From concept to fabrication.
Traditionally, engineering firms modelled their plants up to 5 times. A separate platform for each discipline. Combining Tekla Structures and the ParaMatic Plant Design Suite allows engineers to complete the layout and detailing to construction level LOD 400+ in a single model and platform.
Forget your workflows, and adopt our Flow of Work!!
When using the federated approach traditionally used by teams, disciplines need to be cross-checked between each other. Any single change triggers the change workflow again.
| Question | Traditional approach | One Tekla model with ParaMatic |
|---|---|---|
| How many platforms | Up to 5 platforms depending on workflow. | One Tekla model for the steel, concrete, piping and cabling. |
| How a change flows | 3D models from various platforms are referenced across platforms to ensure they fit together. | Made once in the model. Fittings and supports follow the pipe, and the manufacturing details are generated from the same model. |
| When clashes are detected | Late, when the separate models meet in a review program. | Along with initial modelling, in the same model. |
| Fabrication detail | Some disciplines eventually end up being remodelled and detailed in Tekla Structures. | LOD 400 in the design model, down to the bolts. |
| Data on each part | Spread across separate files and platforms. | Unlimited metadata is added to each object inside the same model. |
| Working as a team | Each team works in its own copy of the plant. | Teams share one model through Tekla Model Sharing. |
"Piping was always done in a separate platform."
Every team works on the same model.
Plant Design Suite is the only platform that takes a heavy industrial project (structural steel, piping, tanks and cabling) from concept to fabrication-ready detail in a single model.
Design
Pipes, cable supports and steel are laid out in one model. Other pipe routes can be tested early, so the best one is engineered up front.
Detailing
Fittings and supports attach to the steel, and update with the pipe when the route changes.
Fabrication
Line and spool drawings, bolt lists, buy-out lists and line breakdowns come from the same model as the steel drawings.
Handover
The model is built to LOD 400, so it can carry the project through construction and handover.
Coming from another plant design program?
Teams move over in stages, so the work in progress keeps going.
Evaluate
Look at how your team works today, and where the gaps are.
Train
Your team learns Tekla and the add-ons, with support while it moves over.
Pilot
Run one project in Tekla first, under control.
Adopt
Then move the rest of your projects across.
The usual worries
Our team knows another program.
Training on Tekla and the add-ons comes from our own team, with support while your team moves over.
We have years of libraries and standards.
Specifications are set up in Tekla once, then reused on every project. We add custom piping standards on request.
We have projects in progress.
Move project by project. Tekla can reference all major 3D formats, so old and new work can run side by side.
Our clients want DWG files.
Tekla exports drawings and models into multiple formats, including STEP, IFC, DWG, DGN and more.
Why we build on Tekla Structures.
Trimble says Tekla Structures works as a platform for specialised industries. In May 2023 it signed ParaMatic Developments as a Tekla Structures product-platform partner, for industrial piping and cabling.
- Construction software, not drawing based
- NC files, automatic numbering, reports and fabrication drawings
- An open API, so tools like ours run inside it
- Civil, structural, piping and mechanical work in one platform
- Linked to detailers through Tekla Model Sharing, and to fabrication through Tekla PowerFab
Recognised by Trimble
Platform partner since 2023
Cooperation agreement with Trimble, signed in Espoo, Finland, in May 2023.
Tekla Development Experts
ParaMatic is on Trimble's directory of Tekla API development experts.
Featured by Trimble
Trimble's April 2024 blog on Tekla as a platform features our piping and plant tools.
Trimble 0-60 finalist
Top 10 of 128 entries in 2026, with our live plant data link.
Tekla as an MEP platform, at Trimble Dimensions+ 2022.
In Las Vegas in November 2022, Marhinus du Plessis showed how to use Tekla as one platform across engineering disciplines. The full talk is 23 minutes long.
Session T-1255: "How to Transform the Way we Engineer by Utilizing Tekla as an Integrated Cross-Industry Platform".
Read the news
Tekla as an MEP platform, Trimble Dimensions+ 2022
23:37 ยท ParaMatic
Plant design in Tekla, answered.
Do I need Tekla Structures?
Can I model the piping in Tekla instead of a separate plant design program?
Which piping standards does it cover?
What comes out of the model?
Does it draw the P&IDs?
Does it replace structural analysis software?
How do I try it?
Try piping in Tekla on your next plant.
Register on our ParaMatic portal to start your free 30-day trial.