In the world of engineering design and cost estimation, Material Take-Off (MTO) is a crucial step—yet it often remains manual, error-prone, and time-consuming. Piping & Instrumentation Diagrams contain all the necessary information, but extracting it into a structured MTO format can be a challenge.
That’s where PlantFCE comes in.
Our suite of tools — eAI, SmartMTO, and CostAI bridges this gap with automation, intelligence, and ease-of-use, making MTO generation from P&IDs a breeze.
Historically, MTO extraction involved engineers manually scanning PDFs or drawings to list every pipe, valve, instrument, and connection. This meant:
Using eAI, engineers can click on pipes, valves, or instruments within a P&ID and tag them with structured metadata such as:
These annotations stay linked to the P&ID, providing full traceability from drawing to estimate.
Related read: How We Automated P&ID Annotation with eAI
Once annotated, the tagged data is exported to SmartMTO, where:
SmartMTO can also import data from Auto Router and Model Builder to unify annotations across sources.
SmartMTO feeds into CostAI, which fetches pricing for each item based on:
CostAI even allows price negotiation suggestions and vendor integration using MailsAI - turning your MTO into a live cost estimate in minutes.
PlantFCE’s tools were built with one thing in mind: making engineering cost estimation easier, smarter, and more accurate. With our P&ID-to-MTO workflow, you get automation where it matters most—without losing control or traceability.
Start with eAI, tag your first P&ID, and watch the MTO fall into place.
Explore our Product Suite or Book a Demo today.