Why your organisation should ditch P&IDs right now — Part 2

In Part 1, it became obvious why conventional P&IDs should be abolished — and that they should be replaced with Intelligent or Smart P&IDs (S-P&IDs) instead:

Smart P&IDs allow engineers to access all necessary site information from one, always up-to-date, digital hub.

So let’s take a deeper look at how you can start using S-P&IDs today…

How do you even make S-P&IDs?

Implementing S-P&IDs is typically tedious, resource-intensive, and expensive, with vendors completing tonnes of heavy-lifting upfront: from inventing P&IDs to developing bespoke software and tools. Instead of starting from zero, it’s best to use AI to convert existing P&IDs into S-P&IDs.

Consolidating Information

First, identify all of the key site data that relates to asset management. This often includes:

• Component Information, such as component details, IDs, manufacturers, materials, weights, etc.;
• Process Information, such as powers, pressures, flows, and much more; and
• Operational Information, such as work orders, notifications, reports, and more.

To produce a true single-source-of-truth, it’s imperative that all of this information is integrated and accessible through one intuitive platform.

Contextualising Information

After identifying and locating all of this information, it needs to be tagged to the S-P&ID. The 2D PDF/DWG serves as a background layer, allowing tags to be placed on top of the corresponding components. Once the components are tagged to the S-P&ID, users can simply click on them to view comprehensive datasets.

S-P&ID displaying information relating to component “Pump P-3” (highlighted using green bounding box)

But wait, there’s more!

“Computer Vision can make your life even easier.”

- Everyone.

Computer Vision (also known as Machine Vision) is an interdisciplinary field of Artificial Intelligence concerned with providing computers, machines, and robots with the ability to understand digital images and videos.

Computer Vision (CV) techniques have made the process of creating S-P&IDs 80% faster, and 50% cheaper than alternative methods.

Automating Inefficiencies

The most time-intensive routine in creating S-P&IDs is finding the correct P&ID file for the component, followed by digitally drawing the precise bounding box, then tagging the relevant data source to that tag. Despite this workflow being manual, engineers already save significant time (up to 60%), when compared with alternative methods for creating S-P&IDs.

CV, however, raises the bar even further.

Time savings realised by Clarity’s S-P&ID generation for a set of P&IDs, with and without Computer Vision automation

This is how a CV-automated S-P&ID generation process works:

1. A set of P&IDs are user-uploaded to the platform for data extraction.
2. CV is used to extract component codes from the documents, after analysing a variety of text sizes, fonts, orientations, and arrangements (i.e. multiple lines, red-lined drawings, etc.).
3. Component codes are matched against component lists, with CV recognising links between name variations (e.g. “Pump-3” = “P3” = “P-3" = “Pump 3”).
4. Component types are automatically classified using CV identification of pumps, motors, valves, and more.
5. Bounding boxes are digitally augmented onto the S-P&IDs to highlight components.
6. Auto-tagged S-P&IDs are finally reviewed by qualified engineers to ensure accuracy.

CV reduces the time taken to create S-P&IDs from 12 hours per drawing, to less than 30 minutes each.

Why S-P&IDs really are a no-brainer

1Ease of use: P&IDs typically come in two formats: oversimplified PDFs; or complex software-specific files. Neither is ideal for operational use. HyBird Clarity’s S-P&IDs, however, are accessible via a simple online web-app, allowing you to view and modify them from anywhere.

2 Do more faster: On average, engineers currently spend 60% of their time looking for data instead of using it. Conversely, an always updated single-source-of-truth can triple productivity. S-P&IDs make finding equipment information and planning work straightforward.

3Revision management: P&IDs and other technical documents require regular updates. Instead of red-lining drawings or recreating them from scratch, an S-P&ID simplifies revision management by allowing changes to be made and logged digitally.

Here’s how you can make the switch

It’s no secret that Smart P&IDs make engineers’ and managers’ lives significantly easier, both on-site and in-the-office. Complex work plans and delayed decision-making are fast becoming a thing of the past.

If you’d like to find out how you too can implement S-P&IDs, I think we might be able to help…

Drop me an email today to get started: mohamed@hybirdtech.com