Industrial maintenance digitisation
the plant up to date for those who maintain it
Industrial maintenance digitisation turns your plant’s drawings, equipment and history into a single documentation base, measured against reality and kept up to date. For the maintenance team it means something concrete: finding any element — with its information and history — in the state it is in today.
Keep reading: what the maintainer gains when the plant is digitised ↓
What is industrial maintenance digitisation?
In many plants, drawings and documentation are years out of date, and much of the real knowledge lives in the memory of whoever has run the installation from the start. Digitising maintenance means putting that knowledge somewhere it can be consulted.
Digitising a plant’s maintenance means gathering its documentation — as-built drawings, equipment, building services and change history — into a single base, true to what is actually installed and kept up to date as the plant changes. It starts from a scan of the real condition, on which an as-built BIM model is reconstructed where each element carries its associated information, beyond its shape.
The result is a source that answers the question the maintenance team asks every day: what is here, in what condition and what has been touched? When that answer depends on a twenty-year-old drawing or a call to the resident veteran, every intervention starts with an unknown. When it lives in an up-to-date model, it starts with a fact.
Industrial maintenance digitisation brings a plant’s as-built drawings, equipment and history together in a single documentation base, true to measured reality and kept up to date, so the maintenance team can find any element in its current state.
What changes for the maintenance team
Digitisation shows in three everyday actions: locating, consulting the history and trusting that what you open is what is in the plant today.
- Find any element You locate a valve, a section of pipework or a piece of equipment in the model, isolate it by system and see how it relates to what surrounds it. What used to require walking the plant now starts on screen.
- The history to hand Each piece of equipment points to what has been done to it: when it was replaced, what changed, which drawing version governs. The veteran’s knowledge is recorded in the documentation, not only in their head.
- The plant up to date The version your team opens is the real one. When an area is transformed, the change is reflected in the model, so the documentation keeps pace with the plant instead of falling behind.
This work — building the maintenance documentation base and keeping it up to date — is what we do every day on plants in operation. If you want us to look at it on yours, start with the area you find hardest to maintain.
How a plant’s maintenance is digitised
It is a reverse-engineering process: the plant is reconstructed from how it is actually built, and that reconstruction becomes the basis of maintenance.
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Scan of the real condition
The plant is measured with a 3D laser scanner, with production running, producing a point cloud: a metric replica of the installation as it is today. It is the starting point, true to reality. You will find the detail on the 3D laser scanning and point cloud pages.
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As-built BIM model
On that point cloud the as-built BIM model is reconstructed — structures, equipment, pipes and ducts with their real geometry — checking the point cloud against the existing documentation. It is the same model your as-built drawings, true to the measured plant, come from.
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Data in every element
It answers the question “what is each object?”: the information on each space, pipe or piece of equipment is entered into the model, to tell them apart and categorise them. This way the model can be queried, measured and isolated by system.
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Cross-check with the operator or plant manager
The information is cross-checked with the people who know the installation: only the operator knows the function of each piece of equipment or which pipe is out of use. This step moves plant knowledge — which today lives in a few people — into documentation that stays.
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Link to the CMMS
The entry points between the BIM model and the maintenance software (CMMS) are identified and a matrix of connection codes is established between the two: from a work order you reach the element in the model, and from the model, its intervention history.
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A single documentation environment, up to date
All the documentation resides in a common data environment (CDE) on Autodesk Construction Cloud, consistent and accessible by role. Drawings, templates and processes are standardised so the base grows with a single current version of each document and stays true over time.
From digitisation to industrial asset management
When the documentation is digitised and up to date, administering a plant’s equipment throughout its service life no longer depends on scattered files.
Industrial asset management is administering equipment and building services throughout their service life with up-to-date information: what is installed, where, in what condition and with what history. On a CDE platform, that information is made consistent and accessible from any device, so that all parties — owner, engineering firm, plant supervisors — work on the same single model.
That document organisation is what underpins an audit or an official request: complying with the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Medical Devices in a pharmaceutical setting, or submitting documentation to a town council, relies on having up-to-date, traceable drawings and data. Standardising each process also underpins the continuity of the investment as the plant grows.
Industrial asset management relies on an as-built BIM model within a single documentation environment: information no longer depends on scattered drawings and on the knowledge in one person’s head, and becomes a source the whole team can consult.
Organising a plant’s documentation and connecting it to its maintenance is what we do every day. If you want us to look at it on your installation, we take it area by area.
The digital twin: your documentation as a database, up to date
When the as-built BIM model is kept up to date as the plant changes, it stops being a snapshot and becomes a digital twin: the faithful copy of your physical assets, and the database on which maintenance relies. It is the difference between documentation that was produced once and documentation that accompanies the plant over time.
An up-to-date digital twin is the maintenance documentation base: the plant as it is today, accessible to the whole team and connected to the maintenance software.
Frequently asked questions
The most frequent questions from those considering digitising the maintenance of an already built plant.
What is industrial maintenance digitisation?
It means gathering a plant’s documentation — as-built drawings, equipment, building services and change history — into a single documentation base, true to measured reality and kept up to date. It starts from a laser scan of the real condition, on which an as-built BIM model is reconstructed with the data of each element; the aim is for the maintenance team to find any element in the state it is in today, with its information and history to hand.
How does it differ from industrial digitisation in general?
Industrial digitisation covers a plant’s whole life cycle: design, construction, operation and maintenance. Maintenance digitisation focuses on the operation phase: having the documentation of the plant as built and as it is today, to support the day-to-day work of those who maintain it. They share the same base — the as-built BIM model — but answer different questions: designing versus operating.
What is industrial asset management?
Industrial asset management is administering a plant’s equipment and building services throughout their service life with up-to-date information: what is installed, where, in what condition and with what history. When that information lives in an as-built BIM model within a single documentation environment, asset management no longer depends on scattered drawings and on the knowledge in one person’s head, and relies on a source the whole team can consult.
How is the digitised documentation connected to the CMMS?
The as-built BIM model is linked to the CMMS — the computerised maintenance management system — by establishing a matrix of connection codes between the two systems: each piece of equipment in the model points to its maintenance record and vice versa. From a work order you reach the element in the model, and from the model you consult the equipment’s intervention history, relying on a single source of information.
Does the plant have to stop to digitise maintenance?
The scan of the real condition is carried out with the plant running: the laser scanner captures the geometry of the surroundings from each station while activity continues, and the routes are planned with the plant team. Digitisation starts with the area that carries the most weight in your maintenance and grows from there, so production keeps its pace while the documentation base is built.
How is the documentation kept up to date over time?
A plant changes: an installation is renewed, a piece of equipment is replaced, a section of pipework is redone. For the documentation to remain useful, every change is reflected in the model and in the drawings, and the areas that are transformed are re-measured with the same deliverable as always. The model resides in a single environment where the version your team opens is the current one, the one that governs; this continuous upkeep is what keeps the digital twin up to date over time.
And your plant: how do you maintain it today?
Tell us about your plant: an A3D specialist tells you in 15 minutes where to start, which area to survey first and with what scope.
Want the technical detail? See how a reliable as-built is surveyed or how 3D laser scanning works on a plant in operation.