Automating Equipment Information Exchange (AEX)

Project Manager: Sharon S. Bickford, 512-452-0835 or bickford@fiatech.org

Project Participants | Overview | Project Status | Business Case | Meeting Schedules | Project Participant Activities | Project Deliverables | Collaboration | Resources |

Project Participants

Contributing Suppliers

Collaborating Organizations

“DuPont is involved with FIATECH and the AEX project in particular because we believe it is time to move beyond talking about problems and take action. The AEX project has responded to an industry-wide challenge regarding standards and interoperability, allowing owners like DuPont to work with contractors and technology developers to proactively solve problems in the most business effective ways. We will continue to work with the AEX team to ensure successful implementation."- James B. Porter, Jr., Chief Engineer and Vice President, Engineering & Operations, DuPont

Overview

The Automating Equipment Information Exchange (AEX) project is developing, demonstrating and deploying eXtensible Markup Language (XML) specifications to automate information exchange for the design, procurement, delivery, operation and maintenance of engineered equipment.

To date, the AEX project has delivered XML specifications, detailed object information models and example files for:

  • centrifugal pumps,
  • centrifugal fans,
  • centrifugal compressors,
  • reciprocating compressors,
  • electric motors,
  • air cooled heat exchangers,
  • shell and tube heat exchangers,
  • control valves, and
  • numerous other types of valves.

Work is currently underway to support these additional types of equipment:

  • positive displacement pumps,
  • vertical pumps,
  • air cooled chillers,
  • water cooled chillers, and
  • rooftop cooling units.

The AEX project works with FIATECH members, equipment manufacturers, software suppliers and industry associations to demonstrate interoperability through the use of AEX XML schemas - thereby accelerating the adoption across various equipment supply chains. The AEX project works with the American Petroleum Institute (API), Process Industry Practices (PIP) and the American Society for Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) to ensure that the AEX solutions support industry requirements, equipment datasheets and standards. The Hydraulic Institute, the industry association for pump manufacturers and related equipment and software suppliers collaborates with the AEX project on pump schemas, industry guidelines and interoperability demonstrations. The AIChE Design Institute for Physical Properties (DIPPR) collaborates with AEX on schemas for material properties.

The AEX project also works with other FIATECH projects to ensure close coordination on deliverables and to leverage the AEX results in other projects. This includes the Accelerating Deployment of ISO 15926 (ADI) project, the Global Valve Cross-reference eCatalog (GVCC) project, and updating of the Capital Projects Technology Roadmap's tactical plans.

Business Case

The Problem

The design, procurement, delivery, installation, operation and maintenance of capital facilities equipment is hindered by the lack of interoperability among the many different software systems used to support these work processes. Many different disciplines and collaborating companies in these work processes use different software systems. This currently requires labor-intensive re-entry of data into multiple systems introducing additional cost, schedule delay and the risk of introducing costly transcription errors. While software systems integration within large companies has been proceeding to some extent, the external integration needed to share electronic information with customers and suppliers has not been feasible due to a lack of a coordinated industry approach to achieve software interoperability for the life cycle of engineered equipment for capital facilities.

Benefits

Benefits: 5% reduction in equipment capital costs, $millions/year.

Quantifying the cost of the lack of interoperability in the capital facilities industry is the subject of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) study, which estimates yearly losses at close to $16 billion within the U.S. A large owner-operator company did an internal study in cooperation with its EPCs and suppliers that estimated the benefits from interoperability for just procurement of equipment to be at least 5% annually. Other studies from the Construction Industry Institute (CII) and NIST have estimated that significant improvements in the automation and integration of software systems in the capital facilities industry could be worth up to 8% of total project capital cost, a 14% reduction in project schedule and 5-15% reduction in annual maintenance costs. For any large company engaged in capital projects, the benefits are potentially millions of dollars annually.

Project Status

2007

  • Delivered XML schemas for additional equipment types.

  • Completed XML schemas for centrifugal compressors and reciprocating compressors.

  • Initiated work on XML schemas for HVAC equipment.

  • Expanded participation in the AEX project to include commercial, institutional and power facilities.

  • Continued collaboration with the ADI Project, API, HI, PIP and the National Building Information Model Standard initiative.

  • Initiated collaboration with ASHRAE and LMI.

  • Continued work on equipment pilot projects with sponsor companies, e.g. heat exchangers by KBR, HVAC equipment by General Motors, and pumps by DuPont

2008 Plan

  • Focus on industry adoption of AEX and deployment in commercial software and industry standards, through development of industry tutorials, example files, software and expanded interoperability demonstrations.

  • Deliver XML schemas for additional equipment types, such as exhaust fans, cooling towers, and engine driven pumps (project sponsors set priorities).

  • Complete XML schemas for HVAC equipment.

