Holy crap, Richard, what a brilliant post! I suggest you forward
it to comp.cad.autocad, where I (and others) periodically lament
the passing of the few hundred years of basic project management
practices due to short-sighted VP types' latest theory. Lest we
forget, eh.
You are stating *exactly* what I've been thinking about for the past ~10 years, but more succinctly.
Would you mind if I steal it for uploading to the website? It would fit in nicely with The Piping Network articles ( <a href="http://www.pipingdesign.com/pipingnetwork.html">http://www.pipingdesign.com/pipingnetwork.html</a> ).
I would suggest that piping is not the heart of a fluid-processing project, but rather the arteries and veins, metaphorically speaking. Pumps would be the heart, wouldn't they?
On a personal note, I met an old compadre last night at a local watering hole. He's been all over the world on jobs and is writing a book. I told him I'd post excerpts at the site, so you may all be getting a preview into a future best-seller (yeah, right, like a book about piping design would ever crack the NYT list). It was fascinating to talk piping business (different processes, detail design, thoughts on the current state of affairs, etc.) again with a fart older than me.
PipingDesign.com is now officially ramping up.
Paul (38)
Piping Design Central
> I knew at some point I was going to feel compelled to get
involved in this
> dialog, so here's the way I see it.
>
> CADD can do some wonderful things, but it can't substitute for
design
> experience. And I don't just mean layout experience; a good
senior
> understands orderly project execution, where to go for
information and when
> to raise flags. I believe we've thrown the baby out with the
bathwater. Good
> processes and procedures have fallen by the wayside. When I was
a junior I
> learned from the mentorship of the seniors. Primarily I learned
from my
> mistakes, i.e customary practice was to backdraft one's own
drawings.
>
> With CADD the industry changed. Software manufacturers sold oil
and gas
> companies on the storage and retrieval benefits of CADD files
and EPC
> companies latched onto the fact that they could charge a premium
to the
> client by having CADD. Project managers were sold on the notion
that it was
> faster and cheaper. Younger people are generally quicker on CADD
and they're
> certainly cheaper, so it was inevitable that they would become
the primary
> operators. Consequently companies started to ask themselves why
they should
> have those expensive seniors around? (maybe one or two to
oversee); bring
> them in later to check. After all, changes could now be made at
the push of
> a button, couldn't they?
>
> Designers used to take pride and ownership in their work. It was
a point of
> honour that a checker would not find anything to mark-up on your
drawing.
> I'm sure anyone with fifteen years plus experience has witnessed
some pretty
> heated discussions between designer and checker. Now the checker
can bleed
> all over a drawing and the originator often doesn't even get to
see it, let
> alone backdraft it. And operators have come to believe that it's
the job of
> the checker to put things right. The "fast-track" philosophy
hasn't helped,
> and 3D has compounded the problem. Designers assume that with 3D
where
> everyone is working in real-time, e.g. structural are right
behind piping in
> the model, changes are automatically communicated. Unfortunately
rework
> becomes par for the course.
>
> Let's go back fifteen years................... We're doing a
project that
> requires a plastic model and it is decided that the
junior/intermediates can
> build this model, with some supervision, but essentially on
their own from
> the P&IDs and plot plan. When it's done we'll get the senior
people to check
> it. I think you would've heard the screams from Houston to
Anchorage. But
> that is essentially how things are being done, except now the
model is CADD.
> I know things have changed somewhat and seniors are making
inroads into
> getting trained, but still the recognition of the worth of a
senior piping
> designer has been lost both within and outside our discipline.
>
> The piping designer interfaces with all others disciplines, and
piping being
> the heart of a project can have a big influence on the outcome.
CADD is here
> to stay and while I personally lament the passing of the manual
draftsman
> (but not getting hit with one of those eraser powder poaches) I
recognize
> that we have to work with it. The technology is fascinating, and
it's also
> enticing that companies pay a premium for PDS operators, so it's
easy to
> understand why designers focus on it. But it is only a drafting
tool. Let's
> get back to some basic understanding of how a project should be
run and what
> we're drawing: the study stage, seniors passing their layout
knowledge down
> to junior/intermediates, and pushing back when we don't have all
the info we
> need to carry-on (how many of you have felt pressured to check
and issue a
> drawing when you only have preliminary vendor information?).
>
> Paul, I believe you said that you thought pipers would be a more
chatty
> bunch. I believe we are (we certainly have a grapevine that
rivales any old
> lady network), but usually only over a pint (or two, or three)
in the pub.
> All design/drafting disciplines have been divided into two
categories -
> those who know CADD and those who don't. Let's keep this
conversation going
> as I for one am optimistic we can meld the best of both worlds.
>
> Richard Beale
> Piping Supervisor,
> Calgary, AlbertaRichard
Received on Sat May 12 12:34:00 2001
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