September 11, 2024
Kurita Water Industries Ltd. (Head Office: Nakano-ku, Tokyo; President: Hirohiko Ejiri; hereinafter "Kurita") announced that the "Automation of Layout Design" undertaken by Fracta Leap Inc. (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; CEO: Yasuhiro Kitabayashi; hereinafter "Fracta Leap",) as part of the design automation of water treatment plants in the wider "Meta Aqua Project(*1)" being jointly developed by Kurita and Fracta Leap, has won the 44th "Case Study Award" from the Operations Research Society of Japan.
The Operations Research Society of Japan is a long-standing academic organization established since 1957 and the most prestigious in operations research(*2) field in Japan. The Case Study Award is presented to outstanding projects in pioneering operations research. The "Automation of Layout Design" project which was awarded, is considered one of the most challenging processes in design, and Fracta Leap's ambitious solution utilizing multiple optimization techniques was highly commended.
Kurita and Fracta Leap are engaged in efforts to automate the design of water treatment plants using mathematical optimization algorithms as part of the Meta-Aqua Project. Among them, the layout design process has especially complicated issues. The placement of equipment in the design process requires the engineers consider many and complex conditions, such as construction cost, equipment characteristics, physical conditions like site space and water flow, construction timing, and ease of operation. In addition to keeping cost down while considering the mentioned conditions, there are various issues such as personalization of the designs, the availability of only limited experienced engineers, and the inability to compare multiple layout proposals in short turnaround times, which are caused by complicated and long manual tasks.
To solve the above issues, the "Automation of Layout Design" was developed as an application to reduce a significant amount of tasks and time required by engineers to create the layout design by automatically calculating the optimal layout designs using multiple optimization algorithms simultaneously.
This application, as the beta version of the "Layout Design Application," was released in 2022(*3). In 2023, the beta version of the "Device Configuration Application" and "Construction Planning Application" was also launched(*4), which are now operational. By utilizing these automated design solutions, it is estimated that approximately 60% of the design workload and 40% of the time required in the design process can be reduced.
Please refer to the following URL for further details on the award-winning the "Automation of Layout Design" project.
Institutional Magazine of the Operations Research Society of Japan, vol. 68 (8), pp.415-420, 2023
https://orsj.org/wp-content/corsj/or68-8/or68_8_415.pdf *Japanese-language only
Kurita and Fractal Leap are dedicated to solving social issue challenges using digital solutions through the "Meta Aqua Project," which will contribute to shortening the design phase, reducing engineering workloads, optimizing the lifecycle cost of water treatment plants, including the overall impact reduction on the environment.
＜Reference: Related Websites＞ *Japanese-language only
Fracta Leap Inc. https://fracta-leap.com/
the Operations Research Society of Japan https://orsj.org/