Importance of Specifications and Standards in Industrial Plants
- Posted by: datienzae
- Category: Projects

Technical Specifications (ET’s) and Standards are the fundamental pillars of any industrial facility, both for its operation, maintenance, as well as for the development of the different projects to be executed. Any activity carried out during the design or life of the industrial plant will be according to what is indicated in said documents.
Technical specifications and standards establish the mandatory technical requirements that must be met during the design and operation of the industrial plant. These specifications generally include additional technical requirements to those indicated in Design Codes and/or Norms.
These documents will define the bases of design, operation, inspection, tests, examinations, and maintenance of an industrial facility. Bidders will study and analyze all this documentation, both during the preparation of the quotation and during the execution of each project activity.
Specifications and standards are documents that have been verified by the client (owner), under the different operating conditions; however, it must be verified that these documents are suitable for use, as well as their compliance with the applicable design Codes and/or Norms.
Usually, a record of changes is generated with the modifications made to said specifications and standards, being regularly updated to avoid conflicts between the different documents, based on the Design Standards and Codes. In general, to avoid these conflicts, an order of precedence must be established, in which the document that prevails in case of conflict will be indicated. In case of inconsistency, the bidder should indicate this to the client to obtain the approval and final decision on how to proceed.
It is very useful for bidders, during the tender stage, to receive a limited and well-defined scope of work, indicating the procedure to follow for the development of documentation, meeting the requirements of the project. Specifications and standards included in the project contract are a key piece when designing and correctly executing the different stages of the project.
During the tender stage, bidders will attach a list of deviations to the technical and commercial offer, indicating the technical points of the specifications and standards which they will not be able to comply with.
Normally, within the documentation of an industrial plant, there is a package of General Specifications and other Particular Specifications associated with each discipline. Each discipline’s responsible will review the documentation affecting their area, as well as the information related to the general design of the project.
The main specifications for each discipline are the following:
• Description of the project and units.
• Basic engineering design data.
• Mechanical specifications.
• Material specifications and material selection.
• Special services.
• Process specifications & PID’s
• Piping specifications
• Civil and construction specifications.
• Instrumentation specifications.
• Painting, insulation and fireproofing specifications.
When working in interdisciplinary Projects, with a high number of people associated to each discipline, it is essential to generate a Design & Calculation Guide. The requirements of one discipline can have an impact or add new requirements to another discipline, so it is essential that each discipline’s responsible develops a detailed list indicating the main technical design points to be considered by the rest of the disciplines.
Example of the information included in a Design & Calculation Guide
Similarly, it will be necessary to schedule interdisciplinary meetings between the different affected disciplines, to assess the requirements that may overlap, for example, seismic calculation, external loads, special studies, etc.
A deep study and analysis of all the technical specifications and standards received of a project will result in a competitive final price, as well as a broad knowledge of the technical part of the project, issuance of relevant technical clarifications and deviations during the tender phase, reducing possible extra costs associated with a poor revision.
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