Keywords: Plant Design, Infrastructure, Integrated Engineering, BIM, Mobility, Project Management, Engineering Analysis Tools, Asset Lifecycle
The worldwide market for engineering design tools for plants and infrastructure is presently quite strong in almost all sectors and will continue to exhibit good growth according to a new ARC Advisory Group study.
Owner/operators of both plants and infrastructure assets, many of which are nearing the end-of-life phase, are being pressured to manage the assets. Increasingly, owners utilize engineering design tools to prolong and extend the life and efficiency of brownfield assets. “Although, historically, engineering and design tools were developed to support upfront project-related activities by AECs, EPCs, and other users, current offerings have evolved into more robust asset management information platforms that can be utilized by owners and agents for the entire lifecycle of the infrastructure or plant asset,“ according to Senior Analyst Dick Slansky, the principal author of ARC’s “Engineering Design Tools for Plants and Infrastructure Global Market Research Study”.
Power, Process, & Marine
Activity in the power, process, and marine sector is led by the energy sector, primarily oil & gas, followed by electric power generation. Another factor impacting the plant design landscape is the metals & mining sector, where project activity is driven by the need for additional refinement of natural resources that are used for both plant and infrastructure construction. While the shipbuilding industry is currently relatively flat, growth in the marine sector is currently being driven by offshore exploration and production in the oil & gas sector. With the rapidly growing shale gas production continuing to ramp up in North America, producers are liquefying gas for export. There will be a need for a new generation of LNG tankers to service the global demand.
Infrastructure Growth
In developing regions, the basic first step to growth is to create the primary level of infrastructure as a precursor to created industrial assets. As such, we’ll continue see a huge demand over the next 10-15 years in developing regions. Most of the population growth in these regions will be centered in urban areas where some predict 96 percent of the population will ultimately live.
In developed regions, maintaining and securing existing and sometimes aging infrastructure assets is a continuing challenge, especially in the face of flat or declining public funding.
Developed regions are also looking to install new high-tech approaches to manage infrastructure assets as well as design and build new age assets or retrofit legacy infrastructure components.
For more information on this study, please visit our Market Research.