Boosting production via design-manufacturing linkup

Could you tell us about the Electronic Control System Department?

Within our company, business units are divided based on the industry, such as automotive, semiconductor, and others. Each business unit develops and designs production equipment according to the requirements and specifications of their respective customers.

The Electronic Control System Dept. belongs to the Device Center within the #4 Business Unit and serves as an in-house manufacturing division responsible for the production of the production equipment designed by each business unit. Specifically, our department handles the manufacturing of control panels and harnesses, and we also undertake contract manufacturing for some external customers.

The department was established in 1985, and as of March 2024, we have 172 employees. Our annual production capacity is 12,000 control panels and 180,000 external harnesses. We deliver to various industries worldwide, including automotive, semiconductor, and home appliances. We comply with international regulations such as CE, UL, and CCC, as well as industry standards like SEMI. In December 2015, we obtained UL508A certification. This allows us to freely design, manufacture, and label within the scope of the standard requirements.

Could you please explain the control panel manufacturing process?

Regarding control panels, each business unit handles the circuit design, and our Electronic Control system Dept. takes over from the point of implementing that design into the control panel itself.

After receiving the circuit diagrams from each business unit, we compile the necessary equipment information, create the layout within the control panel, and perform the wiring design. In parallel, we process the sheet metal for the enclosure, then proceed with the assembly and wiring of the control panel, conduct inspections, and finally deliver it. While many panel manufacturers often handle everything from circuit design to manufacturing in-house, our department is responsible for the post-design stages and manufacturing.

Our design section is divided into four teams based on the work involved. These include:
 

1. the "Wiring List Creation Team" which creates information lists for from-to connections, wiring lengths, terminal information, wire colors, and wire diameters.
2. the "Bill of Materials (BOM) Creation Team" responsible for extracting and modifying/procuring manufacturer part numbers from the BOMs received from each business unit, and checking for parts not included in the circuit diagrams.
3. the "Layout Design Team" which creates and procures panel layout drawings and sheet metal drawings; and
4. 4. the "Quotation Creation Team" which calculates sheet metal costs, man-hours, etc., based on the BOM data.

These teams work collaboratively, each handling their respective tasks.

Before introducing Eplan, we used a different electrical CAD software for circuit design, layout, and wiring design.

Each business unit would create circuit diagrams with CAD and generate PDF data. Our department would then look at the information in those PDFs and recreate layout drawings, wiring diagrams using CAD, and forms with Excel. We once attempted to collaborate with each business unit using data, but it didn't work out, so we ended up exchanging information via PDF.

Even though it was data, since it was in PDF format, the usability was no different from paper drawings. We couldn't directly copy and paste the information already written, which made creating drawings and forms time-consuming. Additionally, there were frequent issues such as missing or illegible text in the data, and inconsistencies in the information provided by different design engineers, leading to omissions and errors.

In such cases, we had to send the circuit diagram data back to the business unit to request confirmation and corrections, which took time to reflect and often impacted delivery times.

Even though the feedback was slow, the design engineers in the business units weren't responsible for an entire device on their own; they designed a single device by dividing the work within a team. When a modification occurred, it was necessary to inform and obtain approval from dozens or even hundreds of people, including the customer who placed the order and other designers. Therefore, we understood that it inevitably took time, but this communication process was stressful for both sides.

For smaller control panel manufacturers, it's likely that one person with multiple skills handles circuit design, wiring design, and BOM creation, so these kinds of issues are less likely to occur. However, in our case, the scale of the devices we receive orders for is large, and we had the circumstance of having to divide the work.

What were the reasons for choosing Eplan?

Given the circumstances, we believed that if design and manufacturing could collaborate based on data, and if outputs like BOMs and wiring diagrams could be generated automatically from the circuit diagrams, it would automate drafting, reduce errors, and improve efficiency. That's why we started considering the implementation of Eplan.

We actually implemented it at the end of 2022. At the time of consideration, our department aimed to increase sales and the number of production units, raising the annual control panel production capacity from 7,000 to 10,000 units, and also to expand sales to external customers beyond internal projects. To achieve this, it was essential not only to expand production facilities and hire more people but also to review the design and manufacturing processes themselves.

At that time, the decision was made to fully migrate to Eplan because the CAD software we had been using announced that it would no longer be upgraded.

Furthermore, the fact that the design departments of our affiliated companies in Germany, North America, and China had been using Eplan for circuit diagram design for some time lowered the barrier to adoption and gave us a push. While our affiliated companies only use Eplan for design, we thought that if the Japanese headquarters took the lead in successfully establishing design-manufacturing collaboration with Eplan and created a mechanism for efficient manufacturing, we could further improve productivity by deploying it globally.

What has your experience been like since actually implementing Eplan?

We used to have people manually create wiring diagrams and layout drawings by looking at PDF data from the business units. With Eplan, once the circuit diagram is complete, the forms are automatically generated, which is very fast and efficient. The wiring design can also be done with the same quality and speed as a skilled veteran, and we feel it holds great potential for the future.

In the wiring and assembly processes, we've installed laptops, and 27-inch touch panel displays to show the Smart Production interface and provide work support. Work can be done smoothly without hesitation by following the displayed instructions, which has reduced errors and been well-received. We've also heard positive feedback that the large touch panel displays are easy to see and convenient to operate, such as for zooming in and out.

On the other hand, when we first tested the design-manufacturing collaboration, the production time increased by nearly 1.5 times, resulting in a cost increase rather than a cost reduction, which was disappointing. We also received harsh feedback from the cooperating business unit and within our own department, saying it was difficult to use and that the previous method was better.

For example, to create design data suitable for design-manufacturing collaboration, the business unit needs to add much more data during the circuit diagram creation stage. However, circuit designers lack the equipment know-how, making it difficult. During the test verification, we had them create drawings as usual, and our department handled modifying and sending back the data, which increased the man-hours compared to usual.

Furthermore, our current division of labor into four teams couldn't be directly applied, and we found many concrete challenges, such as the need to build a system and consider operational rules, and the requirement for each person to possess the know-how of all four teams and become multi-skilled.

Implementing design-manufacturing revealed various shortcomings and allowed us to identify areas for improvement.

What are your plans for the future?

We are currently in the stage of testing and verifying the system after implementation, and while it is challenging to get used to, we feel that once we become proficient, we will be able to produce control panels much more efficiently in the future.

Our immediate goal is to collaborate with one business unit to proceed with the verification of design-manufacturing collaboration using Eplan and to quickly establish the optimal system. From there, we plan to expand this horizontally to other business units.

We will also build a system that allows us to handle projects from external customers using Eplan, further increasing our own production capacity. In line with this, we aim to collaborate with other panel manufacturers who are also proficient in Eplan to build a network where we can mutually cooperate on production as partners, thereby enabling us to accept manufacturing requests from a wider range of customers.