Configuration
Automated Engineering: Combining Configuration and Engineering

Configuration

Automated Engineering: Combining Configuration and Engineering

The term automated engineering combines configuration with engineering. In practice, this means automating engineering processes, integrating these processes and connecting them with configuration processes in sales, order processing and directly to engineering. EPLAN offers you solutions for implementing automated engineering in your company.

Background and Solutions

Automation With EPLAN

The foundation for automation with EPLAN includes measures such as product structuring and implementing a re-use concept based on modularisation. Being able to automatically generate documents such as schematics means using a configuration interface can make sense for a lot of companies. For instance, this is where the electrical engineering part of machine design is configured.

EPLAN Engineering Configuration

Integrated Automation

With EPLAN Engineering Configuration (EEC), you can automate the creation of electrical schematics and fluid power schematics, 3D control cabinet assemblies, documentation and much more. The configuration can be based on your own system’s configuration technology. Furthermore, EEC can be flexibly connected to upstream configuration systems. The configuration can also be supplemented by importing data in various formats including XML, XLSX and CSV, for instance with information from sensors and actuators, functions or signals. EEC automatically generates customised engineering and production documentation based on an upstream configurator.

EPLAN Engineering Configuration

Integrated Automation

With EPLAN Engineering Configuration (EEC), you can automate the creation of electrical schematics and fluid power schematics, 3D control cabinet assemblies, documentation and much more. The configuration can be based on your own system’s configuration technology. Furthermore, EEC can be flexibly connected to upstream configuration systems. The configuration can also be supplemented by importing data in various formats including XML, XLSX and CSV, for instance with information from sensors and actuators, functions or signals. EEC automatically generates customised engineering and production documentation based on an upstream configurator.

Best Practices

Configuration Projects With SAP

SAP sets standards in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). One of the things the company offers is configuration options – both for the traditional SAP ERP as well as for the new ERP generation SAP S/4HANA. We work closely with SAP and our affiliate CIDEON to link configuration in SAP systems with the automated generation of engineering and manufacturing documentation. Schematics, 3D control cabinet assemblies, bills of materials and additional documents are generated based on configuration in LO-VC – conforming to SAP Engineering Control Center. Configure to order (CTO) and engineering to order (ETO) are consistently implemented using these integrated processes.

Best Practices

Configuration Projects With SAP

SAP sets standards in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). One of the things the company offers is configuration options – both for the traditional SAP ERP as well as for the new ERP generation SAP S/4HANA. We work closely with SAP and our affiliate CIDEON to link configuration in SAP systems with the automated generation of engineering and manufacturing documentation. Schematics, 3D control cabinet assemblies, bills of materials and additional documents are generated based on configuration in LO-VC – conforming to SAP Engineering Control Center. Configure to order (CTO) and engineering to order (ETO) are consistently implemented using these integrated processes.

More About This Topic

Mass Customisation and Configuration – A Contradiction of Terms?

Mass customisation instead of volume production – this is one of today’s requirements for bringing individualised products to market using engineering and manufacturing processes designed for volume production. Mass customisation means the demand for customised manufacturing documentation while a volume product allows the use of product configurators to select the desired product variant. Meanwhile, connecting configurators and engineering has become a frequent measure for optimisation for manufacturers of volume products with numerous variants. EPLAN’s EEC provides the appropriate solution for you and has implemented effective workflows in numerous customer projects.

AL-KO THERM GmbH

Instrumentation and control engineering in HVAC systems

Good things sometimes come from chance events. Employees from AL-KO THERM GMBH were visiting an EPLAN stand at a trade fair and by chance came across EPLAN Engineering Configuration (EEC) – the system that enables simple and consistent configuration of mechatronics systems. They now use EEC worldwide as a configurator and benefit from significantly simpler instrumentation and control (I&C) engineering.