In today’s digital world, the number, size, and variety of electrical and controls technology required in a new facility are ever-evolving and growing. Things like remote control panels, vendor panels, indicating transmitters, panel views, VFDs, HMIs, and process manufacturing equipment provide users with the information needed to run systems and make critical decisions for successful operation and production, so it is essential for the installing contractor to ensure these items are located precisely where they’re needed.
Interface point location details are oftentimes absent from design drawings, and when they are included, their positioning may not be conducive to usability; BIM 3D modeling rarely includes any of these specifications at all. Experienced electrical and instrumentation contractors like Omni must look beyond design drawings to determine where interface points should be ideally located and how they should be positioned. This process must include the input of the end user.
Ensuring that client ease-of-use needs are met might lead to installation complications for the contractor, but these challenges must take a back seat to user needs whenever and wherever possible. Once panels, interface points and conduit are installed and a new facility goes into operation, relocation becomes difficult, expensive, and therefore highly unlikely, and poorly-located items can have a detrimental effect on workflow and production and frustrate users for years to come.
Small considerations like turning a transmitter 90 degrees or locating a panel at the bottom of a platform vs. on top can make a huge difference not only in usability and production, but in how the contractor is ultimately remembered. Accommodating user needs might mean changes in conduit routing or fabrication of custom steel supports, but client satisfaction in the long term should be what matters most for all involved.
About Omni
Omni Instrumentation & Electrical Services, Inc., located in New Jersey and Maryland, is a premier instrumentation and electrical contractor, providing superior total care solutions since 1986. Services include instrument installation, tubing installation, instrument calibration, control loop testing, startup and commissioning, power and lighting, process control wiring, BMS wiring, telecommunications and data wiring, fire alarm wiring, security wiring, process network wiring, and control panel fabrication. Omni Instrumentation & Electrical Services, Inc., is certified in Foundation Fieldbus, Profibus, DeviceNet and ASI-Bus installation.
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