Intergraph Smart® Materials (SMAT) is a comprehensive, enterprise-level materials management solution designed to support the entire lifecycle of complex industrial and engineering projects. Developed by Hexagon (Intergraph Process, Power & Marine), SMAT centralizes and streamlines every stage of materials management—from engineering take-offs and procurement to warehousing, logistics, and construction site consumption—ensuring complete visibility, accuracy, and control over material flows. In industries like oil & gas, power generation, petrochemicals, infrastructure, and large EPC (Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) projects, materials contribute to nearly 60–70% of the total project cost, making efficient materials management essential. This is where Smart® Materials provides unmatched value.
At its core, SMAT unifies information from engineering tools, purchasing systems, vendors, warehouses, and construction teams into one integrated database. It eliminates the traditional dependency on manual spreadsheets, disconnected systems, and error-prone workflows by providing standardized commodity coding, intelligent rule-based item descriptions, automated material take-offs, structured requisitioning, vendor management, and end-to-end tracking of every component. Whether it’s a small fastener, a tagged mechanical item, or a bulk piping material, every detail is captured, controlled, and traceable within the system.
One of its strongest advantages is real-time integration with engineering design platforms like Smart 3D, Smart P&ID, and PDS, ensuring that as designs evolve, the corresponding material requirements update automatically. This tight integration prevents shortages, avoids over-ordering, and minimizes surplus, which often translates to major cost savings and smoother construction execution. SMAT online training also supports powerful features such as expediting, inspection management, logistics tracking, warehouse inventory control, work package-driven issuing, and construction progress monitoring.
Ultimately, Intergraph Smart® Materials helps organizations deliver projects faster, more accurately, and with tighter cost control, making it a strategic tool for digital project execution. It empowers EPCs and Owner Operators to make data-driven decisions, enhance collaboration, reduce risks, and achieve complete transparency across the materials supply chain—right from engineering to final installation at site.
Why Materials Management Matters in Projects?
Materials management plays a critical role in the success of engineering, construction, and industrial projects because materials typically account for the largest portion of total project costs. When materials are not planned, tracked, and controlled effectively, projects experience delays, budget overruns, rework, and operational inefficiencies. Even a small error—such as incorrect quantities, late deliveries, or inaccurate specifications—can halt construction activities, impact multiple disciplines, and create a cascading effect on schedules. Proper materials management ensures that the right materials are available at the right time, in the right quantity, and at the right location, preventing costly downtime and eliminating the need for emergency procurement or last-minute logistics.
Additionally, efficient materials management enhances transparency across the supply chain. It gives engineering, procurement, warehousing, and construction teams a unified view of requirements, inventory levels, vendor performance, and material status. This reduces uncertainty, improves accountability, and supports better decision-making. With growing project complexity and global sourcing, traditional spreadsheets and manual processes can no longer keep up. Modern systems like Intergraph Smart® Materials certification enable data consistency, traceability, and real-time coordination, ultimately helping organizations deliver projects faster, more accurately, and within budget.
Role of SMAT in the Project Lifecycle
- Centralizes all materials data across engineering, procurement, logistics, warehousing, and construction.
- Ensures accurate engineering take-offs by integrating with Smart 3D, Smart P&ID, and design tools.
- Standardizes material descriptions using rule-based commodity coding for global consistency.
- Supports procurement activities including requisitions, RFQs, bid evaluation, and PO creation.
- Tracks vendor progress and expediting to avoid delays in manufacturing and delivery.
- Manages inspection and quality checks for all purchased materials and equipment.
- Monitors logistics and shipment status, from supplier dispatch to site receiving.
- Controls warehouse operations, including inventory levels, stock movements, and material issues.
- Supports construction planning through material reservation and work package-based issuing.
- Provides end-to-end traceability for each material item throughout the project lifecycle.
- Reduces surplus and shortages through real-time visibility of materials availability.
- Improves cost management with accurate tracking of quantities, contracts, and material usage.
- Enables seamless integration with ERP systems for financial alignment and project accounting.
- Generates advanced reports & dashboards for monitoring progress and decision-making.
System Architecture Overview
The system architecture of Intergraph Smart® Materials (SMAT) is built on a robust, centralized, and highly scalable framework designed to support large, multi-disciplinary engineering and construction projects. At its core, SMAT operates on a powerful database-driven architecture—typically Oracle or SQL Server—that ensures all materials-related data is stored, managed, and accessed from a single unified repository. This eliminates data duplication and ensures consistency across engineering, procurement, logistics, and construction workflows. The application supports both client–server and web-based interfaces, allowing organizations to choose flexible deployment models based on project size, IT policies, and user distribution.
SMAT’s architecture seamlessly integrates with other Hexagon ecosystem tools such as Smart 3D, Smart P&ID, SmartPlant Foundation (SDx), and Smart Procurement, enabling bi-directional data flow and real-time synchronization of engineering changes with materials requirements. It also connects with third-party ERP systems like SAP, Oracle EBS, and JD Edwards to streamline purchase orders, goods receipts, and cost tracking. The layered design of SMAT—comprising presentation, business logic, and data layers—provides high performance, strong security, and easy scalability. Whether deployed for a single project or across multiple global locations, the architecture ensures reliability, faster access, and end-to-end integration of all materials management activities.
