The genius of digital
Digitisation in switchgear production
Up until a few years ago, the workflows at the Blumenbecker switchgear production plant were still all-analog operations. The automation technology specialist then launched a comprehensive digitisation offensive. With impressive results and opportunities – for company and clients alike.
It is no simple matter to produce machine control systems in series beginning with production batch one. Practically every switchgear unit made by Blumenbecker is one of a kind, with its special design drawings, consignment notes, parts lists, assembly diagrams, wiring lists and other accompanying documents. For decades it has been standard practice to have all this vital information available in paper form only.
Intelligent data instead of paper
The idea of banishing paper of any kind from the production process has been part of Blumenbecker's thinking for quite some time. "When it came to adherence to delivery dates and throughput times, the analog production process was no longer sustainable for us“, says Florian Sontowski, Project Manager Innovation Process Management, adding in retrospect: "If a customer wanted to change something, everyone involved in the project had to be notified individually and the part lists had to be amended by hand.“ And this did not always fit in with the 'just-in-time' system. For the production teams, and especially the technology-minded 'generation Y', this was a very unsatisfactory situation. Nelson Schröter is one of them. The electronics engineering technician, who completed his training at Blumenbecker, stands not far from Sontowski in the modern machining centre at the Beckum plant and recalls how things used to be: "Work with the XXL stacks of paper consumed a lot of time and nerves, for example when you had to find a single component on pages and pages of assembly diagrams. And then there was all that mass of paper that was simply to end up as waste. I was therefore overjoyed when the digitisation drive kicked in.“
The route to switchgear production 4.0
When setting up the new production shop, Blumenbecker also took the opportunity to digitise the entire workflow of the switchgear production plant. This challenging task encompassed many different function areas, from material logistics through to export control. The aim was to take the data obtained during the engineering phase and to transfer this to the production process as far as possible without the need for paper. To this end, the innovation management team around Sontowski developed special software solutions, such as the Easy Intelligence Process Software (EIP for short) that could process data from PDF documents and CAD drawings and even ERP data such as parts lists and job information. This software was able to collect all the planning and production data, combine the information and process it into interactive working instructions. All the data were to be managed and allocated centrally.
Schröter and Sontowski have just arrived at the sheet metal processing centre. They both look on as a colleague at the computer screen gets an overview of the parts he has to fabricate. "We now call up our 'to dos' and all the other information on the computer, tablet or handheld device and are also taken through the work step by step“, explains Schröter. "Any changes are loaded centrally into the system“, continues Sontowski, "so that the entire team has the updated dataset immediately to hand." In order to further optimise the process, any faults occurring are detected by a fault management system. "And our customers win out too. They now have more leeway right through into the production stage“, adds Sontowski.
Close interaction between the individual,
the workplace and the software
The work is supported not just by tablets and handheld devices but also by video data projectors. These are the tools of choice, for example, when the functional groups are being created. In place of the laborious searches through paper lists, the individual components can now be sorted and picked in the almost playtime-like setting of the put-to-light process. Schröter stands by a work table with a computer screen. Above him is a digital projector and alongside him a picking trolley. He takes an article from the trolley, scans it in and immediately gets a light signal that tells him to which function group it belongs and on what part of the work table it has to be placed.
Digital identification optimises the
customer processes
One station further on and the function groups are already installed. Schröter shows us the inside of a fully equipped switch cabinet. "At Blumenbecker, all the components have a QR code with an identification number. This makes each component non-interchangeable, with the result that it can be clearly identified and tracked throughout its entire service life. And this has a number of advantages for our customers and also for subsequent users of the equipment." By using the newly developed app EIP.mobile, users can retrieve all the information and documentation they need about the equipment and the installed components. "With a few clicks, they are quickly able to filter out the information they are looking for“, Schröter continues. This not only simplifies the troubleshooting process but also makes it much easier to order up spare parts.
Export documents in a matter of seconds
At the end of their tour, Schröter and Sontowski arrive at the quality control section. Here, the in-house standards officer is inspecting an explosion-proof control panel and certifying it to UL 698A for the US market. A dedicated testing programme guides him through the inspection and approval process. As soon as the test label has been applied, the equipment is routed directly to the dispatch area. Thanks to Blumenbecker's status as an AEO (Authorised Economic Operator) and Certified Exporter, the customs declaration is part of an automated process.
Sontowski looks fairly satisfied with things, knowing full well that Blumenbecker has more digitisation work to do, for the paperless process is still patchy in places: "We still need data for mounting the terminal blocks, for example." Full digitisation is the ultimate objective: "We want to be the forerunners here and take all our staff members with us on the new digital pathway, as this is the only way to ensure market success in the long term“, reflects Sontowski. And Schröter is looking forward to the future digital applications that Blumenbecker will be discussing and developing in close collaboration with its customers.
Even wiring diagrams are going digital
The Innovation Process Management Team has also worked flat out to make working with PDF wiring diagrams more digital. Up until now, handwritten changes that had to be imported back into the ECAD system for complete documentation were searched for manually in the wiring diagram. That took time. With the software skemdit, the team has developed a solution that exports changes at the push of a button - completely, digitally and traceably.
EIP.mobile -
digital plant documentation
With our app EIP.mobile you have access to the plant documentation at any time and you can reduce the relevant information search for troubleshooting by up to 90 % depending on the initial situation.
Mehr erfahren The app offers benefits for
different users
Assembly: No searching in the circuit diagram, but finding devices directly in the assembly plan.
Commissioning: No manual data collection, but access to digitised handbooks.
Maintenance: Identify spare parts without errors and order immediately.
Management: Shorter downtimes and simple overview of the entire plant.
