Within manufacturing facilities, small change projects are continually taking place. Keep track of them with Engineering Document Management (EDM) software.

Some of these changes are independent of each other, but the majority overlap, making it challenging to keep track of simultaneous revisions to as-built drawings without proper Engineering Document Management Software.

These overlapping changes often occur on a functional location within a facility or specific equipment.

Many owner-operators design with 3D tools, like Revit or Plant 3D, and the design reviews can be done with the 3D tools. During these reviews, various departments may be required to give their input. For example, the mechanical team may be placing a piece of equipment where the electrical team has not planned to provide adequate power to the equipment. These issues can be identified and addressed before any construction has begun.

As stated above, without the proper software solution in place, overlapping changes and projects can be challenging to manage. Meridian offers a comprehensive CAD software agnostic solution for engineering drawing management where users can easily store, manage, render, and visualize both 2D and 3D content from most major CAD systems. This solution allows organizations to keep their master data up-to-date while organizing their change processes in separate project areas using workflows and data validation. Here are four ways manufacturing organizations can shorten project turnaround time using Meridian's concurrent document version control functionality explicitly designed to make concurrent engineering easier.

1. Keep documents up to date throughout project phases.

Maintenance and operations departments actively look for their asset-related information within computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) while performing work orders. Hagerman & Company can assist with integrating your company's current systems to allow the Meridian software to be your companies single source of truth for all asset information throughout the asset lifecycle using document version control features. 

By connecting Meridian's EDM software with a CMMS, companies can break down information silos between departments, increase workforce productivity, and enhance personnel safety.

The approved and released technical documents managed within Meridian can be shared and viewed within disparate departments throughout the entire organization. Meridian also allows for both projects and documents to have unique workflows. Hagerman & Company can help to configure rules that allow or block the transition from one project stage to the next if certain documents within the project are not yet approved. In Meridian, these are called “interlocks,” and they provide organizations with an accurate representation of the document status.

2. Integrate with CAD software to help concurrent design process.

Meridian is a full CAD-platform independent solution for engineering drawings management, where organizations can store, manage, render, and visualize both 2D and 3D content easily from major CAD software systems. CAD documents, such as piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), can have many references and relationships with other documents. Within Meridian EDM software, users can have all of the references of their documents readily available, including:

• Project copies, current or historical.
• Equipment tags.
• Functional locations.

When making a change to a design, an organization may want to link several documents together so that different teams can provide their input. For example, to use a large motor, a manufacturer may need to link together several documents like wiring diagrams, 3D designs, and P&IDs so that electrical teams can provide their input. By giving visibility to the entire organization, other departments can offer alternative suggestions or comments.

Furthering cohesion, Meridian provides version control to prevent users from working on an incorrect or outdated document, ultimately increasing team productivity and effectiveness.

3. Easily collaborate with external contractors with Meridian Portal.

In the manufacturing industry, design work is frequently outsourced to external contractors, while internal design teams are busy updating facility documentation, maintenance, and operations teams are adjusting and optimizing the facility itself.

It is mission-critical that these disparate teams communicate well together to ensure that field changes are accurately conveyed to the design team and that the design team can reciprocate any planned changes. Also, if several major projects are being planned simultaneously, the need to communicate well and share accurate information increases.

In conjunction with the Meridian software, Hagerman & Company can help organizations accomplish this in several ways. Through Meridian EDM software, organizations can easily send documents to external contractors or vendors to view, update, and add any additional information before returning the documents., allowing organizations to exchange engineering documentation with their external contractors securely. Meridian provides formal and informal sharing of documents, automatic validation of CAD software file references, and a full audit log of all actions.

4. Ensure effective control and change management.

Whether a manufacturer's review process is simple, complex, or somewhere in between, internal teams need as much flexibility and automation as possible to shorten project turnaround times. Organizations can keep their master data up to date while coordinating their change processes in isolated work areas with workflows, ensuring data validation, and providing a full audit trail for regulatory compliance.

Meridian can ensure that the right people know when and how to accomplish a task—even if multiple people need to review the same document. For example, during a motor assembly project, different engineers may need to review the integrity of the motor designs and updated wiring. Simultaneously, someone from the fabrication shop ensures the project itself is feasible with the available machinery.

In addition to informing users of their responsibilities, workflows are also used for automating tasks such as:

• Creating a PDF for each file and adding a print stamp that automatically shows up when the document is printed.
• Applying a watermark to let users know the status of a document.
• Adding an electronic signature.

Meridian EDM software preserves the established control of engineering data changes, keeping master data up to date while organizing change processes in dedicated project areas. Meridian also provides highly configurable workflows based on organizational needs to speed the exchange of project documents while preserving an accurate audit trail.

5. Shortening project turnaround time.

By using Meridian EDM software's concurrent engineering functionality, organizations can ensure that each stakeholder has the right information at the most optimal time. Organizations can also improve the way they exchange data and documents with contractors or vendors.

Additionally, by utilizing Meridian EDM software's concurrent engineering functionality, organizations can shorten project turnaround times and ensure that projects are delivered according to plan. By increasing project visibility, organizations can maintain full proof of control of deliverables for internal and external audits by regulatory bodies. Concurrent engineering projects can be the most challenging and complex document management challenge for owner-operators.

However, Meridian puts customers at ease by empowering them with a robust engineering document management (EDM) system. This software enables organizational collaboration between maintenance, engineering, and project teams to ensure compliance and ensure effective change control.

Connect disparate departments and shorten project turnaround with Meridian.