Business Benefits and ROI of Smart® Materials
Implementing Intergraph Smart® Materials (SMAT) delivers powerful business benefits across engineering, procurement, warehousing, and construction, directly contributing to cost savings, schedule reliability, and operational efficiency. One of the most significant advantages is the reduction of surplus materials, which often account for millions of dollars in waste on large EPC projects. Through standardized commodity coding, accurate take-offs, and real-time visibility of stock and purchase orders, SMAT minimizes over-ordering, prevents duplicate purchases, and ensures optimal inventory levels. This leads to substantial direct cost savings and improves capital utilization across the project.
SMAT also enhances schedule performance by ensuring that construction teams always have the right materials at the right time. With real-time tracking of requisitions, vendor progress, logistics, and site receiving, delays caused by material unavailability are drastically reduced. The system improves coordination between engineering and procurement by synchronizing design changes instantly, ensuring procurement decisions are always based on the latest data. From a quality and compliance standpoint, SMAT ensures full traceability of materials from engineering to installation. All inspection records, certificates, and vendor documents are captured within the system, supporting audits, regulatory compliance, and long-term asset integrity. Additionally, SMAT training delivers strong ROI through process automation—eliminating manual spreadsheets, reducing administrative workload, and improving productivity across disciplines. Organizations gain actionable insights through analytics and reporting, enabling better decisions, faster issue resolution, and a more controlled project environment.
Overall, Smart Materials provides a strategic advantage by lowering costs, accelerating project delivery, and enabling data-driven management—resulting in sustained ROI across multiple projects and long-term operations.
Integration with Other Systems
Intergraph Smart® Materials (SMAT) is designed with a highly adaptable integration framework that allows it to seamlessly connect with a wide range of engineering, procurement, project management, and enterprise systems. This integration capability ensures continuous data consistency, eliminates manual data entry, and creates a unified digital ecosystem across the entire project lifecycle. By synchronizing material requirements, procurement activities, and construction progress with other mission-critical platforms, SMAT enables organizations to operate with real-time visibility, improved coordination, and significantly reduced operational risk. Whether it is engineering design tools, ERP software, document management systems, or construction planning platforms, Smart Materials serves as the central hub for materials-related data, supporting smooth workflows and delivering maximum efficiency.
Key Integration Capabilities
- Integration with Engineering Design Tools
- Connects with Smart 3D, Smart P&ID, PDS, and other CAD/CAE systems
- Automatically pulls MTOs, component data, and revisions
- Ensures engineering changes reflect instantly in materials requirements
- Integration with ERP & Financial Systems
- Interfaces with SAP, Oracle EBS, JD Edwards, and other ERP platforms
- Synchronizes purchase orders, goods receipts, invoices, and cost centers
- Ensures alignment between procurement activities and financial control
- Integration with Supplier & Procurement Platforms
- Supports vendor data exchange, quotations, and bid evaluations
- Helps streamline RFQ, contract, and PO workflows
- Integration with Document Management Systems (DMS)
- Connects with SmartPlant Foundation (SDx) for controlled document flow
- Links material data with inspection reports, certificates, ITPs & vendor documents
- Integration with Project Controls & Scheduling Tools
- syncs with project planning software to align material availability with construction schedules
- Integration with Warehouse & Field Systems
- Connects with barcode/RFID systems for real-time inventory tracking
- Supports mobile applications for site receiving and issuing
- Integration with Business Intelligence (BI) Tools
- Enables advanced reporting through Power BI, Tableau, or SQL-based dashboards
This integrated ecosystem ensures Smart® Materials functions as the backbone of material management, delivering smooth data flow, reduced duplication, and optimized project execution.
Future Trends of Smart® Materials (SMAT)
1. AI-Driven Material Forecasting
Predictive algorithms will forecast material demand based on engineering progress, historical trends, and construction schedules.
2. Advanced Analytics & Data Intelligence
Real-time dashboards, automated KPI tracking, and AI-based insights will improve decision-making and reduce material-related risks.
3. IoT & RFID-Enabled Tracking
Integration with IoT sensors and RFID/barcode systems will enhance real-time visibility of materials across warehouses and construction sites.
4. Cloud-Based Deployments
Greater adoption of cloud architecture for scalability, remote collaboration, improved security, and lower IT infrastructure dependency.
5. Digital Twins for Materials Management
Linking SMAT data with digital twins to simulate material flow, identify bottlenecks, and optimize construction sequencing.
6. Enhanced Mobile Applications
More powerful mobile tools for site receiving, inspections, warehousing, and field issuing to improve on-site productivity.
7. Automation of Procurement Workflows
Automated RFQ distribution, quote comparison, vendor selection, and PO generation using AI and rule-based engines.
8. Blockchain for Traceability
Use of blockchain to securely track high-value equipment, certificates, and logistics documents across global supply chains.
9. Stronger Integration with EPC Ecosystems
Deeper interoperability with design tools, ERP systems, supply chain platforms, and construction management systems.
10. Sustainability & Green Material Reporting
Tools to track carbon footprint, material recycling, and compliance with environmental standards.
These trends will shape the next generation of Smart® Materials, making materials management more intelligent, automated, and fully connected across the digital project lifecycle.
Conclusion
Intergraph Smart® Materials (SMAT) has become an essential solution for modern engineering and construction projects, offering complete control, visibility, and accuracy across the entire materials lifecycle. By integrating engineering, procurement, warehousing, logistics, and construction into one unified platform, SMAT helps organizations reduce surplus, prevent delays, enhance compliance, and achieve stronger cost and schedule performance. Its ability to streamline workflows, ensure data consistency, and support real-time decision-making makes it a strategic asset for EPCs and Owner Operators. As digital transformation accelerates, Smart Materials will continue to evolve with AI, automation, and cloud technologies, delivering long-term value and operational excellence. Enroll in Multisoft Systems now!