The Dow Chemical Company with headquarters in Midland, USA, belongs to the major chemicals groups worldwide. Dow combines science, technology and creativity to create innovative solutions e.g. for clean drinking water, the use of renewable energies or for boosting agricultural yields. Based on technology and know-how, approximately 52,000 employees at 197 locations worldwide create more than 5,000 pioneering products for customers in about 160 countries.
Dow also counts on pioneering tools. At the German sites in Bomlitz, Bitterfeld and Stade the integrated software system Engineering Base (EB) from AUCOTEC is being used. There Dow has been cooperating with AUCOTEC for many years. The manufacturing plants for methyl cellulose as well as the steam boiler in Stade have been consistently documented with the EB predecessor AUCOPLAN and with EB. And EB is the new system for their operation and also for all new projects.
Central life cycle support
At Dow, the database-driven engineering platform EB supports the control of the life cycle from the specification via installation and design to operation. Thorsten Meyer, Engineering Resource Leader in the Stade section Engineering Solutions, assigns a particularly important role to the information management: „An essential factor for the success of a project and economical operation is that the complete documentation of the electrical, measuring and control technology is conducted in only one system. In EB, all of the information is maintained centrally: all loops, terminal or layout diagrams including imported package units with all documents such as manuals, certificates and the like.“
Due to EB‘s multi-level system structure, a central data source provides consistency for all relevant documents. The structure also supports the integration of all applications in upstream and downstream engineering - a genuine asset for efficiency. Meyers concludes: „With its far-reaching automation and the integration of standards, EB offers an enormous potential both for project documentation and later on for the life cycle of our plants.“