  • Expand participation in the AEX project, with an emphasis on power facilities.

  • Continue collaboration with the ADI Project, API, HI, PIP and the National Building Information Model Standard initiative.

  • Move to operational capabilities in pump supply chains.

  • Expand collaboration with equipment suppliers and industry associations.

  • Complete current equipment pilot projects and develop new pilot projects with project sponsors.

Meeting Schedule

  • AEX Web Meeting, May 6

  • AEX Web Meeting, June 3

  • AEX Breakout Session at FIATECH’s Member Meeting, October 29

Project Participant Activities

  • Project participants develop priority lists for additional equipment types for XML schema development.

  • Project participants provide domain expertise, guidance and review of project technical work.

  • Project participants undertake commercial usage pilot projects with AEX project team support.

  • Project participants work with the pump manufacturers and the Hydraulic Institute (HI) Electronic Data Exchange Committee to develop HI standards on the use of the AEX schemas.

  • Project participants work with equipment manufacturers and industry associations to develop common plans for extending and using AEX for interoperability across equipment supply chains.

  • Project participants work with standards groups, e.g.,API, ISA, ISO and PIP) to use AEX project results.

Project Deliverables

Working Version 2.02 of the XML Schemas (March 2008)

Version 2.0 of the XML Schemas (December 8, 2006)

Version 1.27 of the XML Schemas (November 21, 2005)

AEX Deliverables (July 2004)

Collaboration

Capital Facilities Industry XML

The scope of work needed by the capital facilities industry is sufficiently large and with the number of industry initiatives developing XML specifications, it is important to promote cooperative and collaborative development to effectively deliver a coordinated set of XML schemas for the capital facilities industry.

With this larger goal in mind, the FIATECH AEX project, the AIChE DIPPR 991 project and ePlantData established an umbrella label for these schemas at a separate cooperative web site at www.cfixml.org (capital facilities industry XML) where multiple organizations that share this vision can collaborate together in an open source development environment, supported by SourceForge.

We are continuing to broaden collaboration with additional XML development efforts to achieve the overarching goal of meeting the needs of the capital facilities industry.

ISO 15926 and the ADI Project

The AEX project and its deliverables are complementary to the emerging process industry life cycle data integration standard, ISO 15926. The AEX project is focused on enabling interoperability across the equipment supply chains and the software applications used for equipment design, selection, procurement and installation. The AEX project is working with FIATECH's ADI project to ensure that the information requirements for equipment and system handover, operations and maintenance are supported by the evolving library of templates and reference data for ISO 15926. In 2005 and in 2006, the AEX project investigated the available versions of the ISO 15926 Reference Data Library (RDL), provided comments and recommendations for improving the RDL information for engineered equipment and made changes to the AEX XML schemas to improve the alignment with RDL. The AEX project plans to continue collaborating with ADI and ISO 15926.

IAI-IFC and ASHRAE

The AEX project produces object information models for equipment that largely complements the work of the emerging International Alliance for Interoperability - Industry Foundation Classes (IAI-IFC standards) for building information models. NIST completed a research study that documented a semantic mapping between the IAI-IFC schemas and the AEX centrifugal pump schemas. The AEX project also has a long-standing cooperative relationship with ASHRAE to cooperate in the development of equipment information models for HVAC equipment, which will ultimately be useful for building information models. The AEX project is committed to continue working with IAI and ASHRAE to promote harmonized industry standards for equipment.

Resources

Presentations

Presentation from 09/27/06

Introductory Presentation

AEX Interoperability Demo

"AEX Project Overview," AEX Project Meeting - September 2006

"AEX Team Workshop," AEX Workshop - February 2006

"Achieving Interoperability for Equipment Supply Chains," CII/CPI Conference - July 2005

"Achieving Interoperability for Equipment Supply Chains (AEX)," Process Industry Data Integration Workshop - August 2005

"AEX Project Overview and Interoperability Demonstration," daraTECH, January 2005

Articles

"AEX cfiXML Schemas for Capital Facility Industry Data Exchange," Wikipedia

XML for Capital Facilities. Journal of Leadership and Management in Engineering 3(2), April 2003, pp. 82-85. Reprinted with permission of American Society of Civil Engineers

"FIATECH AEX Project Publishes XML Schemas for Construction and Buildings Industry," XML Cover Pages, July 28, 2004

Semantic Mapping Between IAI ifcXML and FIATECH AEX Models for Centrifugal Pumps Begley, E. F.; Palmer, M. E.; Reed, K. A.

"FIATECH AEX Project Publishes New XML Schemas for Capital Facilities Equipment," AVEVA Pipeline, 2004.

Cost Analysis of Inadequate Interoperability in the U.S. Capital Facilities Industry, NIST GCR 04-867, August, 2004

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