Intergraph® Releases SmartPlant® 3D Materials Handling Edition Software to Automate Design of Bulk Facilities

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Intergraph® has released the first production version of its SmartPlant® Enterprise solution for the mining, port, power, pulp and paper industries, SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition, to automate the design and modeling of bulk materials handling systems.

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SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition automates the design of conveyor systems, processing facilities and transfer chutes to enable bulk materials industries to rapidly and easily create or expand facilities. Specific functionality addressing conveyor layout and detailed chute design is provided in a simple, user-friendly rules-based automation application to help reduce design times and ensure safer, higher quality projects through less rework and reconfigurations.

Two companies, Sinclair, Knight and Merz (SKM) and United Group Ltd. (UGL) Resources, provided industry input to Intergraph in the development of SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition and are committed to using the solution on upcoming projects.

SKM is a leading engineering, sciences and project delivery firm, and UGL Resources is a construction, engineering, asset management and maintenance provider offering integrated solutions to the mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, chemical and heavy manufacturing sectors. SKM is currently in the process of implementing the solution on a mining project in Chile.

"SKM has worked with Intergraph to develop the SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling module, and is currently integrating this with SKM's global delivery systems," said Denis Hamel, SKM's global engineering manager for Mining and Metals. "The technology will significantly improve cost and time efficiencies, creating real value in the design and delivery of projects worldwide"

"The solution created by Intergraph in consultation with UGL Resources and SKM, to meet the requirements developed throughout a proof-of-concept phase is truly cutting edge," said Jeff Lawrence, Projects Development and Systems manager at UGL Resources. "We expect this technology to revolutionize the work processes and methods used to design, fabricate, construct and commission materials handling systems. This is the new industry-standard approach for bulk materials handling systems.

Patrick Holcomb, Intergraph Process, Power & Marine executive vice president said, "Our SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition solution capitalizes both on our internal strengths in 3D design for the process, power, and marine industries, as well as the expertise from two of the world's leading engineering, construction and consulting firms in metals and mining. This solution expands our SmartPlant Enterprise applications portfolio to reach new industries within the process, power and marine market segments."  

Key features of SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition include:

• Conveyor belt line layout – a simple, easy-to-use workflow enables conveyor belt design and layout in a 3D environment, complete with associated belt line equipment such as idlers, pulleys, gantries, scrapers and conveyor drives
• Transfer Chute Design – SP3D MHE allows users to design to the detailing and manufacturing level,
• Significant 3D display performance  – designers can perform 3D navigation on even the largest models with response performance as much as 10 times faster than previously available
• Design reuse – a new "Model Data Reuse Wizard" allows users to copy systems and the objects nested under those systems to a new destination within the same plant model. This is a significant market differentiator that allows the systematic reuse of 3D model data

SmartPlant 3D Materials Handling Edition automates much of the design process, allowing changes to be completed faster with detailed fabrication-level deliverables for chute plate design, reducing the need for third-party software. Faster completion of projects directly relates to a reduction of man-hours required to achieve system options and to lower project costs and increase overall revenue. Also enhancing the ability to reduce capital expenditure (CAPEX) cost is the opportunity to design and model sections of the system once, save them to a catalog and reuse the design in future projects.

SmartPlant Enterprise is an integrated solutions suite that provides full design, construction, materials and engineering data management capabilities needed for the creation, safe operation and maintenance, and capital Project Life Cycle Management (cPLM) of large-scale process, power, marine and offshore projects. The software's intelligent data-centric and rules-based solutions enables users to share data globally, build safety into plants early in the design process, and efficiently construct and manage the engineering design basis throughout the life cycle of an asset.

The ARC Advisory Group, a leading industry analyst firm, ranked Intergraph the No. 1 overall engineering design 3D software and process engineering tools (PET) provider worldwide according to its PET Worldwide Outlook Market Analysis and Forecast through 2013.

About SKM

Sinclair Knight Merz is a leading engineering, sciences and project delivery firm. Its purpose is to deliver a positive and enduring impact on the world. In support of this goal, we have offices across Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, South America and Asia. We work in close partnership with key clients in the public and private sectors, providing independent technical, strategic and commercial advice to deliver a wide range of projects in the communities in which we live. www.skmconsulting.com

About UGL

UGL is an engineering, maintenance and facilities management company. It consists of four divisions – UGL Resources, UGL Infrastructure, UGL Rail and UGL Services (incorporating UGL

Premas, UGL Equis and UGL Unicco). Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, UGL operates in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, North America and the Middle East employing approximately 43,000 people.

UGL Resources is a leading provider of project delivery and asset management services in the mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, chemicals and industrial processing industries.

For more information, visit www.ugllimited.com

About Intergraph

Intergraph is the leading global provider of engineering and geospatial software that enables customers to visualize complex data. Businesses and governments in more than 60 countries rely on Intergraph's industry-specific software to organize vast amounts of data into understandable visual representations and actionable intelligence. Intergraph's software and services empower customers to build and operate more efficient plants and ships, create intelligent maps, and protect critical infrastructure and millions of people around the world.

Intergraph operates through two divisions: Process, Power & Marine (PP&M) and Security, Government & Infrastructure (SG&I). Intergraph PP&M provides enterprise engineering software for the design, construction and operation of plants, ships and offshore facilities. Intergraph SG&I provides geospatially-powered solutions to the defense and intelligence, public safety and security, government, transportation, photogrammetry, utilities, and communications industries. For more information, visit www.intergraph.com.

All rights reserved. Intergraph and the Intergraph logo are registered trademarks of Intergraph Corp. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Intergraph