Smart Wiring for Electrical

Panel Design Engineering

& Maintenance
Hermann Wagner
Application Engineer
EPLAN Software & Service
The Process Chain in Panel Building
Total process machine builder with integrated control cabinet manufacturing
From the 1st page Until operation
of the circuit diagram at the end customer

Control Cabinet
Electrical engineering Planning / Production Operation
Engineering Production Operation

Provides the planning Complete production and assembly at the installation site
documents, circuit diagrams, + internal electrical testing and Not considered
mounting drawings, ... delivery to the end customer
The process steps in the panel building are essentially always the same.
The individual design of the process steps is usually different from company to company.
The Process Chain in Panel Building
Customer / Engineering Production
Total process machine builder with integrated control cabinet manufacturing

Circuit diagram Production ‘Control Cabinet’

Projecting Phase
BOM Commission
Wiring list Mechanical Installation
Circuit Diagram Mounting layout (schematic) Electrical installation
Creation
Technical specifications Testing
Circuit Diagram
These activitiesEngineering
are prerequisites to start the Control Cabinet
production. These activities include the complete
These are usually electrical-schematic that provide production, assembly and in-house testing of
only the functional logic. the Control Cabinet Application.
Operation
In general, there is a lack of exact specifications for Based on the documents
Production
and data provided by
a correct wiring or automated production. Customer / Engineering.
The Process Chain in Panel Building
Electrical-Engineering

Hardware Schematic Check Generate

Specification Conditions
Design Design Schematic Documents
Clarification of Clarification of Functions Working in CAE Last corrections Generate
functional installation Technical Review and manufacturing
requirements conditions design approve data documentation
Delivery
specifications
 The Process Chain in Panel Building
Production
1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cabinet Commis- Mechanical Pre

Installation Wiring Test
Planning sioning Processing Assembling
Check data Order components Milling SV components Equipment PE Error checking
from customer/ Commission per Drilling Cable brackets installed Grounding Setting parameters
engineering order inverter
and integrated Lasering PE rails Wire cross- Test reports
into the system Cutouts Cable channels SPS sections In-house function
and processes Deburring DIN rails Components on Control wire test
Mechanical DIN rails cross-sections
Terminal Block
NC data (Assembling)
Electrical Assembling
Routing

In about 90% of all cases the poor quality of the circuit diagrams prevent the use as
a basis for virtual panel building and automatic wire routing & fabrication.
EPLAN Smart Wiring

The virtual planning of the control cabinet is a prerequisite

for the delivery of standardized manufacturing documents and data.
 The Process Chain in Panel Building
• Case study of potentials in the process chain
Framework:
Number of control cabinet fields (TS8) in 2014: 530
Number AE-Cabinets in 2014: 400
Total number: 930

Number of connections per TS8-cabinet field on average: 500

Number of terminals per TS8-cabinet field on average: 133

Found: 2 AE cabinets include as many connections as 1 TS8 cabinet

Number TS8 enclosure fields on average: 730

Number of employees in manufacturing: 15

 The Process Chain in Panel Building
• Case study (Process-time distribution)
Manufacturing Times

10% 4%2% Mounting Layout /mechanical

4%
4% Cut to size DIN rails and wire-ducts
6% Installation DIN rails and wire-ducts
22% 5% Marking
Terminal Stripes
Installation on Monunting Plate and Door
Wiring
Testing
43% Logistic / Material-disposition
 The Process Chain in Panel Building
• Case study (Process-time distribution and potentials)
Potentials

Testing
Installation on mountig plate and door
Marking
Cut to size DIN rails and wire-ducts

0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0 16.0 18.0
Optimized Today

To raise the potential in each area, the appropriate conditions must be created in the engineering
 Potentials in the Process Chain
• Potentials in manufacturing
• Use of wiring lists
• Prefabrication of wires
• Introduction of systems for visual assistance with wiring
• Inserting pre-assembled terminal strips or
• Using prefabricated terminal strips from the manufacturer
• Direct transfer of drilling information for NC processing machines
• Direct transfer of the necessary information for cutting-machines.
Sorting, labelling and cutting optimization of wire ducts and DIN rails included
 Potentials in the Process Chain
• Potential through the use of wiring lists
The time savings comes through:
• Accounts further inquiries to the engineering
• The circuits documentation must not be browsed
[exclusively tabular work]
• Always the same form of the circuits [List form]
• Sorting by section, color, length, etc.
• Parallelization of operations [assembling, labeling, wiring]
• Significantly shorter familiarization time
• Optimized capacity utilization control and scalability of resources
EPLAN Smart Wiring

With support from EPLAN solutions digital data e.g. for wiring
can be deployed, including step by step instructions for manufacturing.
EPLAN Smart Wiring

• Seamless workflow
• Automated generation of manufacturing data
• Wiring without circuit diagrams
• Step-by-step instructions for the worker
• Project comparison for last minute changes
• Capturing the wiring status

The software-based support for the manual activities in manufacturing

allows better scalability of capacity and resources.
 EPLAN Smart Wiring
• Software based support for the panel shop
EPLAN Smart Wiring

Internet browser based software for customers and prospects

in mechanical engineering and panel building

Optimizing processes in manual wiring and increasing the efficiency in the

control cabinet production overall

The focus is on the production of cabinets and not on

engineering and production planning

Providing complex wiring information in a clear and understandable way for

the worker in production

Time-consuming search and interpretation based on the circuit diagram is

omitted. The detailed knowledge is provided by the software.

EPLAN Smart Wiring is designed to support less well-trained staff in

the manual wiring of control cabinets
 EPLAN Smart Wiring
• Workflow

EPLAN EPDZ-File

E-CAD MS Excel File

Software Presentation
EPLAN Contact Information

Hermann Wagner
Application Engineer

EPLAN Software & Service

425 N Martingale Road
Suite 470
Schaumburg, IL 60173
USA

(847) 240-4667
info@eplanusa.com

www.eplanusa.com