Graph-Co: The Startup Revolutionizing P&ID Conversion

Digitizing visual piping and instrumentation flow diagrams (P&IDs) remains a major challenge for the process industry - often costly, error-prone and time-consuming. Graph-Co offers a highly automated solution guaranteeing 99.9% accurate conversions. We spoke to Co-Founder & CEO Frank Hertling to find out more about their innovative technology and ambitious roadmap.

How would you explain your solution in three sentences to a professional colleague in a chemical company?

Graph-Co digitally transforms content of visual Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams (P&IDs) from brownfield plants into object-oriented, intelligent and interactive models in CAE-/ALM systems s.a. COMOS® (or other SW using XML). We achieve this by applying state-of-the-art tech and processes incl. AI. Our approach allows a consistently homogeneous standard and superior quality at very reasonable costs. The entire process is performed in Germany, in full accordance with export-control laws.

What problem motivated you to start the company?

The classic approach to convert P&ID content into CAE-systems is highly labour-intensive, time consuming and expensive. Yet, output quality varies by individual skills of draftsmen, performing the job manually.

As the expected benefits of having all engineering data in a single system, s.a. forming the backbone of digital twins or allowing cross-functional collaboration on a single-source-of-truth portal, require all plants’ data to be uploaded, which only a highly automated and scalable approach can deliver.

With our core expertise of computational engineering, computer-vision tech and target CAE-system knowledge, we developed a solution that exceeds previously unmet customer expectations.

Frank Hertling, Co-Founder & CEO, and Laurenz Merth, CTO & Co-Founder, at Graph-Co GmbH

How do you convince a chemical company to set up a pilot project with you?

Given that a potential customer uses COMOS® (other CAE-SW will follow), Graph-Co will listen to its needs and expectations. Since our general data-extraction and -conversion process is agnostic regarding a customer’s COMOS®-customization, we need to adapt only a few parameters and can offer a one-stop-shop experience, meaning the operative plant staff can readily use the converted P&ID-content in their COMOS® environment.

Since most process-industry customers have some (and often unsatisfactory) experience with conversion projects, routing their data via multiple external and internal resources with high PM-effort and missed deadlines due to frustrating error-corrections and rework, there is a certain scepsis about our promise.

That’s why we guarantee 99,9% correct conversion of their P&ID content. Plus, we deliver value adds s.a.

• auto-completion of missing tags

• correcting of systemic errors, e.g. wrong valve symbols

• checking for duplicates

• recognize and classify attributes against customer’s CAE-standard

• extract and map signals of functions against customer’s CAE-standard

• connection of all information from device table to corresponding objects/attributes

• automatically sort pipeline parts and connect available information intelligently

• highlight contradicting specs for plant staff to easily find and deal with it

Once a customer buys into these benefits, we offer a small POV (proof-of-value), where we demonstrate that customer’s expectations can indeed be met.

Laurenz Merth, CTO & Co-Founder, at Graph-Co GmbH, at the CIAF conference

Who are your current customer (groups) and who do you want your potential customers to be?

Graph-Co’s P&ID conversion process works for the entire process industry, with key focus on chemical, (bio-)pharma and food industry. Since we started with customers using Siemens COMOS®, today’s core competence lies with this CAE-SW. However, we have firm plans to adapt our conversion process to the newly developed DEXPI standard. That should open additional opportunities with customers using CAE-SW from AVEVA or HEXAGON. Also, other plant owner/operators as well as engineering offices may want to leverage only the XML-file containing 99,9% extracted content.

To logically complement P&ID conversion, we will develop an electrical-circuit conversion tool for same CAE-systems as well.

Where do you see yourself in 3 years and how can 5-HT support you?

After levelling-up E&IC and DEXPI development, we will transform Graph-Co from a pure service company to a software-solution provider as of 2027. Via a SaaS-portal customers will be able to leverage Graph-Co’s vast object- and lines data base for their needs on a self-serve basis. This will extend beyond simple conversion to added-value performances.

5-HT could endorse our solution offering vis-à-vis plant operators and encourage computational-engineering talents to engage with Graph-Co.