Transforming Building Materials Production
To help transform and upgrade China’s building materials industry, Fujian Jianfu Cement initiated a USD 135.96 million project to establish a first-class, green, smart cement factory with a daily production capacity of 4,500 tons. The large-scale cement production project included design and layout of the entire equipment system, as well as integrating various process parameters and data related to equipment operations to achieve intelligent plant management. General contractor Citic Heavy Industries undertook overall design, procurement, and construction, while having to overcome technical and coordination challenges that conventional methods could not accommodate.
Bringing Intelligence to Manufacturing Equipment
As one of the world’s leading enterprises in the cement industry, Citic sought to push the boundaries of traditional design methodologies to achieve design automation and digitalization, bringing intelligence to large-scale mining equipment. They wanted to build a digital plant, synchronizing design, construction, delivery, and operations with the physical plant through 3D parametric equipment design and digital twin technology. They needed a cloud-based, collaborative platform, looking to integrate BIM applications for multidiscipline design and coordination. They wanted the applications to help them generate equipment models and incorporate artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things to maximize data potential for smart, energy-efficient lifecycle operations.
Applying Bentley BIM Technology
Citic selected OpenBuildings and OpenPlant for process design, civil engineering, and equipment modeling, as well as ProjectWise as the collaborative design platform, creating a 3D digital design and construction management system. The solution enabled them to visualize and synchronize design modeling and construction, streamlining workflows to avoid costly errors during construction. Combining Bentley’s BIM applications with iTwin Services, Citic established a digital twin to visually run the equipment management system and integrate process data related to equipment operations. This system provided intelligent equipment monitoring and diagnostic services to achieve whole lifecycle management services from design to delivery.
Digitalization Yields Savings
Using Bentley’s collaborative BIM applications facilitated parametric, multidiscipline design that enabled early collision detection, reducing design changes by 80% and design time by one month. Working in a connected data environment—and utilizing a 4D digital construction and management platform—improved work efficiency, saving three months in construction time and USD 3 million in project costs. Integrating iTwin Services to establish a digital twin enabled digital visual monitoring of the cement production process and preventive asset maintenance, reducing equipment maintenance costs by USD 2 million compared to a planned, reactive asset management process. The digital intelligent factory management system significantly reduced operating costs and equipment failures, which is expected to save the client USD 1.24 million annually.
Project Playbook: Bentley Raceway and Cable Management,
OpenBuildings Designer,
OpenPlant,
ProjectWise,
ProStructures