Intergraph® Introduces SmartPlant® 3D Materials Handling Edition to Automate Design of Bulk Facilities

SKM and UGL partner with Intergraph for new solution for the rapid design and modeling of bulk materials handling systems.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala – Intergraph® has introduced the newest solution of its SmartPlant® Enterprise engineering software suite, SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition, to automate the design and modeling of bulk materials handling systems for the mining, port, power, pulp and paper industries.

The ARC Advisory Group in its PET Worldwide Outlook Market Analysis and Forecast through 2013 ranked Intergraph the No. 1 overall worldwide leader in engineering design 3D software and process engineering tools (PET) and for key industries, including metals and mining.

A next-generation, data-centric, rule-driven solution, SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition automates the design of conveyor systems and transfer chutes to enable bulk materials industries to rapidly and easily create or expand facilities.

The difficulty in quickly designing and modeling bulk materials handling systems in mining and other conveyor-intensive industries is a significant bottleneck to timely project completion and can greatly affect an owner’s ability to serve a market in time. These systems require considerable modifications due to the design complexity required to satisfy an owner’s requirements.

SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition automates much of the design process, allowing changes to be completed faster with detailed fabrication-level deliverables, reducing the need for third-party software. Faster completion of projects directly relates to a reduction of man-hours required to achieve system options and to lower project costs and increase overall revenue. Also enhancing the ability to reduce capital expenditure (CAPEX) cost is the opportunity to design and model sections of the system once, save them to a catalog and reuse the design in future projects.

Two companies, Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) and United Group Ltd. (UGL) Resources, provided industry input to Intergraph in the development of SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition and are committed to using it on projects. SKM is a global engineering, project delivery and sciences firm, and UGL Resources is a construction, engineering, asset management and maintenance provider offering integrated solutions to the mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, chemical and heavy manufacturing sectors.

Both companies evaluated a number of potential software providers to create a design, fabrication and construction solution for materials handling systems and chose to partner with Intergraph. SmartPlant 3D was the only solution on the market with the necessary capabilities in rule-based design, global workshare, design reuse, steel detailing and automation required to achieve the step-change in productivity they desired.

David Medcroft, CADD business consultant at SKM, said, “The collaborative design effort between our companies has resulted in a very beneficial product that will make designing bulk materials handling systems much easier and more efficient. Because there is currently nothing similar to it on the market, the SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition should attract a lot of attention. In fact, we have already purchased the solution and will use it on upcoming projects.”

“The solution created by Intergraph is truly cutting-edge for the bulk materials handling industry,” said Jeff Lawrence, Proposals and Systems Development manager at UGL Resources. “We expect this technology to revolutionize the work processes and methods used to design, fabricate, construct and commission materials handling systems. This is the new industry standard approach for bulk materials handling systems.”

Sid Snitkin, Ph.D., vice president and general manager, Enterprise Advisory Services with the ARC Advisory Group, said, “I don’t see anyone addressing the mining industry like Intergraph – a product like this shows great promise for the future. Intergraph has capitalized on its process engineering tools strengths to create this application. And they have done it in a way that fits this industry very well.”

Gerhard Sallinger, Intergraph Process, Power & Marine president, said, “Our SmartPlant 3D platform and industry leadership with process plant design applications makes us a logical choice for providing this solution for bulk materials handling. We appreciate the expertise provided by SKM and UGL Resources in developing this encompassing and integrated solution. We look forward to bringing increased productivity to this industry segment just as we have to the other markets who are already experiencing productivity gains through SmartPlant 3D.”

As part of Intergraph’s SmartPlant Enterprise suite of products, SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition provides the capabilities needed to design a bulk handling system and keep it as-built throughout its life cycle. It offers piping, HVAC, electrical raceway, structural, platework and mechanical equipment modeling tasks, as well as a specification and catalog manager and a project administration environment.

Users’ productivity will be enhanced through improved automation in the initial design and automation to create the 3D model. Key features of the new solution include:

* Automation of object placement from a 3D catalog allowing for more rapid design completion
* Generation of fabrication-level drawings in a single environment for an entire system
* Data reuse for future projects.