A software program developed by a Perth-based company, which could have significant implications for electrical engineering project design, has won an international award for innovation from the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
A software program developed by a Perth-based company, which could have significant implications for electrical engineering project design, has won an international award for innovation from the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
I & E Systems was formed in the mid-1990s as a joint venture between engineering services firm WorleyParsons and current I & E Systems managing director, Dermot Kennedy.
The software program started as a one-off application for Woodside’s North Rankin A control systems reliability upgrade project to reduce the costly and time-consuming paper-based method of design documentation
That project led to I & E Systems’ development of its dynamic asset documentation (DAD) software application, said to be the first major change to electrical engineering design documentation processes in the past century.
The software represents a departure from a static drawing-based method of documentation to a dynamic modelling method, and can be used for a wide range of electrical, instrument and IT networks.
Mr Kennedy said the software arose from a practical need to develop a better way of designing a project than the traditional method of paper drawings.
And because the electrical systems on major projects are more complex, usually involving thousands of drawings, problems are more likely to arise.
“On live platforms and live plants you can’t afford to make mistakes,” Mr Kennedy told WA Business News. “That’s why we have such a strong emphasis on accuracy.”
Mr Kennedy said the DAD application treated connections as data, enabling them to be moved around easily to build a dynamic model.
The robust and powerful system can deliver substantial time and cost savings, he said, working five times faster than current conventional methods for about half the cost.
While the software was initially aimed at the oil and gas industry, it now has a range of applications for the resources, IT and communications industry.
Since the launch of the software in late 1998, I & E Systems has spent about $12 million on development, releasing new versions about every six months and rebuilding the program to reduce its complexity and boost functionality according to clients’ needs.
“To a large degree the whole development is pulled along by the market,” Mr Kennedy said.
“With each new application we have taken on a wider set of requirements and have developed the software further.”
The software is currently being used across Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia, with clients including Woodside, Rio Tinto, Esso, Shell and Amcom.
DAD is also available as a scaled version of the software at a lower cost for the mass market, for individual users working on smaller projects, and is available via an e-commerce function on the website.
I & E Systems employs 78 people, and also has an office in Ireland.
