At Alexander Bürkle, the cables are labeled automatically and from within Eplan.

© Alexander Bürkle

Alexander Bürkle employs around 800 people at 22 locations in southern Germany and is active in electrical wholesale and as a technology service provider in the fields of building technology and industry - and aims to accompany users on their way to a digitalized future. Alexander Bürkle has developed an entire portfolio of services for 'smart industries' for the industrial target market. The basis for these services is switchgear construction, which Alexander Bürkle offers for building technology (electrical distribution boards) and also for industry. Initially, this switchgear construction department worked as an 'extended workbench' for customers. The business area was then expanded to include (partially) automated systems for cable assembly, labelling and metalworking, as well as intelligent services such as control cabinet optimization. The result: more and more companies also made use of Alexander Bürkle's engineering expertise, and the switch cabinet construction business grew continuously.

A good one and a half years ago, those responsible decided to systematically expand engineering services in this area and show users the way to Industry 4.0 - with a new concept for planning electrical systems. The first step was building technology. Fabian Camek, Head of Design: "We replaced the ECAD software and migrated to Eplan, which offers excellent opportunities for end-to-end data usage - from the initial concept to detailed planning and plant operation."

The tools in use

Typical product from Alexander Bürkle - a real mounting plate (left) - and its digital twin (right).

© Alexander Bürkle

Specifically, the Eplan tools 'Cogineer' and 'Preplanning' are now used - with the following advantage: while the planner - often on site at the customer's premises - configures the distribution board and selects and assigns the components using 'drag and drop', the ECAD system takes over the design work in the background. Even the labeling of the cables and wires - which is also created automatically later - is already defined, as is the 3D layout of the control cabinet.

In a second step, Alexander Bürkle transferred these principles to switch cabinet construction for industrial users such as machine tool manufacturers. Here, too, the engineering component continues to increase, and an important prerequisite for this is end-to-end planning and electrical design on the 'Eplan platform', which begins with 'EEC One' (in future with 'Eplan Cogineer'). The (preliminary) planning is carried out with the 'Preplanning' tool, the three-dimensional control cabinet layout with 'Pro Panel' and the planning of the hydraulic and pneumatic controls with 'Eplan Fluid'.

The requirements

However, an important prerequisite for automated enclosure planning and assembly had to be created in advance: All components required for the assembly of the building distribution boards and - in the second step - the control cabinets for industry, are stored in Eplan with all characteristic data and dimensions. Three colleagues in the electrical design department enter new articles according to standardized guidelines, which are stored in a 'style guide', and enter them into Alexander Bürkle's article database. This is a workload that pays off for both Alexander Bürkle and the customer. Fabian Camek: "For us, this speeds up the control cabinet design considerably because the articles are selected according to the option technology. We also make the data available to customers on request and there is hardly anyone who doesn't appreciate this service."

Fabian Camek, Head of Electrical Design Alexander Bürkle (right): "Many individual tasks, such as labeling equipment, are performed automatically."

© Alexander Bürkle

In the industrial sector, too, article data preparation in accordance with the 'Style Guide' standards is a project that is also carried out separately from enclosure planning. The demand for this data is high. The reason: for machine manufacturers and their customers, this data is the 'digital twin', i.e. the virtual image of the machine or system that is adapted to its current status over its entire service life. Fabian Camek: "Because digital and real systems are permanently connected, they develop an object memory. Those who use and maintain digital data save time and money, for example because they can plan commissioning and maintenance better and always have all the information they need to hand when servicing is required. This data is also very valuable when modernizing or converting a machine." There are also other advantages thanks to the integrated electrical design: Alexander Bürkle now designs organically, based on the functions and structured according to modules and fields. This means that the designer does not start by selecting an enclosure size, but the size results automatically from the functions, components and modules. Unless otherwise requested, the electrical designers use the Rittal range. In addition, according to Fabian Camek, the improved workflow means that the designs are error-free right from the start. And: "Many individual tasks, such as selecting the filling of the cable ducts or labeling equipment, are carried out automatically. We even use the data for seaworthy packaging: the dimensions of the seaworthy crate are created from Eplan, as is the determination of the transport weight for the freight forwarder."

Use for the terminal server

Data consistency and transparency are further improved by the terminal server. This is a server or network device that can be used to establish connections to several client systems. The Eplan software has been adapted to this technology, which enables a centralized infrastructure. Desired data, such as 3D views of control cabinets or circuit diagrams, are made available on a laptop or tablet, for example, regardless of location. Fabian Camek: "We are the first in the world to use this tool and have also connected the electrical designers at the Frankfurt branch. There, we plan and build the enclosures for the US market in accordance with UL/ANSI and can access a shared data pool at both locations thanks to the terminal server."

In view of these advantages and the great demand for the extended engineering services, Alexander Bürkle believes that the company is on the right track. One of the goals for the near future is for users to configure their projects on an Eplan platform provided by Alexander Bürkle and to receive the (largely automated) planning with all parts lists, 3D views and circuit diagrams. The advantage of this new type of division of labor is enormous: Alexander Bürkle expects the time required for electrical planning to be reduced by around 75%. At the same time, this new design method will change the cooperation with the machine manufacturer. Fabian Camek: "We are developing from a switch cabinet manufacturer and engineering service provider into a system house."

Author:
Birgit Hagelschuer is responsible for press and public relations at Eplan Software & Service.