Integrated engineering for a batch size of one

Bertram Elektrotechnik GmbH, located in Bevern in Lower Saxony, specialist for electrical engineering of special machines and systems, has expanded their ECAD tools to form an integrated system which now also includes fluid engineering. The next step is to integrate mechanical engineering. Those in charge are convinced: even with a batch size of one, standardization can considerably improve efficiency. Bertram Elektrotechnik GmbH in Bevern near Holzminden covers an extraordinarily wide range of activities: from retrofitting the electrical engineering of older production systems to building test systems for heat pumps, from the development of conveyor systems for the "cold end" of hollow glass production to the integration of image processing systems in automated production processes. Economic planning – even for single systems
As different as the projects are – they have one thing in common: They are almost always for special machines and small lot sizes with the responsibility for the electrical engineering and enclosure production falling to Bertram. The company asked itself early on how such one-off projects could be effectively modeled in electrical design and how to make the best use of the expertise gained on each of these projects in subsequent tasks. Jendrik Bertram, the third generation of managing partners, answers: "Our strategy includes using a powerful ECAD system and integrating this system deep into the planning, engineering and production workflow. Uniform data basis, CAM connection to enclosure manufacturing
That's why the electrical design engineers have worked with EPLAN for many years – always with the latest version. In 2008, they migrated to the new platform with EPLAN Electric P8. This brought them much closer to their goal of integrated planning. Christoph Zurawka, head of CAE design: "During the migration from EPLAN 5.70 to P8, we created a uniform data basis that encompassed all areas of electrical design – from creating the schematics to manufacturing the enclosures." In concrete terms this means: When the electrical engineers are through with the design, they can hand all of the documentation, incl. mounting drawings and the records prepared for the NC machines over to manufacturing who can then independently take over the sheet metal machining for the enclosures. Wire preparation is also supplied with ECAD data. And for DT and cable labeling according to customer-specific standards, an employee has written a custom converter which prepares the EPLAN data for the labeling machine. Connection to the PPS system reduces manufacturing time
The connection to the PPS system also uses this data basis. This saves time wasted on inefficient multiple entries, simplifies controlling and, in many cases, reduces manufacturing time. Christoph Zurawka: "Linking ECAD and PPS allows purchasing to identify components early on that have longer lead times, so that they can be ordered in time." Enclosure manufacturing without a schematic
The time-savings made possible by integrated design on the EPLAN Platform continues in enclosure manufacturing. In EPLAN, the designers create layout plans with enclosure legends and terminal line-up diagrams as well as wiring lists of connections that have to be manually implemented (for their colleagues). This means that the "actual" schematic isn't needed until the testing phase. The production staff doesn't have to search through extensive schematics and bills of materials to find out what needs to be done. Life is easier for the engineers as well since Bertram has adapted the tools provided by EPLAN Electric P8 to their own requirements. Christoph Zurawka: "We have created macros with variants and placeholder objects that make it possible to quickly assign and change Profibus DP addresses and Profisafe addresses. The view of the key fields and control fields and the position of DIP switches is shown in separate macros so that the enclosure manufacturing colleagues don't have to look up information or, even worse, perform calculations." The macros were created so that they can be changed across projects to meet customer-specific requirements. Designing with modules
Since migrating to EPLAN Electric P8, the designers store tested assemblies on the EPLAN Platform. This provides the necessary basis for standardized, modular design according to the module principle where a complete schematic section, including parts and wiring information, is inserted in the relevant design. Design on this basis is continually expanded. Electrical and fluid design from the same mold
In addition to electrical engineering and enclosure manufacturing, Bertram also relies on the EPLAN Platform with EPLAN Fluid for fluid engineering. A common data basis for all disciplines fulfills a key requirement for integrated engineering. Bills of material are stored in a common project, there are common layout plans, and references in both directions also prevents inconsistencies between electrical and fluid engineering when changes are made. Data exchange between PLC programming and ECAD
Integration in design also includes PLC programming, which is done in-house at Bertram. Software specialists are preparing a standardized Excel list that not only defines the division of modules in enclosures, but also contains E/A, periphery and bus addresses, DTs and dip switch positions. This list is read into the HW Config programming tool and transferred to EPLAN as an XML file. This makes it possible to include PLC pages in the automatic generation of schematics. As a result, the three disciplines (electrical engineering, PLC programming and visualization) use identical texts, which simplifies translation. Standardization saves time and improves quality
This simplification becomes even more important the more complex the systems are that Bertram designs and builds. The company has a strong market position, for example, in turning units for bottles that have to be precisely positioned before they are labeled or filled. This requires precise interaction between conveyor technology, image processing and handling technology – extremely short response times are required. Electrical engineering and PLC programming are very demanding disciplines and it has proven to be extremely efficient to use tested modules when designing. Christoph Zurawka: "This doesn't just save us time, is also improves quality and prevents errors. And since all of the design engineers work with the same data, all the designs are from the same mold. This also lightens the manufacturing workload." The head of electrical engineering estimates a time-savings of 30%. The elimination of repetitive tasks leaves more time for innovations. Coming soon: Data management of MCAD and ECAD with Autodesk® Vault
Bertram has not yet achieved its objective, neither in development, nor in standardization. Preparations for the next step are already under way: In the future, Autodesk® Vault, as the central data vault for design, is to manage the product data for electrical, fluid and mechanical engineering. Then, the expanded common data basis of EPLAN and Autodesk® Inventor will increase the efficiency of the development process even more. The company also plans to use EPLAN Pro Panel – a new technology for enclosure design that will be available on the market in the fall as a full version.