Preliminary industrial design
The preliminary industrial design usually begins with a brief, which is nothing but an evolving document between client and industrial design consultant. This phase is an opportunity for clients to give their ideas, requirements, and goal for their projects.
The preliminary industrial design also includes a site-visit where the industrial design consultant starts to assess site conditions, constraints, and possible design opportunities. Industrial Design Consultant makes an initial inquiry regarding authority regulations and designs the project accordingly. Then, they pass the drawings to the client for their understanding and comments. The number of drawings required is strictly dependent upon the size and complexity of the project. In this stage, designers complete most of the architectural, civil, and mechanical designs.
Front end engineering design
This stage is a part of Front End Engineering Design (FEED). A good FEED reflects all the requirements of the client and minimizes changes during implementation. This stage often includes completing the site investigations like Geotechnical tests, water analysis, site survey, and many other things. In cases of brownfield projects, consideration of existing drawings is necessary. Designers prepare several drawings to show the design concept. The budget and project schedules are fine-tuned to match with the original objectives.
A greenfield project FEED is to be generated from scratch. However, a brownfield project FEED is more extensive and it should start from the information from the available structure and facilities. An initial analysis of what all is it is essential.
Team composition
In the preliminary industrial design stage, the team involved is invariably a cross-functional one. This ensures that designers from all disciplines work in tandem and provide a feasible and solution in line with the client’s requirements. The stakeholders from the client’s side also join the discussions. There are many brainstorming sessions before agreeing a solution. Usually, members from the engineering, operations, safety, finance, regulatory, and HR departments join from the client’s side. This helps in putting the stakeholders and industrial design consultants on a common platform. There are minimal discrepancies in a good FEED and support the project to be on schedule.
