Rittal, Eplan, Cideon and Kiesling – A powerful line-up streamlining the value chain

Wiring data from Eplan and information from the 3D model showing components and their positions on the mounting plate are passed on to Kiesling’s Avarex wiring robots via a specially developed interface.

Lasting efficiency improvements in engineering and manufacturing cannot be achieved without seam-lessly integrated product development processes. At the 2014 Hannover Messe, enterprises Rittal, Eplan, Cideon and Kiesling will show control enclosure and switchgear manufacturers how they can streamline their value chains to achieve unprecedented effi-ciencies. With more than 1,100 software and engi-neering specialists, the Friedhelm Loh Group is a leading global network for mechatronics engineering and interface development.

The top priorities for manufacturers of machinery, control enclosures and switchgear are increasing efficiency and innovation and driving down costs. They can achieve these goals by digitizing processes, by standardizing products, data and system interfaces, and by deeply integrating specialist systems such as CAx, PDM and ERP with their PLM structures. “A key requirement for tomorrow’s interdisciplinary engineering and for imple-menting Industry 4.0 in control systems and switchgear manufacturing is the use of consistent data throughout all product development processes,” explains Uwe Scharf, Executive Vice President, Product Management at Rittal.

Specialists in their disciplines
Rittal has been a technology partner to manufacturers for more than 50 years. A provider of standard system platforms for industrial enclosures and switchgear, Rittal offers made-to-measure solutions for practically every industry – from control enclosures, power distribution, climate control and IT infrastructure to software and services. With its “Rittal – The System.” range and the provision of key commercial and technical product data for material procurement and engineering in control systems and switchgear manufacturing, Rittal offers innovative, end-to-end solutions to customers worldwide.

Eplan Software & Service is a leading provider of engineering solutions for automation, measurement and control systems, and switchgear manufacturing. The company provides integrated software systems that optimise digital product development processes. Bringing together mechanical and electrical information and software with integrated engineering methods and authoring systems can streamline end-to-end value chains. These span materials logistics, automated production and assembly, and commissioning tasks in control-system and switchgear manufacturing. Another core component of end-to-end product development processes is the integration, storage and provision of system-compatible, consistent data throughout the value chain.

If the design meets technical specifications, assembly of the enclosure can begin: using components from the “Rittal – The System.” product range.

The Friedhelm Loh Group has further extended its broad skillset through the 2013 acquisition of Cideon, with a headcount of around 500. The company expands the group’s offering by providing software-based M-CAD solutions for mechanical design and by integrating engineering systems with ERP and PDM/PLM solutions. In time for this year’s Hannover Messe, Cideon has developed a new interface between Eplan and SAP.

Data exchange across system boundaries
A key task for the Friedhelm Loh Group is the provision of consistent, system-compatible commercial and technical product data from component manufacturers such as Rittal. Via the Eplan Data Portal, the data is fed directly to the CAE application, and synchronised across all relevant systems, including ERP. Engineering, material procurement, material requirements planning and logistics are all supported. This is a key precondition for supplying decision-support information to downstream processes in production, assembly, testing and pre-commissioning. Automation specialist Kiesling Maschinentechnik develops CNC machining centres for enclosure compo-nents, NC devices for cutting cable ducts and support rails to length, solutions for the automated assembly of terminal blocks in component pre-assembly, and technologies for robot-assisted wiring on mounting plates controlled directly from the Eplan engineering environ-ment.

For more information
Web: www.eplan.in