EPLAN Platform ensures continuous engineering in enclosure design

Even an integrated CAD system has its limits. S&A Schaltanlagenbau GmbH hit these limits when it came to automation and standardization. A decision was made to migrate to the EPLAN Platform, a decision for more efficient processing of future, challenging plant engineering and automation engineering projects. The central macro library will play a key role and will be used across all customers and industries. Actually, the workflow at S&A Schaltanlagenbau GmbH in Garbsen near Hannover has been well structured for years. The ERP software exchanges information with the ECAD system. In manufacturing, the ECAD data for the enclosures is transferred directly to an NC processing system. The company has found a fast and economical solution for cable preparation: A specialized service provider receives a CAD record and delivers preassembled, labeled cables within three days. At the limits of automation
But those responsible were not totally satisfied with the existing ECAD solution. Ingo Ahrbecker, commercial managing director and co-founder of S&A: "The automation potential of the previous system was at its limits. Plus we wanted to achieve a higher level of standardization." Therefore, a decision was made to migrate to the EPLAN Platform, which was already being successfully used by the affiliated company S&A Steuerungstechnik in Hamburg. Central macro library for different business fields
The deep integration of the EPLAN Platform offers complete continuity – from electrical design to enclosure layout to manufacturing. S&A started by making sure the necessary prerequisites were met. Since the macro library is a key factor for automation, S&A had already defined a macro library that was as comprehensive as possible. A team of four design engineers immediately went to work to create suitable macros and enter them in EPLAN Electric P8. They had to take into account various requirements, since S&A, as a specialist for instrumentation, control and automation technology, works in a continually expanding range of applications. Ingo Ahrbecker: "Our company was started in 1993 from an electrical department of a manufacturer of industrial furnaces. We continued to build up our expertise in this demanding area of I&C technology. Today, for example, we handle very complex solar thermal projects – including the programming and commissioning." Complex projects, demanding customers
Another business field is building technology: S&A designs the entire building automation for office buildings and hospitals. And more and more customers come from the classical field of industrial automation. For these customers, S&A provides the automation for manufacturing and material flow systems, such as those used in the automotive industry. The project scope usually includes PLC programming, and in the future, the basis data for the programming will be provided directly from the EPLAN Platform. Striving for standardization
Is it really possible to build a common macro library for such a heterogeneous application field such as enclosure design with its varied requirements, regulations and standards. Ingo Ahrbecker: "It's no problem if you proceed in a structured manner. Each new macro will be shown to all the designers, and one colleague will be fully responsible for the library which will continue to grow and become quite extensive. After all, we want to represent all business fields." S&A's objective is for each designer to use the in-house macro library as far as possible, to both save time and promote standardization. All schematics follow the same standards – no matter for which application or customer. In addition, each macro contains the purchasing costs and the assembly time, so that the administrative departments also profit from standardization. EPLAN Pro Panel simplifies enclosure design
S&A is currently still in the migration phase, which will be completed by the end of 2011. Then, all of the hardware will be designed on the EPLAN Platform. Ingo Ahrbecker: "We currently have six electrical engineers working with EPLAN, in December there will be thirteen." The creation of the 3D layout plans have been included in the automatic workflow. The EPLAN Electric P8 design data is passed on to the next system on the platform: EPLAN Pro Panel – the system for enclosure design - enables dynamic collision control during mounting layout, and manufacturing data can be transferred directly to NC processing. Ingo Ahrbecker: "This works much better with EPLAN Pro Panel that it did with the software we previously used. We will immediately use the Professional version which will be soon be available. Then we can automate our processes even more." Even the machine that labels the individual cable conductors will soon be connected to the EPLAN Platform. Well prepared for complex tasks
With the new design platform, S&A will be well prepared for the significantly more complex tasks of the future: "Projects are often pure design orders, such as updating existing systems by adding new control technology. This is where our expertise is required. It makes the automation of repetitive tasks even more important." The time factor also has to be taken into account: Customers demand shorter and shorter throughput times. Effective planning and production is especially important since S&A usually designs and manufactures mid-sized to large enclosures – typical projects have up to 20 enclosure fields – and the enclosures are almost always individually designed. The start is in sight
How much can be saved in the end will only be seen when the migration is completed at the end of 2011 and all 13 electrical engineers are using the EPLAN Platform. But Ingo Ahrbecker is already able to report progress today: "The first projects show that we work significantly more efficiently with EPLAN even though we had also implemented an integrated solution with the old system."