Digital transformation is on the horizon, but what does it look like in practice?

Industrial Automation News

With 95% of manufacturers agreeing that, in 2021, digital transformation is essential to their company’s future success, digitalization and automation are the big buzzwords across industry sectors. Increases in the quantity of automated components in production means more motors, more PLCs, more power distribution components, and more connections between machines and systems — and all of that means way more data.

Every Robot Needs Electrical Power

From conveyors to advanced robotics, if an industrial element moves, it generally needs power. Distributing and applying that power more efficiently, effectively, and safely is the task at hand for any facility looking to increase automation. The next step, though, is storing, interpreting, and taking action on the data that is involved in automated production processes, from conceptual design to operation and maintenance; this is what it means to become fully digitalized.

Rittal has recently introduced a line of small and compact enclosures, AX and KX, which are engineered for Industry 4.0 applications, providing 30% more space for cables and requiring 30% less assembly time than their predecessor, the AE. Along with freestanding and floormounted enclosures, HMI solutions, and IT network and server racks, Rittal offers modular enclosure systems to protect valuable electronic components and to support industrial facilities as they automate and scale.

These enclosures go hand-in-hand with cutting-edge design software from EPLAN, Rittal’s sister company and a global leader in software for electrical engineering and industrial automation. EPLAN Pro Panel, for example, allows for 3D panel design for control and switchgear system engineering using a component article database, delivering high levels of efficiency throughout the user’s value chain.

But that’s just the beginning.

Cloud Technology Decreases Maintenance-Related Downtime

EPLAN is a pioneer in using emerging technologies like augmented reality (AR) to make service easier and faster.

Take the example of a conveyor belt that stops unexpectedly. In the past, determining why there was no power to the motor meant consulting binders full of schematics, or even rolls of paper drawings that had often been degraded by exposure to industrial environments. Following the lines of the schematics to determine the root cause of the fault was time-consuming, and it could take days to figure out why a motor stopped — and that’s if the paper drawings were even still accurate.

EPLAN’s eVIEW cloud-based software makes a project’s design digitally available for all stakeholders and provides the ability to keep the documentation up to date over the life of the automation installation. For example, using EPLAN eVIEW and our AR application based on PTC technology, all you need to do is scan a QR code on the automation equipment and you are able to view the 3D digital twin of the panel as well as the schematic, which dramatically reduces the time required to determine the root cause of the failure and correct the issue.

Hovering over the electrical enclosure in augmented reality reveals the faulty component so that you can determine whether you have a replacement in stock. If not, order with the click of a button from the list of components within the EPLAN project.

A maintenance issue that might have taken days is reduced to mere minutes.

One Database-Driven Ecosystem for Efficient Collaboration

Whether you are building automation systems or working with systems integrators, there are huge benefits to standardizing on software solutions from EPLAN. Not only does the software allow you to define and control the standards and specifications that might be part of your ISO requirements, but receiving project files designed in EPLAN means that collaboration between you and your vendors and partners can leverage database-driven engineering in real time to minimize the overall time required to design, manufacture, and deploy today’s sophisticated automation solutions.

An engineering architecture with a component article database foundation means:

• Standardizes, data-rich components can be used to drive all design variations
• Those components can also be used to develop intelligent schematic macros, which are assemblies of components that can be saved and reused to standardize electrical circuits or even entire automation designs
• All component information is stored in one place, which avoids maintaining data in several structures, formats, and locations
• Each component can carry the critical data needed for all subsequent manufacturing automation, and all required information is stored in a single location
• Data can consist of 2D and 3D dimensions, electrical functions and properties, mounting requirements, wiring connection points, and more — the system can accommodate a wide variety of data useful for the design and execution of automation solutions for every industry

These efficiencies are not only crucial in order to scale industrial automation, but they represent true digitalization — and the future of manufacturing.

Learn more about how Rittal and EPLAN can support your automation and digitalization efforts by downloading our white paper, Going Up the Value Chain.