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.

Your workflow

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 customized 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 optimize your panel building processes

View (pdf)

Cabling takes up 49% of manufacturing time

Control Cabinet Manufacturing 4.0

  • The schematics take up 320 pages on average
  • Based on this, the time required for cabling averages about 54 hours
  • This corresponds to 49% 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.

Request your copy
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That's how our customers in panel building benefit from working with Eplan

"Eplan and Rittal are essential partners for us since they are intensively working on promoting solutions for control cabinet and switchgear manufacturing."

Read the whole story
siemens-testimonial

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 Rittal Automation Systems.

"We are already saving around 50% on pure enclosure wiring thanks to the combination of the Eplan Smart Wiring and Rittal Wire Terminal. Once everything has settled down and the projects have been planned accordingly, we expect to save up to 75%."

Read the whole story
zahnen-testimonial

“Together with Eplan, we are shaping the future of automation – thanks to the end-to-end data integrity of Eplan solutions, we are creating panel building 4.0 for the added value of our customers.”

druecker-testimonial

Panel Building 4.0: Eplan and Rittal

You can increase your productivity along the entire value chain by taking advantage of a high degree of digitization and centralizing your data management.

With the system solutions from Eplan and Rittal, you realize interdisciplinary cooperation, you reduce delivery times, you parallelize your production steps and also sustainably lowers costs. Taken together, this increases your competitiveness over the long term.

Integrated Value Chain
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Take full advantage of the momentum from the design department for panel building with Eplan and Rittal

Everything from a single source: Eplan and Rittal 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.

Find out more about Rittal

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.

Find out more
machine-building-journey

Gradually towards automated work

The production data derived from the digital twin enables step-by-step automation – also in the production of switchgear. Processing machines can automatically mill the cut-outs required in the switch cabinet, and copper rails are also cut to length, punched and bent semi-automatically based on the data from the 3D planning.

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Would you like to find out more about Eplan’s software and services? We’re happy to help!