Set The Course Correctly From The Start

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

In four European languages, the German word "interface" is surprisingly expressed differently - as we worked out in the first two episodes of the series and transferred to the problem area "interfaces in engineering". Now we derive some considerations from this without dealing with the commercial-legal side.

Interfaces in engineering, part 1

How different languages describe the term interface

Interfaces in engineering, part 2

How interfaces become interfaces

Serious interfaces between disciplines

The majority of interfaces in engineering are in practice rather unproblematic: a designer selects a standard or catalog part and integrates it into the machine or system design. These interfaces hardly go beyond the "interface phase". A minority, however, is more serious. Two or even several engineering disciplines meet at these interfaces.

In practice, the supposedly clear commercial and legal boundary turns out to be a bazaar ("punto di incontro") of giving and taking, which is dominated by the pressure of deadlines. Typical interfaces of this type in plant engineering exist between apparatus construction, pipeline construction and steel construction, whereby the requirements of process technology are paramount.

For these critical interfaces, we now want to make a few considerations in succession.

Consider interfaces holistically

• The literature [1] rightly exhorts those responsible for the project to take a holistic view of interfaces right from the start, taking into account all aspects of the process chain from engineering and safety considerations to commissioning. This requirement can be implemented better if there is a lively exchange between all those involved, be it in the company or outside, in the “interface phase”. Simplifications, reductions and reductions are the "reward" for this exchange.
• What maps and GPS are for orientation are guidance documents for navigation in the project, typically diagrams and drawings with the associated lists. In order of origin, these are: the material flow diagram, the piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID diagram) and the system layout. These documents must show the interfaces graphically and describe them in a legend. Some suggestions are given in [3].
• It is good and correct if the same interface is displayed and labeled redundantly, for example, both on the P&ID scheme and on the layout. On the one hand, this increases the desired likelihood of communication across departmental boundaries ("punto di incontro"). On the other hand, the processors, for example, are more likely to stumble across interfaces during detailed engineering.

Here we talked about how things can be steered in the right direction at the start of the project. In the fourth episode we see what to do if problems occur at interfaces during processing. (mz)

(You will find the references in the fifth and last episode of our series)

* Andreas Loebner, freelance author, Bern