Tools for Enhancing the Piping Engineering Process

The piping function is frequently inefficient. Previous research indicates that potential savings from improving the piping function are about $3.8 million for an average heavy industrial project costing $190 million. The CII Piping Function Research Team involved more than 100 industry experts to identify drivers of these problematic processes, to collect best practices, and to develop solution tools for improving piping function efficiency.

The major causes for this inefficiency pertain to engineering development processes for (1) piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs), (2) supplier data, and (3) packaged units. Research indicates that three drivers of P&ID problems are inefficient sequencing and prioritization, inefficient procedures for P&ID development and review, and inefficient communication of P&ID uncertainty. In the supplier data process, communication, coordination and selection duration are three major problems. For packaged units, supplier quality issues and design issues are major areas influencing piping function efficiency.

Several tools have been developed by the CII Piping Function Research Team to improve the efficiency of the piping function. These tools, categorized into policies, procedures, checklists, and roles, are described in this publication.