for all machines with 1 or 2 pipes there should be no problem. it's easy to just shift one column of machines up/down and thus connect 2 pipes to machines on both sides. of course, this still requires a small gap of one tile between neighbors.
but for machines with 3 pipes (the refineries) that's not possible and for them, this mod is really useful. THANKS, although now i am in conflict whether to stick to vanilla as a "purist", or whether to follow my lazy side and use the mod, building more easily and more compact.
btw: by alternating the two versions for refineries on the same side, it should even be possible to no longer need the gap between neighbors and build even more compact setups that save yet a few more pipes and a bit more of space :-)