Why food, cosmetics and pharma plants in Europe still run without updated P&ID documentation

Talk to any maintenance manager at a food, cosmetics or pharmaceutical plant, and you'll hear the same story: the piping and instrumentation diagram (P&ID) hasn't been updated in years — sometimes it never existed at all.

Why does this happen so often?

• Plants get modernized in phases, and documentation updates get postponed "for later"
• Original design documentation was never handed over by the contractor
• Internal teams don't have the resources to maintain technical documentation alongside daily operations

The cost shows up later: slower onboarding for new engineers, longer troubleshooting during breakdowns, and extra work before every audit or expansion project.

At Consultchem Design, we specialize in on-site inventory and P&ID/PFD documentation for existing plants — from a single production line to a full facility survey, optionally supported by 3D laser scanning for higher accuracy.

We work across the food, cosmetics, chemical and pharmaceutical sectors, for both direct clients and general contractors.

Does your plant have documentation you can actually trust?