Automated panel production:
From the digital twin to the finished control cabinet in record time
There’s no need to worry about a lack of skilled personnel for control panel manufacturing: with EPLAN software and perfectly matched manufacturing equipment from Rittal, you can effectively save working hours and resources. Use qualified personnel in a more targeted manner, while less-experienced workers can quickly produce control cabinets.
Where is your panel building heading?
Let’s take this journey together!
A skilled-worker shortage in panel production: full order books or long faces?
The order books are full, yet some jobs remain unfilled: it’s often not easy to find qualified personnel, especially for panel production. The company would love to take even more business, but long-term employees already have their hands full in the day-to-day work of control cabinet assembly. Between drilling patterns, crimping cables and wiring according to the schematics, there simply isn’t any more time for taking on additional projects. At the same time, clients are turning up the heat: both volume production and highly customised production for one-of-a-kind items must be delivered as quickly as possible. Can the momentum from the design department also be used for control cabinet manufacturing?
3D models, assistance systems and production equipment accelerate manufacturing and reduce work times
Does your design department plan control cabinet layouts in 3D? Then the data from the engineering designs can serve as the technical specifications for production equipment. For instance, mounting plates can be drilled fully automatically, or cables routed in 3D can be cut-to-length and crimped. Yet 3D models, assistance systems and manufacturing equipment can also help making production steps completed by hand even easier.
Assistance that can make manual processes in control panel assembly even easier
- Derive manufacturing drawings and cutting lists for cable ducts
- 3D routing to determine cable lengths
- Use equipment for component labelling or automatic crimping machines
- Step by step guides for cabling and component placement
⇒ The 3D model supplies lists and instructions for production
Automated panel production
- Use software for order processing and production management
- Seamless data transfer to manufacturing equipment
- Use equipment for automated cabinet modification
- Automatically cut, crimp and bundle cables
⇒ The 3D model delivers the data for using automation manufacturing equipment
Ten ways to optimise your panel building processes
Fewer mistakes, more flexible production, shorter lead times and lower costs. What does it take to achieve all of that? Every shopfloor is different. There is no blueprint for the perfect production process, and everything depends on the customers, products, working method and strategy of your company. However, there are several things that every workshop manager in the panel building industry should think about.
Here are ten practical tips to keep in mind for the optimisation of your production process.
Ten ways to optimise your panel building processes
Fewer mistakes, more flexible production, shorter lead times and lower costs. What does it take to achieve all of that? Every shopfloor is different. There is no blueprint for the perfect production process, and everything depends on the customers, products, working method and strategy of your company. However, there are several things that every workshop manager in the panel building industry should think about.
Here are ten practical tips to keep in mind for the optimisation of your production process.
Cabling takes up 49 per cent of manufacturing time
- The schematics take up 320 pages on average
- Based on this, the time required for cabling averages about 54 hours
- This corresponds to 49 per cent of the entire time needed for manufacturing
- Reading these documents alone takes almost 17 hours
These are just a few of the findings of the “Control Cabinet Manufacturing 4.0” study, prepared by the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units at the University of Stuttgart. You can request a copy of the complete publication from EPLAN free of charge.
Cabling takes up 49 per cent of manufacturing time
- The schematics take up 320 pages on average
- Based on this, the time required for cabling averages about 54 hours
- This corresponds to 49 per cent of the entire time needed for manufacturing
- Reading these documents alone takes almost 17 hours
These are just a few of the findings of the “Control Cabinet Manufacturing 4.0” study, prepared by the Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units at the University of Stuttgart. You can request a copy of the complete publication from EPLAN free of charge.
Perfect symbiosis
Find out how panel builder PICHLERwerke was able to implement partially automated copper production and increase quality and efficiency with EPLAN software and punching and bending machines from EHRT.
Man vs. Machine: Enormous time savings via automated panel production
At LCA Group in Great Britain, the EPLAN software interfaces directly with Rittal’s advanced manufacturing systems. These include the Rittal Perforex laser processing centre, a system system for manufacturing sheet-steel panels.
In the video, you can see how the company saves a whole lot of time in the process.
Control panel design and production: It’s all about the digital twin
You don’t need a crystal ball to see into the (near) future of panel building and switchgear manufacturing. All you need to do is visit the Siemens Systems Engineering Plant (WKC) in Chemnitz. Each year, the WKC builds around 21,000 control panels and approximately 29,000 small enclosures (predominantly on a batch-size-1 basis), making it one of Europe’s market leaders. The plant is largely digitalised throughout, all the way from processing customer data to delivering the control panels. In this article, Hans-Peter Kasparick and Mirko Löffler, who are responsible for digital strategy and manufacturing engineering, provide an insight into their processes and collaboration with Rittal and EPLAN.
Take full advantage of the momentum from the design department for panel building with Rittal and EPLAN
Everything from a single source: Rittal and EPLAN supply you with software, services, tools and manufacturing equipment for your entire value chain in control cabinet manufacturing. The various solutions from these affiliated companies are perfectly in sync, letting you seamlessly transfer data from the EPLAN electrical designs to be used to operate manufacturing systems from Rittal for automated control cabinet manufacturing. Have existing manufacturing equipment from another supplier? Don’t worry, EPLAN can export to many types of manufacturing machines in addition to Rittal.
Automated cabinet modification
Simply set the mounting plate, then the manufacturing system automatically bores holes and mills threads, not to mention cuts any notches in the cabinet. The required data is taken from the 3D model of the control cabinet created with EPLAN software.
Preparing cables for wiring
Cutting to length, labelling, crimping and bundling cables all happens automatically with the Rittal Wire Terminal. Preparing the cables can take place in parallel to the cabinet modifications based on the virtual prototype of the control cabinet.
Guide through assembly processes
On a tablet or monitor, the software guides assembly technicians through the step-by-step manual cabling and equipping of control cabinets. Several employees can work on the same control cabinet, for instance when they’re being produced in series or even on the same cabinet. The current processing status for assembly and cabling is clearly shown within the software, and can be viewed on a centralised dashboard to show the progress of all cabinets in production.
Virtual control cabinet documentation repository
Put an end to hundreds of pages of outdated paper documentation during the ongoing operations of machines and plant systems. With the Rittal ePOCKET, you can share up-to-date machine and plant system documentation and access selected Rittal control cabinets directly via QR code. This makes maintenance and servicing easier.
Panel Building 4.0 with Rittal and EPLAN
Rittal and EPLAN are the strong partners for your entire value chain in control cabinet and switchgear system manufacturing. Benefit from perfectly coordinated solutions from a single source: from creating schematics and 3D models to smooth materials procurement and control cabinet manufacturing to maintenance and servicing during ongoing operations.
Panel Building 4.0 with Rittal and EPLAN
Rittal and EPLAN are the strong partners for your entire value chain in control cabinet and switchgear system manufacturing. Benefit from perfectly coordinated solutions from a single source: from creating schematics and 3D models to smooth materials procurement and control cabinet manufacturing to maintenance and servicing during ongoing operations.
Do you have challenges in engineering and manufacturing of machines?
Discover your possibilities with EPLAN in mechanical engineering as well. Learn more about automated engineering and machine wiring.
