive analytics 

• Use machine learning and AI to tune operations in real-time.
• Combine insights from separate systems and make recommendations that can help optimize operations to save materials, energy, and labor.

Gain collective intelligence 

• Build toward an AI-powered plant that can help plant management, retain knowledge, and help train staff and to operate the plant with maximum efficiency.

New software as a service (SaaS) platforms like the Autodesk Info360 Plant application make it possible for process plants to power digital twin initiatives by converting raw data from SCADA and IoT systems into an actionable dashboard and digital workspaces that you can use to manage critical plant events, incidents, and KPIs. It unifies plant data in the cloud and applies sophisticated analytics, data modeling, and alerting tools to make operational information more accessible, reliable, and actionable.

Key functionalities like custom dashboards, data cleanup, and automated KPIs help you visualize, monitor, and understand your system. Providing subject matter experts with data analytics tools can enable creative solutions to complex projects that encourage productivity, reduce costs, and support a positive organizational culture. Often, in using industry data tools, users find creative ways to repurpose these strategies for desired business outcomes.  

Real-time data monitoring and analysis manage and mitigate operational risks, enable interactive facility process flow diagrams, and deliver consistent and efficient management, sustainability, and compliance reporting.

Info360 Plant is a cloud-based operational analytics solution within the Info360 platform designed specifically for water and wastewater treatment plants, water utilities, and industrial owned plants to improve real-time data analysis and enable workflows associated with performance, compliance, and improvement planning. 

As a workflow solution with enterprise-level technology, it enables repeatable plant workflows like chemical process sustainability and energy audits, replacing spreadsheets and paper-based processes. Users can access asset performance data and analysis to perform daily operations such as maintenance, sensor calibration, process optimization, and capital improvement planning.  

Info360 Plant enables plant owners, operators, and engineers to increase their insights through data to improve operational cost management and overall plant performance, and reduce energy, chemical usage, and environmental impacts.