How Hexagon’s CADWorx® and Analysis Solutions Helped BIA Streamline its Design Process?

Biomass Industries Associates (BIA) is a Tunisia-based Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Management (EPCM) company specializing in the food and biomass industries, with a focus on the sugar industry. Working across the Middle East and Northern Africa regions, BIA partners with their clients to design, build, and maintain industrial facilities.  

Recently, BIA worked on a large-scale sugar refinery project in the MENA Region. The project involved designing and laying out the equipment and piping for the facility, ensuring that the construction was done according to the client's specifications. The project was split between the mechanical and electrical teams, with 15 engineers and designers involved.  

To streamline their design process, BIA sought out a solution that would allow them to model the piping and equipment in 3D, analyze the piping and equipment connections to avoid over-stress, and create isometric drawings of the piping referencing connected equipment. BIA also wanted to provide 2D and 3D views of their designs to keep everyone on the project team aligned and track progress easily.  

One of the main challenges BIA faced during the execution of the project was its overall size. Sugar refineries are complex, large-scale projects that require workers, managers, designers, and engineers from different countries speaking different languages to work efficiently together. BIA had to design a refinery with a capacity of 3000 tons per day, making it the largest project they had undertaken to date.  

"Building large Sugar Refineries involves a high degree of work complexity. Established work practices require our staff to follow each step manually, which takes time and increases costs. We needed a software solution that could help us automate our whole process. This will help reduce costs and time taken by the project team, contributing to overall improved efficiency at the plant site.", said Mechanical and Piping Engineers at BIA  

To overcome this challenge, BIA turned to Hexagon's CADWorx ® Plant Professional. With this software, 80 percent of the project could be completed in a single package, making collaboration between designers much easier and reducing the need for file conversion. In addition, the high-fidelity interoperability available with CADWorx allowed for integrating mechanical designs from other parties.  

The mechanical and piping engineers at BIA further added, “We were looking for a product that would provide flexibility and ease of use, but at the same time, would be cost-effective. CADWorx was able to meet those criteria. With CADWorx, we can create 2D drawings and 3D models in a very efficient manner. The prior experience of our engineers with CADWorx helped us save 20 percent in the time and the investment cost compared to other software.” 

BIA also used Hexagon's CAESAR II ® for stress analysis on the piping and equipment. The bi-directional links between CADWorx and CAESAR II enabled BIA to import models quickly, reducing the risk of manual transcription errors and improving accuracy and efficiency.  

Overall, using Hexagon's solutions allowed BIA to create a complete 3D model that met all their needs and enabled them to make changes as needed throughout the project lifecycle quickly. The result was a more efficient design process and successful project delivery.  

You can read the complete case study here to learn more about what BIA achieved with Hexagon's solutions.