What is a Production Facility Architecture ?

The Productiuon Facility Architecture is one of three basic components of any enterprise (the other 2 are the People/Organization, and the Control and Information Systems ).

The Production Facilities of the enterprise may be represented by a series of "Architecture" diagrams, beginning with the Process Flow Diagrams, Material Flow Diagrams, and Physical Architecture Drawings..

Since the dawn of history, mankind has designed and built structures to assist him in his endeavors. Initially, these structures were simple shelters, but over time they evolved into huge monuments which defined their epoque. By four thousand years ago, Imhotep, perhaps the world's first architect, had designed and build the first Egyptian pyramid.

By the middle ages these structures had evolved into sophisticated Architectural Masterpieces like the Cathedral of Notre Dame or the Taj Mahal. However, the rate of development of architectural principles was slow, taking over 3000 years to evolve from the pyramids to the midieval cathedral..

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In the last hundred years, the pace of evolution of architectural principles has accelerated, moving from simple structures with load bearing walls to soaring edifices of glass and steel. These structures are much better designed to carry the loads they are intended to bear and the purposes they are intended for.

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, a new kind of Architechture emerged, not to structure inanimate stone and wood, but to structure the movement and processing of material through factories. The Architecture of continuous processing facilities (like oil refineries) are described with "Process Flow Diagrams" (PFDs), while descrete manufacturing facilities (like parts assembly plants) are described wtih Material Flow diagrams (MFDs). These tools enabled engineers to visualize the "architecture" of automated facilities for the processing of fluids and discrete objects in much the same way that architectural drawings did for cathedrals or other "static" structures.

At the next level of detail below the PFD or MFD, the P&ID (Piping and Instrumentation Diagram) provides a schematic representation of the processing equipment, piping, instrumentation, and storage (e.g. tanks), and how these are connected. The P&ID also shows how instrumentation and control devices (like automated valves) are connected in "control loops" to effect regulatory contol of the process units. Thus, the P&ID provides a unique visualization tool, in that it represents both process equipment from the Production Facility Architecture, and the lower levels of the Control and Information Architecture.