Functional modeling of facility for supporting concurrent engineering

Life cycle activities in process engineering can be categorized into design phase and operation phase. In the design phase, activities of process design or engineering design are included. Operation activities and maintenance activities are included in the operation phase. When considering concurrent engineering, it is important to evaluate operational issues during the design phase. A facility is an object designed during design phase and is also a target to operate or to physically maintain during the operation phase. This paper describes how to make a well-formed facility model with well-defined information contents. A facility model consists of Engineering Design Units (EDU) and Process Design Units, from a functional viewpoint regarding activities. EDUs are classified into internal, external and boundary based on spatial configuration. How to use a facility model in a maintenance activity is shown as an example to support concurrent engineering. Where maintenance actions and maintainability can be linked with regarding EDUs.