Seen from professional values, the quality of general layout design is a vital factor for the competence of an iron and steel enterprise. An excellent general layout can be achieved by improved design flow, system and efficiency and engineers’ caliber.

 

Initiated from the engineering needs, CISDI approached the study of general layout and transport design model, structured knowledge and proposal evaluation system. In the concept of middleware and technical framework, CISDI developed the relevant database and design flow management platform, an aided design system. It’s expected to promote the general layout and transport design in a more systematic, flow-based and exquisite manner on one hand, and break down and extract and refine the specialized knowledge.

 

Such “Platform” was addressed by the tool module package and standardized flow to solidify the specific design model, by building case-study model and KPI-linked database and decomposing text data for extraction to form backup database, by multiple attribute decision making (MADM) to create proposal evaluation system, and by middleware theory and technical framework to realize holistic system structure. Through those series of methodologies, the Platform got enacted for supporting the front-end engineering, managing knowledge and guiding design of I&S plant. Its novelty is highlighted as follows:

1 Collect and sum up the common difficult points in general layout and transport design for various iron and steel plants, put forward the typical questions and solutions, and solidify them in standardized way.

Collect and optimize the individual key problems, solutions and flows among the engineers, solidify them in standardized way.

2  Establish the KPI-linked system for case study model of general layout proposal, and transfer the unstructured text data and latent experience data to the structured backup database.

3  Formulate the delicate and quantitative general layout evaluation system by the method of fuzzy interval number hierarchy, in combination of decision problem and solution and on the basis of influential factor analysis, specifying the evaluation’s criteria system, quantitative indicators, and aggregate of results.

4   Provide fully-coordinated design system, tools and methodology for general layout and transport, realizing standardized guiding of design flow, deep integration between database and flow control via knowledge push function, and effective process data management in response to complex project background changes and by means of pertinent version control.

 

The Platform has been well applied to Overall Design of Baosteel Zhanjiang Steel Base, Master Plan of India’s TATA KPO Greenfield Steel Plant and other major projects. It can allow one hundred and more people online this system where the million-level task items and ten million-level data can be provided for project execution and management, benefiting engineering efficiency by 25% and upgrading the general layout and transport design.