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COADE plant design application standardises on Autodesk’s DWF file format
Posted: 8 August 2004
Autodesk Inc., the world's leading design software and digital content company, today announced that longtime development partner COADE, Inc., has standardized on Autodesk’s DWF (Design Web Format) file format for its CADWorx Internet Publisher (CADWorx IP), the newest addition to its CADWorx 2005 suite of AutoCAD-based plant design products. By using DWF tech nology, CADWorx IP allows engineers to “publish” and distribute their intelligent designs to all associated parties, in order to promote the information exchange that is the basis of project collaboration and plant lifecycle management.
The plant design process begins with the CADWorx P&ID application, which engineers use to create P&IDs - typically linked to large amounts of data, in varying file formats and in different locations. These documents are the prime building blocks of the plant lifecycle management process – from design, through maintenance and operation, and on to decommissioning. CADWorx IP allows these documents to be published and distributed via Autodesk DWF Viewer to all interested parties in a format that permits access to drawings as well as associated linked data and documentation -- via a simple browser. This allows project stakeholders – such as subcontractors, vendors, plant operators, and regulators – to review, comment on, and reference project design data, without needing an AutoCAD license or the CADWorx application – or, in fact, without needing any traditional CAD skills.
“One of the major issues facing the users of plant design software is how to distribute design data across the chasm that separates those who own the application programs (and the application skills) and those who don’t – whether that chasm separates the core design team from the subcontractors and vendors, or whether it separates the engineering/design firm from the owner/operator who must take over the day-to-day plant operations,” said Thomas Van Laan, president of COADE. “When we looked for a solution to this problem, we found what we needed in Autodesk’s DWF file format. It offered a compact, precise, accessible, and secure method of distributing engineering design documents,”
An Autodesk Developer Network member since 1986 – and one of the first 40 developers to partner with Autodesk, Houston-based COADE provides mechanical engineering software to more than 10,000 customers in 65 countries worldwide. COADE products are in use at nearly every major oil company, nearly every major engineering company, and hundreds of smaller organizations.
“Our partnership with COADE has given both companies the opportunity to contribute to the fulfillment of a vital aspect of engineering– namely, the speed and accuracy of design and review,” said Tony Peach, director, DWF Strategy at Autodesk. “By leveraging the superior functionality of DWF, COADE is helping its customers streamline their distribution and review processes and ultimately increase productivity.”
Simple, Secure File Sharing
DWF tech nology provides a foundation for design communication that accelerates collaboration and helps increase overall productivity throughout a project lifecycle. A compact format capable of holding large amounts of compressed data, DWF features an open architecture so that it can be published by many different design applications. DWF also affords control, allowing engineers and designers to specify the design components users may see, and to secure the integrity of original data. DWF reduces the expense of workflow and construction errors due to lengthy review cycles, and ultimately, helps eliminate costs associated with production and use of paper-based plans.
This breakthrough in distributive design leans heavily on Autodesk's DWF (Design Web Format) tech nology, an open, secure file format that allows for the efficient distribution of information rich design data. Publishing to Autodesk’s DWF format is made much simpler as the underlying tech nologies that are used by CADWorx P&ID (Piping and Instrument Diagrams (P&IDs) are based on widely accepted industry tools and file formats from companies such as Autodesk, Microsoft, and Oracle.
About COADE
COADE, Inc., is one of the world's leading providers of engineering and design software for cross-discipline information sharing and interoperability. Company products include CADWorx, an integrated CAD suite for process plant design; CAESAR II, the world's most popular pipe stress analysis software; PVElite and CodeCalc, pressure vessel and component design and analysis software programs; and TANK, comprehensive engineering software for designing and analyzing oil storage tanks according to the latest API codes.
About Autodesk
Autodesk is the world's leading design software and digital content company, offering customers progressive business solutions through powerful tech nology products and services. Autodesk helps customers in the building, manufacturing, infrastructure, digital media, and wireless data services fields increase the value of their digital design data and improve efficiencies across their entire project lifecycle management processes.
For more information see www.autodesk.com.
About ImageGrafix
ImageGrafix, based in Dubai , UAE is the authorized distributor of COADE Engineering Software products in the Middle East and North Africa . ImageGrafix is also an Autodesk Authorized Systems Centre.
For more information see www.image-grafix.com.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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