Siemens and Bentley extend collaboration

The Siemens Industry Automation Division and Bentley Systems announced at the Hannover Messe Fair that they are stepping up their strategic collaboration, focusing on the process industry sector in fields such as chemicals, energy, pharmaceuticals, and oil and gas. Both companies are targeting increased interoperability between the Comos engineering software solution from Siemens and Bentley’s OpenPlant 2D/3D system for plant design and construction.

Along with a cohesive connection between Comos and OpenPlant, this collaboration also seeks to afford users access to supplementary disciplines supported by the Bentley portfolio such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), construction simulation, cable and raceway management, conveying technology, steel construction and laser scanning. One of the aims envisaged by the collaboration is for both companies to work jointly on a system that will allow the capture, exchange and further utilisation of data and information spanning the entire plant life cycle, from engineering through to plant operations across all disciplines.

“By increasing the interoperability of our fully integrated 2D engineering software solution Comos with Bentley’s open 3D system OpenPlant, we will be generating exciting new potential for users, based on the global standard ISO 15926 and iRING,” explained Andreas Geiss, Vice President of Comos Industry Solutions, Siemens. “This will benefit both plant engineering and operation.”

Comos provides unique industry-specific solution concepts spanning the entire plant life cycle on a standardised, object-oriented data platform. Consistent and reliable data exchange is guaranteed from the engineering stage through to maintenance, with plant documentation that is always up to date. Comos’ bidirectional data exchange between graphics and database prevents inconsistencies and provides the guarantee of an up-to-date, as-built depiction of the plant at all times.

The interoperability between Comos and OpenPlant extends the scope of these benefits to now span plant design, engineering, procurement and construction. “This breakthrough is a validation of our organisations’ interoperability strategies, and a great return on Bentley’s investment in ISO 15926 and iRING. It brings our joint users information mobility across CAPEX and OPEX - that is, from design and construction through operations and maintenance,” said Ken Adamson, Bentley Vice President, Building, Electrical, and Plant Products.

Monica Schnitger, principal analyst at Schnitger Corporation, said, “We've long believed that much of the value created in the design and engineering process is lost in the handover to operations. By using the ISO 15926-compliant i-model to connect OpenPlant and Comos, Bentley and Siemens are coupling 2D and 3D, the conceptual design of a process through to the controlling instrumentation of an operating plant. This project, an extension of a collaboration announced last year for the discrete manufacturing industries, promises to deliver significant benefit to EPCs and plant operators in the process industries. It's an exciting development and we’ll be watching with interest to see industry adoption.”