Vanguard Synapp
Automated design code verification, from simulation to report in minutes
Custom software for calculation engineering that replaces spreadsheets and produces reports ready to deliver.
- Status
- In production
- Period
- - present
- Client
- Vanguard FSI
Vanguard FSI verifies equipment that works at the limit, such as pressure equipment and reinforced concrete foundations, against the design codes of each project. Before, every verification went through dozens of spreadsheets and a hand-written report. With Vanguard Synapp, the team uploads the simulation results, sets the parameters once and gets every verification with its PDF report, ready to deliver. What used to take hours of expert work is now done in minutes.
Engineering for equipment that works at the limit
High temperature, pressure and severe thermal cycles
Vanguard FSI is a design and simulation engineering firm from Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona) that has been working since 2006. It designs and verifies equipment subjected to extreme temperatures, pressures and thermal cycles for EPCs, manufacturers and operators all over the world. Its main specialty is molten salt tanks for solar thermal plants, and it has taken part in the calculation of the tanks of the main CSP plants in South Africa.
Every project ends in a calculation report that shows each component meets its design code, in enough detail for a client or an inspection body to review it. The data was already in their simulations. What was missing was a way to turn it into verifications and reports without redoing the calculation by hand every time.
A manual method that held back growth
Each verification was done on spreadsheets and each report was handwritten.
- Dozens of spreadsheets for each verification, and every revision meant repeating the whole process.
- Hours of expert work spent copying results instead of bringing judgment.
- A business that was hard to scale because of the complexity of the system. Only a few simulations went out each week, and training someone new took a lot.
- Reports that were hard to audit. A spreadsheet keeps no history and a value changed by hand leaves no trace.
- Every new type of verification or change in the codes meant reworking the spreadsheets, at a high cost and with a risk of human error.
From simulation to report, in a single platform
The application does the repetitive calculation and the engineer keeps the judgment
The engineer uploads the simulation results and the platform shows what it is going to import before confirming it. With that, they create a scenario: a design code (ASME with its variants, national annexes or ACI), parameters that are set only once and the data that feeds them.
From there, Vanguard Synapp runs every verification the code requires, in the background and in parallel, and solves thousands of calculations in seconds. For pressure equipment it generates the complete chain. For reinforced concrete foundations it checks every reinforcement and shows the formula applied with its values. Every verification comes out with its PDF report, and the whole scenario is brought together in a single document ready to deliver, with a summary of what passes and what does not.
Meanwhile, the engineer keeps deciding what matters: which parameters to use, what to verify and how to interpret each result.
What has changed for Vanguard
Spreadsheets have disappeared from the process, and the team spends its time on what really needs an engineer.
From handcrafted report to generated report
The engineer's time, spent on judgment and not on copying data
-
<10 min
To recalculate a complete scenario, where it used to take weeks
-
+15
Types of verification automated
-
+620
Parameters calculated in seconds
-
1
Complete PDF report with every verification, generated in one click
A platform that grows cycle by cycle
Every new need is one more piece, not a new build
We work with Vanguard in cycles. In each one we add a closed set of features, prioritized with their engineering team, and put it into production before starting the next. That way Vanguard decides each step with the previous one already in use.
The architecture is designed for that. Adding a material, a code or a verification means adding a piece without touching the previous ones, so maintenance is simple and each extension costs little. And server costs stay low.
What to know about Vanguard Synapp
Which design codes it covers, what role the engineer plays and how it grows with new checks.
Code compliance checks, without spreadsheets
It is custom software that turns the results of a numerical simulation into the design code verifications each project requires, and generates the PDF reports that document them. The Vanguard FSI engineering team uses it every day.
ASME with its variants, national annexes and ACI, for both pressure equipment and reinforced concrete foundations. Each code has its own parameters, materials and acceptance criteria.
No. The application does the repetitive calculation, but it is the engineer who decides which parameters to use, what to verify and how to interpret each result.
Yes. The materials and parameters of each code are configured from the application itself, and because the code is modular, adding a new type of verification does not mean redoing what already works.
Yes. Every scenario keeps its change history and every report shows the formulas applied and the values used, so a client or an inspection body can review it.
Yes. If your team calculates and verifies with spreadsheets, we analyze your process with you and see what can be automated.