New Plant Installation - Facility Mapping

When installing a new assembly line or cell, or modifying existing plant, you need to accurately know where everything is located. Even in a new building, accurate measurements of walls, floor, roof, columns and existing infrastructure will ensure new equipment and plant will fit. If you are retrofitting, replacing, or upgrading an existing facility, there is an even larger requirement for information, such as current machinery, robots, tools, fixtures, gantries, power supplies, pipework, walkways, barriers, cranes, fences, tanks, silos, etc.  Mapping these constraints in 2D (floor plan) or 3D allows for the design, and to modify and plan the installation of any new equipment. Depending on the size, level of detail and accuracy, the DMS will use the most suitable technology to ensure the best outcome.   

Precision Mapping of a Facility

The DMS provides the highest precision measurement of existing spaces in Australia. Unlike traditional surveying techniques which are only accurate to 2 to 5mm the DMS is capable of ultra precision measurement ranging in accuracy of 1.0mm all the way down to 0.015mm. This level of precision ensures large complex structures can be installed correctly the first time. Floors and machinery sole-plates can be precisely mapped and then levelled to a fraction of a mm before equipment is delivered.

Real-Time Layout of New Plant

Laser trackers and industrial robotics total stations are used to perform real-time marking of new plant and equipment. The process involves the following process:

• The 2D or 3D CAD layout layout of the facility is imported into our 3D measurement software (SpatialAnalyzer)

• The CAD data can include the location of machine centre lines, core holes for footings, steel fabrication potions, fences, walkways, pits, etc

• SpatialAnalyzer software then drives our measurement hardware and automatically directs the operator to the physical locations on the floor that need to be marked. This process occurs in real time, to sub-millimetre precision.

• Any type of feature can be accurately marked, including machine outlines and centre lines, core holes, barriers, fences, walkway, pits, etc.

Once marked, the concrete floor can be cored, and pits precisely cut and filled, before a single machine or plant infrastructure arrives. This process saves time and money, as the machinery and infrastructure can be placed straight on the marked centre lines with the machine feet aligning perfectly with the floor's cored holes. 

Real-Time Alignment and Instillation of New Plant

Once the new plant, tools, fixtures or machinery arrives it can be physically aligned using the real-time capabilities of our total stations, laser trackers. You simply start moving an object or component and its position is determined in real time.  This reduces installation and increases accuracy of the installed component.  As well as aligning, fully traceable reports of the final location of all plant can then be generated.