Ontario hydro integrated programs for plant design and construction

Integrated programs for plant design and construction (IPPDC) is a 5-yr program at Ontario Hydro to optimize engineering and construction productivity through better use of computer technology. The proportion of computer programs operating with data derived from an integrated common data base is very low. IPPDC, on the other hand, is greatly concerned with this common data base. The goals of the IPPDC include improvement of the information flow for a project, minimization of site-discovered interferences, and compression of the entire project life cycle through the intelligent use of computer technology. This program focuses on the development of an integrated data base for plant design software systems to service a multi discipline engineering environment as required by a large-scale megaproject. To achieve the goals of IPPDC, there are three basic elements of computer technology that must be in place before a totally integrated data base system can be achieved: (1) data management; (2) networking; and (3) three-dimensional modeling