Old K says every week – talking about things in the petrochemical design industry. Post 25: Engineering design document numbers

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Old K writes every week – Talks about things in the petrochemical design industry, Post 25. The purpose of writing this post is twofold: firstly, to help everyone (especially those who are not from design firms) understand the common methods used for numbering engineering design documents; to be honest, few design firms explain what the meaning of these numbering systems is in their design documents. Secondly, it aims to discuss ways in which engineering design documents can be numbered more effectively. 1. During the engineering design phase, the usual method for numbering design documents is as follows: A-B-C-D-E. A represents the project number, typically expressed as 4 Arabic digits, with the first two digits indicating the year and the last two digits representing the sequence number. B denotes the code for the main item (work area), also usually represented by 4 Arabic digits. C is the code for the specialty, as specified in point 23. D refers to the category of the document, as detailed in point 24. E is the sequence number, also generally expressed as a 4-digit number. 2. Discussion on issues related to the numbering of design documents during the engineering design phase: 1) Some design firms include information about the engineering design stage in the document numbering (e.g., BED for basic engineering design, DED for detailed engineering design). Detailed engineering design represents an extension and refinement of basic engineering design; including the design stage in the numbering can lead to unnecessary revisions. 2) Some design institutes make the project numbers very complex, including information such as the region and product type. Personally, I think this is of little use and only adds to the hassle. Moreover, **administrative divisions keep changing; after a few years, the meaning of the area you’re referring to will become unclear. 3) Some design institutes assign fixed main item numbers and include them in their company regulations; that is, main items of the same type are given the same number across different projects. For example, the main item number for a circulating water station remains the same in various projects. This is a continuation of the tradition from the era of manual drawing, when the range of projects handled by each design institute was relatively fixed, and this approach can be advantageous for searching for and reusing archived drawings. We are now in an era of digitalization, with a wide variety of chemical engineering projects and extensive cooperation among design firms. If we continue to follow traditional methods, it will bring many inconveniences. Lao K says every week – talking about things in the petrochemical design industry. For previous posts, please see the links below: Post 1: The development history of China’s survey and design industry https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3031149-1-1.html Post 2: **Management of the survey and design industry** https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3036417-1-1.html Post 3: The development of drawing techniques in design institutes https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3039960-1-1.html Post 4: The evolution of professional division of labor in petrochemical design institutes https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3045261-1-1.html Post 5: The organizational structure of petrochemical engineering companies https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3050591-1-1.html Post 6: Contract management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3054762-1-1.html Post 7: Management of basic design data in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3058184-1-1.html Post 8: Quality management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3061718-1-1.html Post 9: Schedule management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3062161-1-1.html Post 10: Management of design documents in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3069580-1-1.html Post 11: Meeting management in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3073327-1-1.html Post 12: Management of bonus distribution in design management https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3077492-1-1.html Post 13: The construction process for petrochemical projects https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3082708-1-1.html Post 14: Illustrated content and procedures for process design https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3086849-1-1.html Post 15: Explanation of PID versions and management of PID modifications https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3091076-1-1.html Post 16: Common energy-inefficient designs in the petrochemical industry https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3095859-1-1.html Post 17: Project work breakdown https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3100837-1-1.html Post 18: Issues related to the training of design professionals https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3105529-1-1.html Post 19: A brief explanation of pump net positive suction head https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3109916-1-1.html Post 20: Talking about excessive patent applications https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3111855-1-1.html Post 21: Pressure drop and energy consumption of control valves https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3116754-1-1.html Post 22: Names and codes for project design stages https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3121148-1-1.html Post 23: Codes for design specialties https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3123778-1-1.html Post 24: Category codes for design documents https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3127534-1-1.html